This is not news!
It must be noted that the rationale for knocking down Taqi's observatory had little to do with science.
Taqi is reputed to have used his tower to examine astrological events with the purpose of improving his predictions. Alas, that failed ~ he missed out on such things as a major Ottoman military defeat, the Black Death, etc.
According to one reference this allowed someone to convince the Sultan to knock down the tower and save money for further military pursuits elsewhere without distraction.
At the moment our own Sultan is knocking down the (metaphorical) towers at Cape Canaveral, and to a degree that's allowing him to spend more money on his war in Afghanistan (NOTE: "his war" isn't necessarily the same as "our war").
Makes me wonder if somebody was using NASA for astrology eh!
“(NOTE: “his war” isn’t necessarily the same as “our war”)”
Speaking of that, if he is such a good Muslim, why is he at war with Muslims?
This seems to be a flaw in the story about him being a closet Muslim, unless someone can explain that.