Guo Shoujing's simplified instrument (equatorial torquetum)
Instrumento simplificado (jianyi) de montura ecuatorial
- Date
- 1276 · confidence high
- Place
- Dadu (Beijing), China
- Credited to
- Guo Shoujing
- People
- 👤 Guo Shoujing1231–1314
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
Guo Shoujing separated the rings of the armillary sphere into independent instruments with an equatorial mount, more accurate and free of mutual occlusion. It is the forerunner of the equatorial mount of telescopes.
A Ming-era replica is preserved at the Zijinshan Observatory (Nanjing). Tycho Brahe used equatorial mounts independently in the 16th century.
What it led to
- greater precision of stellar and solar positions
- network of Yuan observatories