microfadeometer
nounEtymology From micro- + fadeometer.
1
A device which focuses a bright light on a small part of a painting in order to measure how much it fades
- This includes an infrared spectroscope that has been used to figure out the chemical fingerprints of things as varied as asteroids and illegal drugs; a device called a microfadeometer, which trains an intense beam of light — 8 million lumens per square meter, compared with about 120,000 for a cloudless day with the sun at high noon — on a tiny area of a painting to see how it fades; a hulking Atlas Ci4000 Xenon Weather-Ometer, which simulates the effects of decades of sunlight and heat in just months; and a scanning electron microscope costing more than a million dollars.2007 February 14, Randy Kennedy, “Paints’ Mysteries Challenge Protectors of Modern Art”, in New York Times:
- Related terms
- microfadeometry