Mariner's Astrolabe
From the collection of National Museum of American History. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
Mariners were using astrolabes like this one to determine latitude by the late fifteenth century. A mariner would hold the astrolabe up at noon so the sun shone through its two sights. He would then read the scale to determine the sun’s altitude and consult a table of the sun’s daily declination to determine the latitude of his ship. Astrolabes with bigger pinholes could also be used to sight stars. Because it had to be suspended for use, the astrolabe was affected by the rocking of the ship and the wind. It was eventually replaced by the cross staff and then the back staff, both of which were cheaper to build and easier to use.
National Museum of American History’s own description
