Dante and the early astronomers

by M. A. Orr

But perhaps the most interesting are the astrolabes, and these owe their origin to the Greeks. The essential part of any instrument for determining angular distances is a divided circle and a pointer: the pointer is directed first to one object then to another, and the angle between them is then read off on the circle. In the astrolabe, the pointers themselves were also circles, provided with little perforated rods for “sights.” (These are not visible on the instrument in [Fig. 22], and have probably been broken off.) There were two fixed circles, set in the plane of the ecliptic and perpendicular to it. Three other circles could be rotated round the poles of the ecliptic. One of these was directed (by means of the sights), to some body whose position was already known, another to the body whose position was to be ascertained, and the angle between them was read off on the ecliptic circle; on the third the angular distance north or south of the ecliptic circle could be read. This last and the ecliptic circle were both divided into 360 degrees, and as many fractions of a degree as space and skill would allow.

The equinoctial astrolabe was similar, but the fixed circle was in the plane of the equator, instead of the ecliptic. One of each of these is seen in the view of the Pekin Observatory.

But how did the old astronomers know how to find the ecliptic and the equator in the sky, and set their circles in those planes? This they did by means of the sun’s motion. The gnomon told them the day of the equinox ([see p. 25]), and on that day the sun was in the equator: therefore, if a circle was set up so that the shadow of the upper part fell symmetrically upon the lower, with a little line of light each side, it must be exactly in the plane of the equator. In the Square Porch such a circle was erected, a large one of copper, and when once correctly adjusted it was a standard plane, and also showed the date of the equinoxes, as accurately as the gnomon itself. Since the ecliptic is the path of the sun as seen in the sky, it is obvious that it could be determined from a number of different observations of his position at different times of the year.

[To face p. 116.

A PEKIN ASTROLABE OF THE 13th CENTURY, a.d.

From a photograph taken in 1888, and published in the “Bulletin de la Société belge d’Astronomie”.

Finally, accurate solar tables were drawn up, showing the sun’s position in the sky in degrees for different dates, and then from these it was possible to find the places of planets and stars. They could not of course be compared directly, but the position of sun and moon were compared during the day, when both were in the sky, and then after dark the planets and stars were compared with the moon, allowing for her motion among the stars in the meantime. Or secondly, when the moon was eclipsed, and therefore known to be in the ecliptic and exactly opposite the sun, the places of stars could be found directly.

This very brief description will give some idea of the chief instruments and methods used, and when we see how very rough and elementary they were, and remember that the Greeks had to work out their observations without algebra, or decimal notation, we are amazed at their results, and their far-reaching ambitions.