Ulugbek: Astronomy in Central Asia in the 15th Century

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Session 30 -- History of Astronomy
Oral presentation, Monday, 9, 1995, 10:00am - 11:30am

[30.02] Ulugbek: Astronomy in Central Asia in the 15th Century

Guenter Riegler (NASA Headquarters), Shuhrat Eghamberdiev (Institute of Astronomy, Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

On the occasion of the 600th birthday of Ulugbek (1394 - 1449) we review his work in astronomy. His catalog of 1018 star positions is the second observational catalog in the history of astronomy, published 12 centuries after the Hipparcos-Ptolemy catalog. Ulugbek's observatory in Samarkand, a meridian instrument, was the largest before the development of optical telescopes. We review theories for the uses of this observatory for astrometry and the determination of astronomical constants.

Monday program listing