A fifteenth-century observatory built at Samarkand, in present-day Uzbekistan, by the Timurid ruler and astronomer Ulugh Beg, centered on a huge underground sextant used to measure the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars with remarkable accuracy for the era. Its resulting star catalog, the Zij-i Sultani, remained among the most accurate available for over a century.
Facts
MeasuresDuration of the year, planetary periods, eclipses and stellar altitudes 1 In the Other Atlases
Located In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Sources
1. Ulugh Beg Observatory (Wikipedia)
Infobox
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Instruments section, Fakhri sextant
The duration of the year, period of planets, and eclipses were measured by this device.
In Group: Historic Pre-Telescopic Observatories, Lead sentence
The Ulugh Beg Observatory is an observatory in modern day Samarkand, Uzbekistan, which was built in the 1420s by the Timurid astronomer Ulugh Beg.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.