What is an Astrolabe?How might an astrolabe have helped Christopher Columbus?
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Astrolabe, any of a type of early scientific instrument used for reckoning time and for observational purposes. One widely employed variety, the planispheric astrolabe, enabled astronomers to calculate the position of the Sun and prominent stars with respect to both the horizon and the meridian.
The instrument was used to help determine the ship's latitude from the height of the Pole Star or of the sun. Christopher Columbus also carried an astrolabe and a quadrant on his famous transatlantic voyage of 1492, although he had difficulty using them on his pitching and rolling ship.
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