Ancient Celestial Spheres from Greece
Abstract
We present several ancient celestial spheres from the 8th century B.C. found throughout Greece, mainly in Thessaly, at the temple of Itonia Athena, but also in Olympia and other places. These celestial spheres have an axis, equator and several meridians and they have several markings with the symbol of stars (today's symbol for the Sun) $\odot$. Such instruments could have been used to measure the time, the latitude of a location, or the coordinates of stars.
- Publication:
-
Recent Advances in Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- August 2006
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.2348079
- Bibcode:
- 2006AIPC..848..919D
- Keywords:
-
- 95.55.-n;
- 95.45.+i;
- Astronomical and space-research instrumentation;
- Observatories and site testing