Ulugbek observatory museum, Astronomical science museum in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Ulugbek Observatory Museum displays the remains of a circular three-story building that once measured 46 meters across, with an underground marble sextant instrument still in place. The structure shows how medieval astronomers organized their workspace and the tools they used for their celestial measurements.
The original observatory was built around 1428 and served as a research center in medieval Samarkand. The current museum was constructed in 1964 next to the ancient ruins to preserve and present what remained of this scientific site.
The name honors Ulugbek, a ruler who gathered scholars and supported their work studying the heavens. Visitors can sense how these scientists organized their observations and what drew them to measure the stars.
The museum is located on Tashkentskaya Street in Samarkand and is open throughout the week. Visitors can explore the underground sections and view the preserved astronomical instruments up close from ground level and above.
An underground marble sextant, the observatory's main instrument, was built with such precision that it determined the length of a sidereal year with only 58 seconds of variation from modern measurements. This accuracy reveals the remarkable technical skill of medieval craftsmen and scholars.
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