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  

/ ˌplænɪˈsfɛrɪk, 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

---

Other Word Forms

• planispheral adjective
• planispheric adjective
• planispherical adjective

Etymology

Origin of planisphere

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

Example Sentences

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

Then my eyes fell upon the vast planisphere spread upon the table, and I placed my finger on the very spot where the given latitude and longitude crossed.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Verne, Jules

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 Verne, Jules

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 Pike, Albert