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planisphere

American  
[plan-uh-sfeer, pley-nuh-] / ˈplæn əˌsfɪər, ˈpleɪ nə- /

noun

  1. a map of half or more of the celestial sphere with a device for indicating the part of a given location visible at a given time.

  2. a projection or representation of the whole or a part of a sphere on a plane.


planisphere British  
/ ˈplænɪˌsfɪə /

noun

  1. a projection or representation of all or part of a sphere on a plane surface, such as a polar projection of the celestial sphere onto a chart

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of planisphere

1350–1400; plani- + sphere; replacing Middle English planisperie < Medieval Latin plānisphaerium

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The Getty exhibits a planisphere clock, demonstrating mean time and solar time in cities around the globe, as well as the timing of the tides in northern ports.

From The Guardian Jul. 29, 2011

In summer I sometimes come outside at night with my torch and my planisphere, which is two circles of plastic with a pin through the middle.

From "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon

The point shown each day on the planisphere, and, marked by the lieutenant, showed me the exact direction of the Nautilus.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

He watched the compass silently, then the manometer; and, going to the planisphere, placed his finger on a spot representing the southern seas.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

Typhon, his hands and feet horrid with serpents, and whose habitat in the Egyptian planisphere was under Scorpio, confined him in a chest and flung him into the Nile, under the 17th degree of Scorpio.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Albert Pike

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