Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Plane astrolabe
    • Setting:
      Room II
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Place:
      Tuscany?
    • Date:
      17th cent.
    • Materials:
      gilt brass
    • Dimensions:
      diameter 405 mm
    • Inventory:
      660, 1092
    • Plane astrolabe (Inv. 660, 1092)
    • Plane astrolabe (Inv. 660, 1092)

This astrolabe has only one tympanum. There is a rete and a degree scale on the limb. The tympanum is engraved on both sides with two different planispheric projections: a polar stereographic projection for latitude 43° (Pisa) on the front; and an equatorial stereographic projection on the back. The rete carries a rotating index. On the back of the astrolabe are a degree scale with a Tychonic scale, a zodiacal band, a calendar with the months in Latin and Greek, a sundial, a shadow square, and an alidade with sights. Provenance: Medici collections.