The Sumerians and ancient Greeks were expert astronomers. The astrolabe is a very ancient astronomical computer for solving problems relating to time and the position of the Sun and stars in the sky. Several types of astrolabes have been made over the centuries. Astrolabes can be seen in museums and in observatories. A typical old astrolabe was made of brass and was about 15 cm in diameter, although much larger and smaller ones were made.
Astrolabes show how the sky looks at a specific place at a given time.
This is done by drawing the sky on the face of the astrolabe and marking it in a way that positions in the sky are easy to find. To use an astrolabe, you adjust the moveable parts to a specific date and time. Today, you don't need to live close to a museum or an observatory to be able to see and find out more information about astrolabes or even about astronomy . Web sites make the sky, the planets and the stars available to us all . Mathematics is very closely related to ancient sciences like astronomy.