astronomy

Borrowed from Old French astronomie, from Latin astronomia, from Ancient Greek ἀστρονομία (astronomía), from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”) + νόμος (nómos, “arranging, regulating”), related to νέμω (némō, “I deal out”). Surface analysis astro- +‎ -nomy.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈstɹɑnəˌmi/, /æˈstɹɑnəˌmi/

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• Rhymes: -ɒnəmi

astronomy (usually uncountable, plural astronomies)

1. The study of the physical universe beyond the Earth's atmosphere, including the process of mapping locations and properties of the matter and radiation in the universe.
2. (obsolete) Astrology.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 14:

     Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;

     And yet methinks I have astronomy ...

• The study of the physical processes which control matter and energy in the universe is commonly called astrophysics. The investigation of the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe itself is called cosmology.

• stargazing

• science

• cosmology
• uranology
• starlore