Islamic Astrolabe Navigation Instrument

Timeline

1. c. -150–400Ancient Greek world · Ancient GreeceHipparchus laid the mathematical foundations of stereographic projection, Ptolemy systematically described the principles of the astrolabe in the Almagest, and scholars such as Hypatia further perfected the instrument's structure, forming the earliest prototype of astrolabe technology.
2. c. 800–1200Baghdad · IraqScholars such as al-Khwarizmi and al-Fazari translated astrolabe literature into Arabic and greatly improved the design, adding practical Islamic religious functions such as calculating prayer times and determining the direction of Mecca, making the astrolabe a precision scientific instrument.
3. 1415–1500Europe and the Ottoman Empire · West AsiaPortuguese and Spanish explorers widely used the astrolabe to measure the sun's altitude for determining latitude during voyages in the 1451–1460s, while the Ottoman astronomer Ali Qushji perfected astrolabe calculation methods in the same period, further improving the instrument's precision.