Taqi al-Din's Istanbul observatory
Observatorio de Estambul con reloj de observación
- Date
- 1577 · confidence high
- Place
- Tophane, Istanbul, Turkey
- Credited to
- Taqi al-Din, commissioned by Murad III
- People
- 👤 Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf1526–1580
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A large observatory where Taqi al-Din observed the comet of 1577 and measured positions with mechanical clocks of his own design that marked minutes and seconds. He was among the first to use the clock as an astronomical instrument.
It was demolished in 1580 under religious and political pressure. Its instruments resemble those of Uraniborg (1576), with no known contact between the two.
What it led to
- use of the clock in positional astronomy
- Ottoman astronomical tables
- instruments comparable to those of Tycho Brahe