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A measuring instrument for measuring angles to a celestial body
Answer for the clue "A measuring instrument for measuring angles to a celestial body ", 6 letters:
octant
Alternative clues for the word octant
Word definitions for octant in dictionaries
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Octant \Oc"tant\, n. [L. octans, -antis. fr. octo eight. See Octave .] (Geom.) The eighth part of a circle; an arc of 45 degrees. (Astron. & Astrol.) The position or aspect of a heavenly body, as the moon or a planet, when half way between conjunction, ...
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Octant may refer to: Octant (plane geometry) , 1/8th of the full circle Octant (solid geometry) , one of the 8 divisions of the 3-D space by coordinate planes Octant (circle) , a circular segment Octant (instrument) for celestial navigation The Octant, ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
instrument for making angular measurements in navigation or astronomy, 1731, from Late Latin octans "the eighth part," from octo "eight" (see octa- ) on analogy of quadrant . In geometry, octant meant "the eighth part of a circle."
Usage examples of octant.
Torve the Trog was eating from a heaping plate of kumquats, Morovian sugar-grass, and ruvelo, a red root-paste common in this octant as a staple starch.
Sailors could tell their latitude by the angle of the sun off the horizon, had been doing it for a thousand years with cross-staffs, astrolabes, octants and sextants.
There were no instruments in the taxi, no built-in octants, no patent logs, no computers.