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The heliotrope is an instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight over great distances to mark the positions of participants in a land survey. The heliotrope was invented in 1821 by the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.
An astronomical instrument is a device for observing, measuring, or recording astronomical data. [ citation needed ] They are used in the scientific field of astronomy , a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos, with the object of explaining their origin and evolution over time.
Burt's solar compass or astronomical compass/sun compass is a surveying instrument that makes use of the Sun's direction instead of magnetism. William Austin Burt invented his solar compass in 1835. The solar compass works on the principle that the direction to the Sun at a specified time can be calculated if the position of the observer on the ...
The heliograph was a simple but effective instrument for instantaneous optical communication over long distances during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [2] Its main uses were military, surveying and forest protection work. Heliographs were standard issue in the British and Royal Australian armies until the 1960s, and were used by the ...
Heliometer at the Kuffner observatory (Vienna, Austria). A heliometer (from Greek ἥλιος hḗlios "sun" and measure) is an instrument originally designed for measuring the variation of the Sun's diameter at different seasons of the year, but applied now to the modern form of the instrument which is capable of much wider use.
For example, the thin dust cover on the surface of the lunar regolith is a result of micrometeorite bombardment. Hydrological features: the liquid involved can range from water to hydrocarbon and ammonia, depending on the location within the Solar System. This category includes the study of paleohydrological features (paleochannels, paleolakes ...
Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, and historical time period. [1] [2] [3] Before the mid-nineteenth century such tools were referred to as "natural philosophical" or "philosophical" apparatus and instruments, and older tools from antiquity to the Middle Ages (such as the astrolabe and pendulum clock) defy a more modern definition of "a ...
A pyranometer (from Greek πῦρ (pyr) 'fire' and ἄνω (ano) 'above, sky') is a type of actinometer used for measuring solar irradiance on a planar surface and it is designed to measure the solar radiation flux density (W/m 2) from the hemisphere above within a wavelength range 0.3 μm to 3 μm.