Globe Guide

Terrestrial globe : A globe depicting the Earth. Generally these globes will show the countries as they were known in the country in which the globe was made at the time of construction. Often the tracks of explorers are shown, sometimes additional information is given about the countries depicted.

Celestial globe : A globe depicting the stars. Generally these globes will show illustrations of the various constellations in use by the culture from which the globe came at the time of construction. Some show only individual stars.

Lunar globe : A globe depicting the Moon. Globes of the Moon only started to be produced after the discovery of the telescope and it became possible to see detail. Early Lunar globes were then only able to show one half of the Moon since it is always the same part of the Moon that faces the Earth. Only in the 20th century, when space missions started to explore the solar system was it possible to see and map the other side of the Moon.