Changing the Angle of Vision: Astrolabe Dials on Astronomical Clocks

From the middle of the fourteenth century until the Early Modern period, several monumental astronomical clocks were erected in Europe, and on many of them astrolabe dials were placed. On a group of earlier clocks, “southern astrolabes” (i.e. with stereographic projection from the North Pole) were e...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Oestmann, Günther 1959- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2017
In: Medieval encounters
Year: 2017, Volume: 23, Issue: 1/5, Pages: 404-420
Further subjects:B Astronomical clocks astrolabes astrolabe dials stereographic projection
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:From the middle of the fourteenth century until the Early Modern period, several monumental astronomical clocks were erected in Europe, and on many of them astrolabe dials were placed. On a group of earlier clocks, “southern astrolabes” (i.e. with stereographic projection from the North Pole) were employed, whereas later examples show a “northern astrolabe” (i.e., a stereographic projection from the South Pole), which is commonly used on portable astrolabes. The material and textual evidence as well as reasons for this change shall be examined. Moreover, the question of transmission of special variants of stereographic projection from East to West will be discussed.
ISSN:1570-0674
Contains:In: Medieval encounters
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700674-12342253