Chapter 25 explains the construction and use of the astrolabe with reference to Geoffrey Chaucer’s A Treatise on the Astrolabe. The astrolabe is a rotating map of the heavens constructed using a stereographic projection of the celestial sphere. The projection techniques required to create this map is reminiscent of the projections used by artists to show perspective, and it is closely related to the techniques of cartographers. The most familiar world maps are produced using the Mercator projection devised by Gerardus Mercator in the sixteenth century. Johannes Vermeer included maps in many of his paintings, most notably The Geographer and The Astronomer, and the figure in these painting might be the great microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. The architect Philip Steadman made an in-depth study of whether Vermeer employed a camera obscura when painting.
Lisle, Richard J. et Leyshon, Peter R., 2004. Stereographic Projection Techniques for Geologists and Civil Engineers, 2 éd. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 112 p., ill., 27,6 x 22 cm. 35 $ US (env. 41 $ CA). ISBN 0-521-53582-4 (couverture souple).