Author Topic: 500-year-old astrolabe in shipwreck is our earliest known navigation tool  (Read 458 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Online Buster's Uncle

  • With community service, I
  • Ascend
  • *
  • Posts: 49547
  • €429
  • View Inventory
  • Send /Gift
  • Because there are times when people just need a cute puppy  Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur  A WONDERFUL concept, Unity - & a 1-way trip that cost 400 trillion & 40 yrs.  
  • AC2 is my instrument, my heart, as I play my song.
  • Planet tales writer Smilie Artist Custom Faction Modder AC2 Wiki contributor Downloads Contributor
    • View Profile
    • My Custom Factions
    • Awards
500-year-old astrolabe in shipwreck is our earliest known navigation tool
Mashable
Yvette Tan •October 25, 2017






Archeologists have found what they believe to be the oldest astrolabe so far, a 500-year-old navigational tool, among a shipwreck led by Vasco da Gama himself.

The tool, believed to have been from the years 1495-1500, was recovered from the shipwreck of a Portugese explorer ship, which sank during a storm in the Indian Ocean in 1503.

The ship, named the Esmeralda, was part of a fleet led by famed Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who was the first person to sail directly from Europe to India.



Image: wmg/university of warwick/mashable composite


The astrolabe measures 17.5cm in diameter and is less than 2mm thick.

The object was recovered by the Blue Water Recovery team from the bottom of the Indian Ocean back in 2014. But it was only revealed to be an astrolabe after 3D scanning carried out by scientists at the University of Warwick.





The scans showed etches around the edge of the disc, each separated by five degrees.

The markings would have allowed navigators to measure the height of the sun above the horizon at noon to determine their location.

"It's a great privilege to find something so rare, something so historically important, something that will be studied by the archaeological community and fills in a gap," David Mearns, from Blue Water Recovery who led the excavation, told the BBC.

"It was like nothing else we had seen and I immediately knew it was something very important because you could see it had these two emblems on it."


https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-apos-apos-earliest-navigational-081614814.html

 

* User

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

Select language:

* Community poll

SMAC v.4 SMAX v.2 (or previous versions)
-=-
24 (7%)
XP Compatibility patch
-=-
9 (2%)
Gog version for Windows
-=-
103 (32%)
Scient (unofficial) patch
-=-
40 (12%)
Kyrub's latest patch
-=-
14 (4%)
Yitzi's latest patch
-=-
89 (28%)
AC for Mac
-=-
3 (0%)
AC for Linux
-=-
6 (1%)
Gog version for Mac
-=-
10 (3%)
No patch
-=-
16 (5%)
Total Members Voted: 314
AC2 Wiki Logo
-click pic for wik-

* Random quote

The prevalence of anoxic environments rich in organic material, combined with the presence of nitrated compounds has led to an astonishing variety of underground organisms which live in the absence of oxygen and 'breathe' nitrate. Likewise, the scarcity of carbon in the environment has forced plants to economize on its use. Thus, all our efforts to return carbon to the biosphere will encourage the native life to proliferate. Conversely, the huge quantities of nitrate in the soil will be heaven to human farmers.
~Lady Deirdre Skye 'The Early Years'

* Select your theme

*
Templates: 5: index (default), PortaMx/Mainindex (default), PortaMx/Frames (default), Display (default), GenericControls (default).
Sub templates: 8: init, html_above, body_above, portamx_above, main, portamx_below, body_below, html_below.
Language files: 4: index+Modifications.english (default), TopicRating/.english (default), PortaMx/PortaMx.english (default), OharaYTEmbed.english (default).
Style sheets: 0: .
Files included: 45 - 1228KB. (show)
Queries used: 35.

[Show Queries]