Mariner's Astrolabe

thingiverse

The most influential navigational instrument in the Western world for centuries, the mariner's astrolabe empowered sailors to track their latitude as they explored the globe. notoriously finicky and inaccurate, Columbus allegedly discarded his overboard in the Sargasso Sea before making landfall half-a-world off course. To utilize, sight Polaris through the pinholes in the alidade while holding the instrument level with the horizon and read the angle to calculate latitude. Astrolabes can also be used for dead reckoning by holding the instrument horizontally, aligning the top to North, and taking a bearing off your target. Astrolabes are an excellent tool for introducing students to celestial navigation and teaching trigonometry. For motivation and instruction, I use the following books: Latitude Hooks and Azimuth Rings: How to Build and Use 18 Traditional Navigational Tools, The Lo-Tech Navigator, and Emergency Navigation: Improvised and No-Instrument Methods for the Prudent Mariner. Support more projects like this by contributing to my Patreon: Tools for ocean science and conservation. Made with Glowforge.