The team reconstructed a 3D computer model of the planetarium with a complex drive system.
The planetarium, unearthed from a Roman-era shipwreck on the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, is said to be the world’s oldest analog computer, but only a third of the pieces remain and are difficult to reconstruct. Scientists at University College London recently pieced together a 2,000-year-old 3D computer model of the planetarium through X-ray data and ancient Greek mathematics to solve the mystery.
The manual celestial globe is believed to have been used to calculate the planets, solar motion and predict astronomical events such as eclipses, made of bronze and dozens of gears, etc. Only 82 fragments remain, the largest piece with bearings, pillars, another with a disk, a 63-tooth gear and plate. 2
A British study in 005 found thousands of inscription characters hidden in the fragments, with usage descriptions inscribed at the bottom, i.e. planets moving around the ring, indicated by marker beads.
Combining the above data and the five planets known in ancient Greece at the Time, the team decoded the front-end gear design of the celestial globe, using 3D computer technology to reconstruct the gears and panels with the Earth at the center and the coaxial pointer surrounds of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn to show the movement of the planets and the Sun, the lunar phases and the zodiacal constellation positions. The team next wants to build a replica of the celestial sphere instrument in its original size to prove its mechanical feasibility. The research was published Friday (12) in the international academic journal Scientific Reports.
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