Elliptic Armilla

  The Elliptic Armilla was made in the eighth to twelfth year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1669-1673), under the supervision of the Belgian missionary Ferdinand Verbiest. This instrument weighs 2752 kilograms and is 3.492 meters high, located on the top platform of Beijing Ancient Observatory.It is the first independent ecliptic coordinate system observation instrument in China. The instrument is mainly used to measure the longitude and latitude of celestial bodies and to measure the 24 solar terms.