any of a type of early scientific instrument used for reckoning time and for observational purposes. One widely employed variety, the planispheric astrolabe, enabled astronomers to calculate the position of the Sun and prominent stars with respect to both the horizon and the meridian. It provided them with a plane image of the celestial sphere and the principal circles—namely, those...
star maps and globes
TITLE: astronomical mapSECTION:
Nature and significance
...Classical Greek astronomers used maps and globes; unfortunately, no examples survive. Numerous small metal celestial globes from Islamic makers of the 11th century onward remain. The first printed planispheres (representations of the celestial sphere on a flat surface) were produced in 1515, and printed celestial globes appeared at about the same time.