What is it about?
The article expounds upon a new approach to the star data included in Medieval planispheric astrolabes and their connection to other historical sources, namely manuscript star tables. The new approach help to outline different historical traditions in the making of astronomical instruments.
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Why is it important?
The new approach to the star data of the Medieval planispheric astrolabes overcomes the usual drawbacks of the several methods already used by the astronomers to determine the so-called "age of an instrument". The new approach allow us to introduce a "historical distance", which is not directly connected to a distance in time, but to the number of passages and vicissitudes that separate a specific astronomical instrument from its data source.
Perspectives
I hope this article may inspire a new attention to the star data included in Medieval astronomical instruments. Star data are a very specific type of historical source. They can neither be overlooked, nor superficially examined.
Giorgio Strano
Museo Galileo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A New Approach to the Star Data of Early Planispheric Astrolabes, Medieval Encounters, September 2017, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15700674-12342255.
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