minute of arc
1
7.9
- noun
- /ˈmɪnɪt əv ɑrk/
- Specialized
:
minuto de arco
- You factor in all the conditions, like range to target, minute of arc, and... windage.
Examples
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Typically, the optimum distance is that at which the pixels are separated by 1 minute of arc.
Academic text (1992) -
For much of the 1980s and 1990s, the most advanced eye-tracking equipment options would allow for exceptionally high degrees of accuracy, i.e., less than 1 minute of arc, but could not critically accommodate head movements or individuals who required glasses for viewing.
Academic text (2013) -
This recording system has a relative spatial resolution in the order of a few minutes of arc, and its absolute accuracy is better than 1/3, depending on calibration.
Academic text (2013) -
There are two main components: one, called Sagittarius A West, is compact; the other, Sagittarius A East, has the shape of an elliptical ring roughly 3 minutes of arc, or 25 light-years, in diameter.
Academic text (1992) -
The accuracy of equatoria was very good, giving planetary longitude positions that Gingerich states were within fifteen minutes of arc of the Ptolemaic predictions.
Academic text (2005) -
Averaging about 60 km/s outside a region one minute of arc from the center, it rises to about 125 km/s within 15 seconds of arc, or 1.3 light years, indicating that there is an excess mass of approximately six million times that of the Sun.
Academic text (1992) -
In every degree, there are 60 minutes of arc.
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Typically, the optimum distance is that at which the pixels are separated by 1 minute of arc.
-
The accuracy of equatoria was very good, giving planetary longitude positions that were within fifteen minutes of arc of the Ptolemaic predictions.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from 'minute' in its angular-measure sense (one sixtieth of a degree) plus 'arc' (a curved segment), so the overall meaning 'one sixtieth of a degree along an arc' follows directly from its parts. This construction is a standard technical compositional pattern (also found cross-linguistically), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings will understand it.
Etymology
Minute of arc comes from an old way of dividing a circle: a minute was one small part when a degree was split into 60 pieces, and each piece is a tiny part of the circle, a arc. So a minute of arc is literally 'one sixtieth of a degree' and is used to measure very small angles, for example for stars or precise maps.