radio astronomy

noun

: astronomy dealing with radio waves received from outside the earth's atmosphere
radio astronomer noun
radio astronomical adjective

Examples of radio astronomy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Intensity interferometry, a method traditionally used in radio astronomy, is able to cut through these distortions and involves measuring intensity fluctuations of light received at separate detectors. Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 May 2025 The possibility is a bright spot for American radio astronomy. Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 28 May 2025 Other radio astronomy measurements have pinpointed our galactic coordinates with considerable precision: the sun is about 26,000 light-years from the center—a bit less than halfway out across the 120,000-light-year-wide disk—and located very close to the exact midplane of the Milky Way. Phil Plait, Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2025 Self-complementary antennas, which have a nearly constant wide-range frequency, are used for TV reception, wireless broadband, and radio astronomy. IEEE Spectrum, 8 Dec. 2020 See All Example Sentences for radio astronomy

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of radio astronomy was in 1948

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Cite this Entry

“Radio astronomy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/radio%20astronomy. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.

Kids Definition

radio astronomy

noun
: astronomy dealing with electromagnetic waves of radio frequency received from outside the earth's atmosphere
radio astronomer noun

More from Merriam-Webster on radio astronomy

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