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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 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.
Most heliographs of the 19th and 20th centuries were completely manual. [6] The steps of aligning the heliograph on the target, co-aligning the reflected sunbeam with the heliograph, maintaining the sunbeam alignment as the sun moved, transcribing the message into flashes, modulating the sunbeam into those flashes, detecting the flashes at the receiving end, and transcribing the flashes into ...
The observatory is an example of the Ptolemaic positional astronomy which was shared by many civilizations. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The monument features instruments operating in each of the three main classical celestial coordinate systems : the horizon-zenith local system, the equatorial system, and the ecliptic system. [ 2 ]
For example, Richard of Wallingford's clock (c. 1330) consisted essentially of a star map rotating behind a fixed rete, similar to that of an astrolabe. [ 39 ] Many astronomical clocks use an astrolabe-style display, such as the famous clock at Prague , adopting a stereographic projection (see below) of the ecliptic plane.
This glossary of geography terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in geography and related fields, including Earth science, oceanography, cartography, and human geography, as well as those describing spatial dimension, topographical features, natural resources, and the collection, analysis, and visualization of geographic ...
Weather stations typically have these following instruments: Thermometer for measuring air and sea surface temperature; Barometer for measuring atmospheric pressure; Hygrometer for measuring humidity; Anemometer for measuring wind speed; Pyranometer for measuring solar radiation; Rain gauge for measuring liquid precipitation over a set period ...