Did you know that historians of astronomy often refer to the time from the 8th through the 14th centuries as the Islamic period? As that was when most study of the stars took place in the Muslim world. In nautical astronomy, Muslim navigators developed two major instruments, the astrolabe and the compass. The astrolabe is described as ‘the most important astronomical calculating device before the invention of digital computers and was the most important astronomical observational device before the invention of the telescope.’ Its uses are varied, and not just in astronomy, but also in surveying and navigation. Muslims also developed observatories. A pioneering one was the Samarkand observatory which was equipped with a huge meridian and the finest instruments available, including a Fakhri sextant with a radius of 40.4 metres. It not only showed the degrees and minutes, but seconds too. www.1001inventions.com

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