Living Light

Spherical Astrolabe

Posted by Mark Francis (Amman, Jordan) on 24 October 2008 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.

This metal globe dangles from the sign at the entrance to the Siq, which is the narrow breach in the desert rock that leads to the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. It appears to be an example of a spherical astrolabe that was widely used in the Islamic world for determining the position of sun, moon, stars, and planets.