meridian circle

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. a transit instrument provided with a graduated vertical scale, used to measure the declinations of heavenly bodies and to determine the time of meridian transits.

---

meridian circle British  

noun

1. an instrument used in astronomy for determining the declination and right ascension of stars. It consists of a telescope attached to a graduated circle

---

Etymology

Origin of meridian circle

First recorded in 1540–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meridian circle

Its eastern arm is an apartment 22 by 24 feet, in which the meridian circle is to be placed.

From The Uses of Astronomy An Oration Delivered at Albany on the 28th of July, 1856 by Everett, Edward

The method of original graduation discovered by Edward Troughton is fully described in the Philosophical Transactions for 1809, as employed by himself to divide a meridian circle of 4 ft. radius.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various

Perhaps the most valuable measurements obtained in our modern observatories are yielded by that instrument of precision known as the meridian circle.

From The Story of the Heavens by Ball, Robert S. (Robert Stawell), Sir

Physicists were sometimes jocularly greeted among astronomers as "ribbon men," and no one even dreamed that their researches were one day to advance to equal recognition with results derived from micrometer, meridian circle, and heliometer.

From Astronomy: The Science of the Heavenly Bodies by Todd, David Peck

He ordered a great meridian circle, every part of which may be said to have been formed from his own designs.

From Great Astronomers by Ball, Robert S. (Robert Stawell), Sir