Celestial Globe
This celestial globe was used as navigational instrument in the early 20th century. Such globes helped navigators make astronomical calculations by showing the place of stars on the sphere of the sky. This globe has brass horizon and meridian rings and is set inside a wooden desk box, which has instructions for how to use the globe glued inside its lid. The globe itself does not show constellations, but instead marks only the bright stars that would be most useful for navigators.
The globe is also signed by its manufacturer. The text reads: “Cary & Co. Makers to the Admiralty. 7 Pall Mall London.” John Cary first began to make celestial globes in the late 1700s in London. His firm was later named Cary & Co., and was based at Pall Mall from the early 1900s onwards.
Creator
Cary & Co.
Date Created
early 1900s
Medium
Wood, Brass, Paper, Ink
Dimensions
[H] 8.25 in. [W] 8 in. [L] 7.75 in.
Catalog Number
2525.1
Credit Line
USS Constitution Museum Collection. Gift of Roberta Lang on behalf of her brother, Edward Louis Bonacci.
Terms of Use
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
