Astrolabe Island
island in the Bransfield Strait, northwest of Cape Ducorps, Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica
Astrolabe Island (63°17′S 58°40′W) is an island 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) long, lying in the Bransfield Strait 14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi) northwest of Cape Ducorps, Trinity Peninsula in Antarctica.
Location
Astrolabe Island is in Graham Land.
It lies in the Bransfield Strait to the west-northwest of the Tupinier Islands and the Cockerell Peninsula on the north coast of the Trinity Peninsula, which itself is the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Features include Sherell Point, Diaz Rock and the Dragons Teeth.
Geology
Astrolabe Island is predominantly volcanic rocks, with coarse grained mafic dolerite making up most of the landing site on the east end.
The steep pyramid peaks, called the Dragons Teeth, may be the vents of an old volcanic complex, probably related to the Shetland subduction zone to the north.
Sailing directions
The US Defense Mapping Agency's Sailing Directions for Antarctica (1976) describes Astrolabe Island as follows:
Astrolabe Island, about 1,850 feet high, lies about 9 miles from the coast and about 19 miles southwestward of Montravel Rock. It is about 3 miles long from east to west and about 2 miles wide. There is a bay on the northern side of the island, but it has not been investigated. The shores of Astrolabe Island are foul close-to.
“Astrolabe Island” enters the record as island in the Bransfield Strait, northwest of Cape Ducorps, Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Astrolabe, Island and island can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Astrolabe Island” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Astrolabe, Island and island provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19859434. Authority coordinates are -63.317, -58.683. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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This entry incorporates text from “Astrolabe Island” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.