astrometern.
/əˈstrɒmᵻtə/, U.S. /əˈstrɑmədər/ Astronomy.
Any of various instruments for measuring parameters relating to celestial objects, esp. their apparent magnitude or apparent diameter.
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the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > astronomical instruments > observational instruments > [noun] > stars
astrometer1783
astrophanometer?1810
scintillometer1861
astrophotometer1866
siderostat1868
wedge-photometer1883
scintilloscope1890
1783 Monthly Rev. June 631 (heading) Description of an astrometer, or an instrument designed to indicate, without previous calculation, the hour of the rising and setting of a star, whose declination, and the time of its passing the meridian are known.
?1810 Edinb. Encycl. (1830) III. i. 1/1 Astrophanometer, another name given by Jeaurat to instruments resembling the Astereometers or Astrometers of Jeaurat and Dr Brewster.
1836 J. Herschel Diary 27 Mar. in D. Evans Herschel at Cape (1969) 225 In the Evening the Moon being more than half, tried my new Astrometer with a single lens which does much better than a combination & is far simpler.
1877 G. F. Chambers Handbk. Descr. Astron. (ed. 3) vii. viii. 748 A useful astrometer, for determining star-magnitudes.
1921 Independent 15 Jan. 65/1 The light that the astrometers on Mount Wilson have been looking at left home before the American revolution.
1991 P. L. Manly Unusual Telescopes (1995) i. 52 Several large telescope objectives have been spit in order to form an instrument called the Heliometer or Astrometer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1783