Europe housed a number of important astronomers. Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336)

made major contributions to astronomy and horology, including the invention of the first
astronomical clock, the Rectangulus which allowed for the measurement of angles between
planets and other astronomical bodies, as well as an equatorium called the Albion which
could be used for astronomical calculations such
as lunar, solar and planetary longitudes and could predict eclipses. Nicole Oresme (1320–
1382) and Jean Buridan (1300–1361) first discussed evidence for the rotation of the Earth,
furthermore, Buridan also developed the theory of impetus (predecessor of the modern
scientific theory of inertia) which was able to show planets were capable of motion without
the intervention of angels.[22] Georg von Peuerbach (1423–1461)
and Regiomontanus (1436–1476) helped make astronomical progress instrumental to
Copernicus's development of the heliocentric model decades later.
Astronomy flourished in the Islamic world and other parts of the world. This led to the
emergence of the first astronomical observatories in the Muslim world by the early 9th
century.[23][24][25] In 964, the Andromeda Galaxy, the largest galaxy in the Local Group, was
described by the Persian Muslim astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi in his Book of Fixed
Stars.[26] The SN 1006 supernova, the brightest apparent magnitude stellar event in
recorded history, was observed by the Egyptian Arabic astronomer Ali ibn
Ridwan and Chinese astronomers in 1006. Some of the prominent Islamic (mostly Persian
and Arab) astronomers who made significant contributions to the science include Al-
Battani, Thebit, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Biruni, Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī, Al-Birjandi,
and the astronomers of the Maragheh and Samarkand observatories. Astronomers during
that time introduced many Arabic names now used for individual stars.[27][28]
It is also believed that the ruins at Great Zimbabwe and Timbuktu[29] may have housed
astronomical observatories.[30] In Post-classical West Africa, Astronomers studied the
movement of stars and relation to seasons, crafting charts of the heavens as well as
precise diagrams of orbits of the other planets based on complex mathematical
calculations. Songhai historian Mahmud Kati documented a meteor shower in August 1583.
[31][32]
 Europeans had previously believed that there had been no astronomical observation
in sub-Saharan Africa during the pre-colonial Middle Ages, but modern discoveries show
otherwise.[33][34][35][36]
For over six centuries (from the recovery of ancient learning during the late Middle Ages
into the Enlightenment), t