optical astronomy

noun

1. the branch of observational astronomy using telescopes to observe or photograph celestial objects in visible light.

Other Words From

• optical astronomer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of optical astronomy¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

“We expect a really dramatic increase in the number of satellites that has the potential to create a lot of challenges for optical astronomy and for other users of the night sky as well,” Howard says.

From Scientific American

AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan has argued his fleet, which would pale in comparison with the tens of thousands of planned Starlink crafts, won’t interfere with optical astronomy.

From Science Magazine

His team was familiar with the use of polarimetry in optical astronomy to probe magnetic fields in distant objects, such as the clouds of dust and gas known as nebulae, and they started to study how it might be applied to the Moon.

From Science Magazine

Yvette Cendes, a radio astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says that radio astronomy hasn’t been as effective as optical astronomy at finding ‘transient’ objects — space objects like pulsars that come in and out of view.

From Scientific American

Europe, in contrast, took the lead over the U.S. in ground-based optical astronomy years ago and is well into construction of an ELT of its own in Chile.

From Scientific American