Pseudo-Astrolabe with Inscriptions in Hebrew
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: The astrolabe is an astronomical calculating device used from ancient times into the nineteenth century. Measuring the height of a star using the alidade on the back of the instrument, and knowing the latitude, one could find the time of night and the position of other stars. The openwork piece on the front, called the rete, is a star map of the northern sky. Pointers on the rete correspond to stars; the outermost circle is the Tropic of Capricorn, and the circle that is off-center represents the zodiac, the apparent annual motion of the sun. Engraved plates that fit below the rete have scales of altitude and azimuth (arc of the horizon) for specific latitudes. This brass astrolabe has a body with throne, handle, three plates, a rete, an alidade, a pin and a wedge. The scales are not functional and the alidade has no holes for sighting.
label: Description
content: Compare MA.333932 and MA.333933.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: For a detailed description of this object, see Sharon Gibbs with George Saliba, <a href="https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/2444"><I>Planispheric Astrolabes from the National Museum of American History</I></a>, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1984, pp. 187-189. The object is referred to in the catalog as CCA No. 4002.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Unknown
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.333932
label: catalog number
content: 333932
label: accession number
content: 1979.0877
objectType: label: Object Name
content: astrolabe
label: Object Name
content: pseudo-astrolabe
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: .8 cm x 8 cm x 11.2 cm; 5/16 in x 3 1/8 in x 4 7/16 in
label: Measurements
content: body diameter: 8 cm; x 3 1/8 in