Day 154 - Astrolabe

When I was in Washington, DC I spent a lot of time at the Air and Space Museum.  Though I'm not in the sciences, they do fascinate me.  Place like the Air and Space Museum are amazing displays of human ingenuity! This picture is one such display.  This is an astrolabe from early Islamic history.  An astrolabe is used to locate and predict the positions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, making it a useful tool for mariners (for navigation) and astronomers.  In the Islamic world, it was also used to calculate the Qibla (direction of prayer) and to find the times for prayers. Such simple (?) yet effective technology!