Moss & Orbit / Field journal

A measured sky, a meaningful sky

An instrument can calculate a position and still carry a view of the universe.

The Met’s astrolabe attributed to Regiomontanus, dated 1462, combines a star map with an engraved angel. Calculation and symbolic imagery occupy the same object.

The museum describes its uses as astronomical calculation, navigation, surveying and timekeeping. Look at the working geometry before treating the decoration as a separate layer.

Two kinds of reading

Ask first what the instrument lets a user calculate. Then ask what its images say about the cosmos. These are related questions, but they require different evidence.

Our Sky & Symbols section approaches astrology through its historical objects and interpretive traditions. Such interpretations are distinct from astronomical measurement.