An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A telescope that moves vertically along the → altitude circle of a celestial body and horizontally along its → azimuth circle.

→ altazimuth; → instrument.

A device used to observe and study → astronomical objects.

→ astronomical; → instrument.

1) An object used for producing music.
2) A measuring device designed to record the present value of a quantity under observation.

From O.Fr. instrument, from L. instrumentem "a tool, apparatus, furniture," from instruere "to arrange, furnish," from → in- + struc- (var. s. of struere "to put together") + -tus p.p. suffix.

1) Sâz "(musical) instrument; apparatus; harness; furniture," from sâzidan, sâxtan "to build, make, fashion; to adapt, adjust, be fit" (from Mid.Pers. sâxtan, sâz-, Manichean Parthian s'c'dn "to prepare, to form;" Av. sak- "to understand, to mark," sâcaya- (causative) "to teach").
2) Sâzâl, from sâz + -âl, → -al.

The correctable part of the inaccuracy of a measuring instrument.

→ instrument; → error.

Of, relating to, or performed by or with one or more instruments.
See also:
→ instrumental broadening, → instrumental flexure, → instrumental magnitude, → instrumental profile, → instrumental response function, → instrumentalism, → instrumentalist.

Adj. of → instrument.

The broadening of a point source caused by the response functions of the telescope and the instrument used.

→ instrumental; → broadening.

An image defect caused by the mechanical flexure of materials; for example the curved-shape image of a long slit in a spectrograph.

→ instrumental; → flexure.

The magnitude derived directly using → Pogson's relation. The instrumental magnitude depends on → detector→ sensitivity, telescope → aperture, exact filter → bandpass, etc. It must be → calibrated to some standard → photometric system.

→ instrumental; → magnitude.

The shape of instrument's response to the input signal. The Fourier transform of the source function by the instrument function.

→ instrumental; → profile.

The mathematical form of the way an instrument affects the input signal.

→ instrumental; → response; → function.

In the philosophy of science, the pragmatic view that a scientific theory is no more than a useful instrument or tool for getting our experiences in some order.

→ instrumental; → -ism.

An astronomer, engineer, or technician who is concerned with the construction of astronomical instruments.

→ instrumental + → -ist.

1) The design and use of scientific instruments for detection, measurement, control, computation, and so on.
2) The ensemble of instruments contained in a given machine or system.

From → instrument + -ation a combination of -ate and -ion, used to form verbal nouns.

Sâzâlgari, noun from sâzâlgar, → instrumentalist. Sâzâlgân, with plurality suffix -gân.

An instrument designed to observe objects when they cross the meridian.

→ meridian; → observation.

An angle measuring device mounted on or built into a wall. For astronomical purposes, these walls were oriented so they lie precisely on a meridian.

→ mural; → instrument.

An instrument that either processes light waves to enhance an image or analyzes light waves to determine one of a number of characteristic properties.

→ optical; → instrument.

An instrument especially designed for solar observations.

→ solar; → instrument.

An instrument mounted so as to allow it to be pointed only at objects in the sky crossing the local meridian. Also known as → transit telescope.

→ transit; → instrument.