Celestial Sphere and Celestial Globe, Beijing (formerly Peking) Observatory. Photograph taken in 1868 - 1870 by John Thomson. This bronze globe and the sphere were constructed by the Flemish Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688). Verbiest was astronomer and mathematician to the Chinese court, helping to rebuild the Beijing Observatory with modern instruments (such as these), and becoming its director. The celestial globe was used to determine the time in which the celestial bodies will rise and set, as well as the altitude and azimuth of the bodies at any given time.