A couple of summers ago my husband cycled across Central Asia, an amazing adventure that he has documented elsewhere so I won't describe it here, but for me one of his most fascinating stories was from Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Knowing my interest in astronomy he brought me back an exquisite hand-painted miniature depicting a fifteenth century ruler of Samarkand, Ulugh Beg, surrounded by the sun, moon, stars and planets. Apparently he was an enlightened ruler, also an astronomer and mathematician, and was responsible for building in 1424 one of the largest and most important observatories prior to the invention of the telescope.
Subterranean Quadrant
I had not heard of Ulugh Beg before so I did some research on him and his observatory. I was amazed to find that although the building fell into ruins after its founder's death, an impressive part of one its main instruments still remains - the underground section of a massive stone quadrant (a quarter of a 40-metre-diameter circle, marked in degrees, minutes and seconds in order to measure the position of celestial bodies with considerable accuracy). This photo gives an idea of the monumental scale of this instrument - the trench that you see is two metres wide. It would be wonderful to be able to visit the site one day.
The Istanbul observatory was built by Taqi-al-Din, an innovative astronomer, mathematician and all-round scientist, responsible for various inventions and scientific works. It appears that his observatory used similar instruments and techniques to Brahe’s. Perhaps one of the reasons that the Istanbul observatory is much less well-known than Brahe's is that its life was very short – it was demolished in 1580 only 3 years after its completion, thanks to a combination of political infighting and religious objections, and nothing remains of the building itself.
However, some charming illustrations from the same period give an intriguing insight into the way that astronomy was carried out there. For example, this this image from the 1581 ‘Book of Kings’ manuscript shows astronomers in the observatory using various pre-telescopic astronomical instruments.
Astronomy has come a very long way since the sixteenth century, principally thanks to the development of the telescope, which has become ever more sophisticated and accurate
For me, images and ancient sites such as these are a fascinating and colourful reminder that humankind’s ongoing search to understand our universe has been going on as long as history itself.
Ulugh Beg’s observatory in Samarkand
https://www3.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/show-entity?identity=30&idsubentity=1
Taqi Al-Din biography and work https://taqialdin.wordpress.com/
Comparison of the instruments in Taqi al-Din’s Istanbul and Tycho Brahe’s Uraniborg observatories
https://muslimheritage.com/uploads/IstanbulObservatory.pdf
Tycho Brahe’s Uraniborg observatory
https://www3.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/show-entity?identity=100&idsubentity=1
Islamic astronomy https://www3.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/show-theme?idtheme=15
‘The Observatory in Islam’ by Ord. Prof. Dr. Aydın Sayılı
Image Credits:
1. Pictures from History http://www.picturesfromhistory.com/index.search.php?sid=990553&img=21
2. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulugh_Beg_observatory.JPG
3. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taqi_al_din.jpg