astroscope

From astro- +‎ -scope.

astroscope (plural astroscopes)

1. An old astronomical instrument formed of two cones, on whose surface the constellations were delineated.
   • 1823, Encyclopaedia Britannica, page 190:

     The astroscope is the invention of Willliam Shuckhard, formerly professor of mathematics at Tubingen, who published a treatise expressly on it in 1698.

   • 1890, History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association: 1870-1879, page 404:

     Amid all his exacting toil with "Mural arch Or zenith sector, or the quadrant's limb," with telescope and astroscope, with planetarium, with lunarium and orrery, calculating the reciprocal attraction and repulsion among the heavenly bodies, it is not surprising that he could get his orrery and Orra White a good deal mixed up, not, finding attraction without repulsion among earthly bodies, that he should get confused by conflicting facts and turn to his assistant for an explanation of this puzzling phenomena.

   • 1968, Missouri Historical Society, The Bulletin - Missouri Historical Society - Volume 24, page 273:

     There is also a collection of "Penny Arcade" features, such as mutoscopes, cailoscopes, astroscopes, and a "life-size Esmeralda Fortune Teller."

   • 2017, John R. Millburn, Adams of Fleet Street, Instrument Makers to King George III:

     An advertisement on the last page stated that the 'astroscope' was made by the optician James Mann, while the 'astronomical instrument' was made by Thomas Heath.

2. An astrological chart.
   • 1981, Arthur Barker, Astroscope Profile - Volume 1, page 11:

     You can also construct your astroscope on a wheel, just as professional astrologers do.

   • 1997, Alfred A. Yuson, FVR, Sin, Erap, Jawô & Other Peeves, page 26:

     I've been around, you know, talking to a lot of people. Hearing tsismis and confidences, analyses and off-the-record stuff. Reading astroscopes, getting the pulse.

   • 2015, Henry Holloway, Swing, Sing and All That Jazz:

     Now let's peek into the astroscope of this intriguing musical man with the distinctive voice.

3. (chiefly science fiction) A telescope powerful enough to see astronomical bodies.
   • 1952, Moody's Industrials - Volume 24, page 2825:

     astroscopes and other high precision optical devices

   • 1987, Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, page 24:

     […] refractors, catadioptric reflectors, astroscopes as well as binoculars.

   • 2012, Justin Mazzotta, Corp.Se Commander: Tactics of Corporate Warfare, page 39:

     I, for one, want to go back to when there were only seven planets! Before the lies of the astroscopes, telling us there are two more in the sky named Neptune and Pluto!

   • 2013, Mitch Benn ·, Terra:

     Well, think about it; we can see Rrth from here using astroscopes and the like, but the light we're seeing left Rrth many orbits ago.

   • 2017, Philip Byron Philips, Towers of Royal City, page 46:

     They tempted him into this thing, setting out an astroscope on the hills. . .hoping to be the first ones to spot aliens!

   • 2023, A. Garland Mears, Mercia, the astronomer royal:

     In a spacious apartment on the third floor which contained two powerful telescopes, constructed on principles of entirely modern invention, being capable of revealing the distant suns to an extent never before dreamt of, was Mercia surrounded by curious astroscopes, stellar-spectroscopes, and wonderfully constructed cameras, which delineated in an instant the starry heights, the glory of which has been the ambition of astronomers in all ages to fathom.

• astroscopy

• rotascopes, sporecoats