heliostat
English
![](../I/m/Heliostat.jpg)
A heliostat. In this case and most others, the mirror rotates on a computer-controlled, motor-driven alt-azimuth mount.
Etymology
Circa 1750, from New Latin heliostata, from Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”) + Latin status (“stationary”).
Noun
heliostat (plural heliostats)
- 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.
Translations
device to continuously reflect sunlight toward a predetermined target, almost always in some fixed direction, despite the sun's motions in the sky
|
This article is issued from
Wiktionary.
The text is licensed under Creative
Commons - Attribution - Sharealike.
Additional terms may apply for the media files.