Rare vintage globes are being digitized so you can spin them online

The University of Southern Maine's Osher Map Library is making some of its oldest and rarest globes available in online models so you can rotate them from the comfort of your computer screen. The collection includes the library's two oldest: 1603 and 1607 celestial globes by Dutch cartographer Willem Janszoon Blaeu. Of course, there's nothing like spinning the real thing. But vintage globes are pretty fragile (usually made of plaster wood and paper), and some are in storage and out of reach.

[h/t: Motherboard]

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