menu Home chevron_right
PETS & ANIMALS

How to Calculate Time With an Islamic Astrolabe

NOVA PBS Official | September 16, 2025



It is one of Islamic science’s most important and complex astronomical instruments.

Follow on social for more NOVA content!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs

This excerpt from a NOVA documentary is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: https://pbs.org/donate/

Written by NOVA PBS Official

Comments

This post currently has 33 comments.

  1. @BigBadBirdDog

    September 16, 2025 at 10:40 am

    Let's see. Greeks made it but they're talking about the terror people. Made in recent years, definitely propaganda. Next they'll tell us how some rainbow person is involved in it.

  2. @RichardSchaefer-g2e

    September 16, 2025 at 10:40 am

    the word has been in my mind for many years and I always thought it was astro laithe hehehe. you learn something new every day, or you should, I'm 66. so the antikythera mechanism doesn't seem too far fetched, fascinating stuff

  3. @madMARTYNmarsh1981

    September 16, 2025 at 10:40 am

    The Astrolabe has nothing to do with Islam.
    The Greeks invented it, so it should be called The Greek Astrolabe.
    Any refinements Arabs made to the Astrolabe are credited to Arabs, not Islam. Islam has no capacity to create things, no religion does.
    You're as likely to find a ghost inventing things as you are a religion!

  4. @plasmaastronaut

    September 16, 2025 at 10:40 am

    the video example assumes the user-traveller knew the date, but often a user wouldn't know the date.
    In which case in the day he would have to find noon which required guesswork ( lots of measurements around noon ), and then use the astrolabe to find the date.
    It was much easier to tell the time at night, since the motion of the stars didn't vary over the year, only over the night; and the North star stayed in the same place. For stars the angle finder would be used as an eyepiece. But it wasn't possible to tell the date at night.

  5. @joeschmoe21

    September 16, 2025 at 10:40 am

    "Islam" is a religion. A religion does not create anything. People who created this were possibly followers of Islam, but that does not make it an 'Islamic' astrolabe.
    Followers of Catholicism used to keep slaves (yes, they were OK back then, so the Bible says 'Be nice to your slave'). So, should we call them Catholic Slaves?

  6. @christianx8494

    September 16, 2025 at 10:40 am

    Islamhaters will not recognize this. They keep screaming that anything that may be called „Islamic civilization“ does not exist and never did. And when you contradict them they label you anti-Semitic.

Comments are closed.




This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play