Astronomer

A scientist who studies the stars and other heavenly bodies.

"Primitive mariners never sailed out of sight of a coast. They may have begun to lay their courses on certain well known stars. But for direct ocean crossings a considerable knowledge of astronomy was required. The Phoenicians had access to the astronomical science of Babylon. The Greeks developed it to a new level at Alexandria. Of the early Arabs, we only know that at the time of the Koran they did use the stars for guidance: 'He it is who hath appointed for you the stars that ye guide yourselves thereby in the darknesses of land and sea; we have made the signs distinct for a people who have knowledge.' This reminds us that the desert is as trackless as the sea; it was probably on camel-back that the Arabs first learned to take guidance from the signs of the sky, for want of landmarks."

George F. Hourani, Arab Seafaring (1951).