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An illustration depicts Taqi al-Din's sextant in his observatory in Istanbul

1001 Inventions

1001 Inventions
London, United Kingdom

Sextants were used for measuring the altitude of heavenly bodies, thus allowing celestial globes to be mapped. A famous observatory built in the 1420s by the astronomer Ulugh Beg in Uzbekistan had a sextant set into a trench more than three storeys deep to protect it from earthquakes.

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  • Title: An illustration depicts Taqi al-Din's sextant in his observatory in Istanbul

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