page_title: Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world
section_title: Golden Age
hierarchical_section_title: Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world / Golden Age
caption_attribution_description: English: Tusi couple - 13th century CE sketch by Nasir al-Din Tusi. Generates a linear motion as a sum of two circular motions. Invented for Tusi's planetary model. فارسی: جفت طوسی العربية: رسم للعالم نصير الدين الطوسي حول نموذج مزدوجة الطوسي
context_page_description: Islamic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age, and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia, Al-Andalus, and North Africa, and later in the Far East and India. It closely parallels the genesis of other Islamic sciences in its assimilation of foreign material and the amalgamation of the disparate elements of that material to create a science with Islamic characteristics. These included Greek, Sassanid, and Indian works in particular, which were translated and built upon.
  Islamic astronomy played a significant role in the revival of Byzantine and European astronomy following the loss of knowledge during the early medieval period, notably with the production of Latin translations of Arabic works during the 12th century.
  Islamic astronomy also had an influence on Chinese astronomy and Malian astronomy.
  A significant number of stars in the sky, such as Aldebaran, Altair and Deneb, and astronomical terms such as alidade, azimuth, and nadir, are still referred to by their Arabic names.
context_section_description: The House of Wisdom was an academy established in Baghdad under Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun in the early 9th century. Astronomical research was greatly supported by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun through the House of Wisdom. Baghdad and Damascus became the centers of such activity.
  The first major Muslim work of astronomy was Zij al-Sindhind by Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi in 830.  The work contains tables for the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets known at the time.  The work is significant as it introduced Ptolemaic concepts into Islamic sciences.  This work also marks the turning point in Islamic astronomy.  Hitherto, Muslim astronomers had adopted a primarily research approach to the field, translating works of others and learning already discovered knowledge.  Al-Khwarizmi's work marked the beginning of nontraditional methods of study and calculations.
caption: The Tusi-couple is a mathematical device invented by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in which a small circle rotates inside a larger circle twice the diameter of the smaller circle. Rotations of the circles cause a point on the circumference of the smaller circle to oscillate back and forth in linear motion along a diameter of the larger circle.
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