Views

Astrolabe

From AstrologyNotes

AstrologyNotes Astrological Knowledge Base

Astrology	History	Glossary
Branches	Charts	Tools
Traditions	Methods	Resources

An astrolabe

Astrolabe, parts

Astrolabe, particular

From the Greek astrolabos (astron, star and lambanien, to take: star taking tool).

The astrolabe is an instrument used by astrologers and astronomers to locate the position of the luminaries, the planets and stars, besides for navigation and other purposes.

Astrolabes consisted of the mater, an hollow disk holding two flat plates, called tympans.

The rim of the mater was graduated into hours of time and degrees of arc.Tympans were made for a speficic latitude, and engraved with lines representing the portion of the sky which was above the local horizon.

Above the mater and the tympan there was the rete, a framework bearing the projection of the ecliptic and pointes indicating the position of celestial bodies. The rete could be rotated so the stars and the ecliptic could move over the projection of the sky coordianates n the timpan. A complete rotation represented the passage of one day.