observatory
/əbˈzɜːvətri/ (bre, ipa) · /əbˈzɜːrvətɔːri/ (ame, ipa) · /əb-ˈzər-və-ˌtȯr-ē/ (ame, mw)
observatory — noun
1. a place, often on a hill or mountain, where scientists use telescopes and other
a place, often on a hill or mountain, where scientists use telescopes and other instruments to study the stars, the planets, or weather patterns.
Visitors to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich can stand on the prime meridian line.
proper-noun pattern: the [Name] Observatory
The new observatory sits on top of Mauna Kea, far above the clouds.
typical location: on top of / high on a mountain
Dr. Lin spent every clear night at the observatory, photographing distant galaxies.
Heavy clouds forced the observatory to close its main telescope for the week.
Staff at the weather observatory recorded the strongest winds in fifty years.
- planetarium
a related building, but for projecting images of the night sky onto a dome — not for real telescopic observation
- telescope station
informal descriptive phrase; 'observatory' is the standard term
文法句型
the + Observatory (in proper names)
用法筆記
Countable; almost always used with 'the'. In proper names, capitalised as 'Observatory' (the Royal Observatory, the Paris Observatory). The astronomical sense is most common; weather and solar observatories are also normal collocations.