pointed observation

The term pointed observation is one of the terms used in astronomy for the observation of a specific source by pointing some telescope at it and carrying out the observation. The term is used when surveys are under discussion: a survey can consist of observations covering an area of the sky to see what's there rather than the above-described point observation. The term is perhaps most often used for space telescopes that both survey by means of a series of observations that cover a survey field, but also carry out independent observations of individual targets; the term is used to distinguish between these two cases. However, some surveys carry out a series of individual pointed observations for a list of targets.