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Dirk L. Couprie, Robert Hahn, Gerard Naddaf: Anaximander in Context: New Studies in the Origins of Greek Philosophy, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7914-5537-1, p. 179 Enter the fictional world of James Bond, and you’ll find a number of handy dandy spy rings including one that doubles as a camera, and another capable of shattering bulletproof glass with a single twist. The altitude of the sun does not change much in a single day at the poles (where the sun rises and sets once a year), so rough measurements of solar altitude don't vary with time of day at high latitudes.

Armillary spheres were among the first complex mechanical devices. Their development led to many improvements in techniques and design of all mechanical devices. Renaissance scientists and public figures often had their portraits painted showing them with one hand on an armillary sphere, which represented the zenith of wisdom and knowledge. Armillary sphere rings like the ones in the British Museum’s collection and the Swedish Historical Museum (top) serve a more benign purpose. Folded together, the two-part outer hoop and three interior hoops give the illusion of a simple gold band. Slipped off the wearer’s finger, they can fan out into a physical model of celestial longitude and latitude. Often equipped with a graduated scale, it can be used to measure right ascension. On the traveller's sundial shown above, it is the inner ring. The flag of Portugal features an armillary sphere. The armillary sphere is also featured in Portuguese heraldry, associated with the Portuguese discoveries during the Age of Exploration. Manuel I of Portugal, for example, took it as one of his symbols where it appeared on his standard, and on early Chinese export ceramics made for the Portuguese court. In the flag of the Empire of Brazil, the armillary sphere is also featured.In its simplest form, consisting of a ring fixed in the plane of the equator, the armilla is one of the most ancient of astronomical instruments. Slightly developed, it was crossed by another ring fixed in the plane of the meridian. The first was an equinoctial, the second a solstitial armilla. Shadows were used as indices of the sun's positions, in combinations with angular divisions. When several rings or circles were combined representing the great circles of the heavens, the instrument became an armillary sphere. [1] Throughout Chinese history, astronomers have created celestial globes ( Chinese: 渾象) to assist the observation of the stars. The Chinese also used the armillary sphere in aiding calendrical computations and calculations. The whole fabric is supported on a pedestal N, and may be elevated or depressed upon the joint O, to any number of degrees from 0 to 90, by means of the arc P, which is fixed in the strong brass arm Q, and slides in the upright piece R, in which is a screw at r, to fix it at any proper elevation. The Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 features a large armillary sphere metal sculpture as an exhibit of Chinese inventions for international and domestic visitors.

Williams, Henry Smith (2004). A History Of Science. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4191-0163-3. The angle between the vertical and the light beam gives the solar elevation. The solar elevation is a function of latitude, time of day, and season. Any one of these variables can be determined using astronomical rings, if the other two are known. When the shadow of the rings are aligned so that they appear to be in the same, or nearly the same, place, the meridian identifies itself. [ clarification needed] Meridional ring [ edit ]

The dial is suspended from a cord or chain; the suspension point on the vertical meridian ring can be changed to match the local latitude. The time is read off on the equatorial ring; in the example below, the center bar is twisted until a sunray passes through a small hole and falls on the horizontal equatorial ring. There is no evidence for the Hellenistic origin of the spherical astrolabe, but rather evidence so far available suggests that it may have been an early but distinctly Islamic development with no Greek antecedents."