astrographn.
/ˈastrə(ʊ)ɡrɑːf/, /ˈastrə(ʊ)ɡraf/, U.S. /ˈæstrəˌɡræf/ 1. Astronomy. A device for determining the positions of stars; esp. a telescope used for photographing the night sky, spec. one using wide-angle photographs to detect celestial objects or to determine their position. Cf. Schmidt camera at Schmidt n. 1
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1837 Lit. Gaz. 6 May 290 Mr. Baily, at a late meeting, laid on the table a specimen of some delineations of the stars in the vicinity of the North Pole, made with Steinheil's astrograph.
1900 Monthly Notices Royal Astron. Soc. 60 365 The transit circle and astrograph are now ready for work.
1926 Times 22 Feb. 16 (caption) On the left we show the astrograph camera which was used in the German camp for testing the Einstein theory.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XVII. Pl. facing p. 835 (caption) The 20-in. double astrograph of the Lick observatory. The two lenses, each of 20-in. diameter, are designed to take photographs of the sky simultaneously in blue and red light.
1970 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 80 174 Mr Milbourn showed a photograph taken by Mr Candy with the Perth astrograph on January 1; the comet was then of magnitude 2.6.
2003 Isis 94 73 As was standard practice in eclipse observations, the astrographs would be ‘fed’ by 16-inch coelostats.
2. Aeronautics and Nautical. A navigational device that projects a set of curves of equal altitude for a given star on to a navigational chart or plotting sheet. Now historical.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > navigational aids > [noun] > other nautical instruments
clinometer1864
rhysimeter1871
oscillograph1874
topophone1880
oscillometer1899
astrograph1941
1941 C. Beaton Diary Apr. in Self Portrait with Friends (1979) xi. 87 The navigator is laying out his chart, adjusting his astrograph, arranging his sextant and numerous papers and bundles into position.
1959 Chambers's Encycl. IX. 717/2 The astrograph was excellent in theory, but for various reasons did not survive.
1983 J. D. Harvey Tumbling Mirth (1986) 90 His method of operation in those cloudless latitudes was to read off from his astrograph the altitude of Polaris and then home down the position line.
2007 G. S. Guinn Arnold Scheme 503 They would also use astrographs and other instruments developed by British and American scientists to aid aircrew in navigation.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1837