#albategnius

[quiltofstars]

Four large craters on the Moon // Wilco Kasteleijn

From top to bottom left: Arzachel, Alphonsus, Ptolemaeus, and Albategnius.

Arzachel crater is named after the Arabic instrument maker Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Yaḥyā al-Naqqāsh al-Zarqālī al-Tujibi (1029 - 1100). His Latinized name was Arzachel, meaning "the engraver." He wrote books about constructing instruments for calculating the positions of the planets.

Alphonsus crater is named after King Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284). He was sometimes nicknamed the Astrologer for the creation of the Alfonsine tables used to compute the position of the planets.

Ptolemaeus crater is named after the Greek philosopher Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100 - 170). Among his many accomplishments is the Almagest, the earliest surviving complete book on ancient astronomy. It also provided mathematical "proof" for the geocentric nature of the universe.

Albategnius crater is named after Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī aṣ-Ṣābiʾ al-Battānī (bef. 858 - 928), one of the greatest and most famous astronomers of the medieval Islamic world. It was the accuracy of his data that later led Nicolaus Copernicus to consider a heliocentric model of the universe.

[quiltofstars]

The craters (from left to right, top to bottom) Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, Arzachel, and Albategnius on the Moon // MAILLARD

Ptolemaeus crater is named after Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100-170), the Greek astronomer who wrote the Almagest that solidified the geocentric model of the universe for the next millennium.

Alphonsus crater is named after King Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284) who sponsored the creation of the Alfonsine Tables that computed the position of the Sun, Moon, and planets relative to the stars.

Arzachel crater is named after Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Yaḥyā al-Naqqāh al-Zarqālī al-Tujibi (1029-1100), an Arabic astronomer who invented two medieval instruments for navigation by the stars.

Albategnius crater is named after Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī aṣ-Ṣābi’ al-Battānî (bef. 858-929), an Arabic astronomer who, among many other things, refined and corrected Ptolemy’s Almagest and introduced trigonometry to the world.