Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word heliostat. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word heliostat, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say heliostat in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word heliostat you have here. The definition of the word heliostat will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofheliostat, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
A device that includes a plane mirror which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating for the sun's apparent motions in the sky. The target may be a physical object, distant from the heliostat, or a direction in space, and is almost always stationary relative to the heliostat, so the light is reflected in a fixed direction.
2024, Jasper Fforde, Red Side Story, Hodder & Stoughton, page 90:
In reply, the clockwork heliostats that had tracked the sun to reflect light into the indoor areas during the day now swivelled towards the street lamp to do the same for the night.
Translations
device to continuously reflect sunlight toward a predetermined target, almost always in some fixed direction, despite the sun's motions in the sky
