An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The degree of divergence of an ellipse from a circle.

From elliptic-, from elliptical + → -ity.

Beyzigi, from beyzi, → ellipse, + -igi, → -ity.

The speed an object must attain in order to free itself from the gravitational influence of an astronomical body. It is the minimum velocity for the object to enter a parabolic trajectory. The escape velocity is given by: V_e = (2GM/r)^1/2, where G is the → gravitational constant, M is the mass of the astronomical body, and r is its radius. The escape velocity of the Earth is about 11.2 km s^-1 that of the Moon is 2.4 km s^-1. The escape velocity from the Sun is about 618 km s^-1, and the solar escape velocity from Earth's orbit is about 42.1 km s^-1.

→ escape; → velocity.

A property observed in certain materials characterized by the presence of a spontaneous electric polarization even in the absence of an external electric field. In the ferroelectric state the center of positive charge of the material does not coincide with the center of negative charge. This phenomenon is explained by spontaneous alignment of these permanent moments along the same direction. The term comes from the similarity with → ferromagnetism, but iron is not a ferroelectric. Ferroelectricity disappears above a critical temperature. Ferroelectric materials have been a fertile field for the study of → phase transitions.

→ ferro-; → electricity.

The metallicity derived from observations of the gas component of a galaxy. It is mainly measured from optical → emission lines using primarily oxygen abundances. The gas → metallicity is one of the most important tools to investigate the evolutionary history of galaxies. The reason is that the gas metallicity of galaxies is basically determined by their star-formation history. Recent observational studies has allowed the investigation of the gas metallicity even in → high redshift beyond z = 1, such as → Lyman break galaxies, submillimeter-selected high-z galaxies, and so on. Such observational insights on the metallicity evolution of galaxies provide constraints on the theoretical understandings of the formation and the evolution of galaxies.

→ gas; → metallicity.

The total electric flux ψ out of an arbitrary closed surface in free space is equal to the net charge within the surface divided by the → permittivity. In differential form: ∇ . E = ρ/ε₀, where ρ is the → charge density and ε₀ the permittivity. The integral form of the law: ∫E . dS = Q/ε₀ (closed surface integral). This is one of the four → Maxwell's equations.

→ gauss; → law; → electricity.

The velocity at which the envelope of a → wave packet propagates, v_gr = dω/dk, at k₀ (the central value of k). The group velocity can be equal to, larger, or smaller than the → phase velocity.

→ group; → velocity.

The ratio of an amount of heat, dQ, transferred to a body in some process to the corresponding change in the temperature of the body: C = dQ/dT. The heat capacity depends upon the mass of the body, its chemical composition, thermodynamic state, and the kind of process employed to transfer the heat. The word "capacity" may be misleading because it suggests the essentially meaningless statement "the amount of heat a body can hold," whereas what is meant is the heat added per unit temperature rise. → specific heat.

→ heat; → capacity.

1) In particle physics, the projection of the spin of an elementary particle on the direction of momentum.
2) In fluid mechanics, → kinetic helicity.
3) In magnetohydrodynamics, → magnetic helicity.

From → helix + → -ity.

A high-precision echelle spectrograph built for exoplanet findings and installed on the ESO's 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. The first light was achieved in February 2003. HARPS has discovered dozens of exoplanets, making it the most successful planet finder behind the Kepler space observatory. HARPS can detect movements as small as 0.97 m s^-1 (3.5 km h^-1), with an effective precision of the order of 30 cm s^-1, and a → resolving power of 120,000 (Mayor et al., 2003, ESO Messengar 114, 20).

→ high; → accuracy; → radial; → velocity; → planet; → search; → -er.

A population of neutral or partly ionized gas clouds in the → Galactic halo which are seen as high-altitude structures in the → atomic hydrogen  → 21 cm emission at high radial velocities (v_LSR > 100 km/sec). They have substantial neutral → column densities (> 10¹⁹ cm^-2) and their → metallicities range from 0.1 to about 1.0 times solar. The distances to the majority of them remain unknown. They may represent the continuing infall of matter onto the → Local Group. See also → compact high-velocity clouds.

→ high; → velocity; → cloud.

A star whose velocity is so great that it will escape the → gravitational potential of our → Galaxy. Depending on the location and direction of motion, this criterion typically corresponds to a stellar velocity in the Galactic → rest frame larger than 400 km s^-1, and up to about 1200 km s^-1. The nature of the HVSs spans a wide range of types from → OB stars, to metal-poor → F-type stars and G/K dwarfs. While there is evidence from many late-type B HVSs in the → halo to originate from the Galactic → supermassive black hole (SMBH), other HVSs seem to originate from the → galactic disk. HVSs can obtain their large velocities from a number of different processes:
1) → Tidal disruption of → close binary stars by the central SMBH of the Milky Way. In this process one star is captured by the SMBH while the other is ejected at high speed via the → gravitational slingshot mechanism.
2) Exchange encounters in other dense stellar environments between hard binaries (→ hard binary) and → massive stars may cause stars to be ejected and escape our Galaxy.
3) Disruption of close binaries via → supernova explosions. The → runaway velocities of both ejected stars can reach large values when asymmetric supernovae are considered, i.e. when the newborn → neutron star receives a momentum kick at birth.
(see, e.g., T. M. Tauris, 2014, and references therein, arXiv:1412.0657).

→ hyper-; → velocity; → star.

The velocity of a particle at some one instant of time, or at some one point of its path. It can be defined as the limiting value of the average velocity when the second point is taken closer and closer to the first point.

→ instantaneous; → velocity.

A bump appearing in the plot of stellar → opacity versus temperature. The ionization of the heaviest → chemical elements, especially → iron, which is the most abundant heavy metal, produces a large number of weak spectral → absorption lines. These lines dominate the stellar opacity in the temperature range 10⁵-10⁶ K and furnish two local opacity peaks: a large peak around 2 × 10⁵ K and a smaller one around 1.5 × 10⁶ K (Rogers & Iglesias, 1992, ApJS 79, 507; Iglesias et al. 1992, ApJ, 397, 717).

→ iron; → opacity; → peak.

The condition in which the wavefronts arriving from different parts of a region of sky undergo almost identical phase perturbations. See also → isoplanatic patch.

→ isoplanatic; → patch.

The angular velocity of a point in a circular orbit around a central mass. It is given by: Ω_K = (GM/r³)^1/2, where G is the → gravitational constant, M is the mass of the gravitating object, and r is the radius of the orbit of the point around the object.

→ Keplerian; → angular; → velocity.

The velocity of an object orbiting another object according to → Kepler's laws.

→ Keplerian; → orbital; → velocity.

In fluid mechanics, a quantity that describes helical flow. It is defined by the integrated scalar product of the velocity field and the → vorticity: K_K = ∫ dVu . (∇ x u). In the absence of magnetic field, this quantity is conserved by the → Euler equation. See also → magnetic helicity.

→ kinetic; → helicity.

Same as → Kramers' law.

Named after Henrik Kramers (1894-1952); → law.

The rate of change of the position of an object that is traveling along a straight path. In other words, the velocity of an object when its moving direction is not changing. For a given → angular velocity (ω), the linear velocity v of the particle is directly proportional to the distance of the particle from the center of the circular path: v = ω ×r.

→ linear; → velocity.

A medium in which chemical elements have abundances smaller than the solar values.

→ low; → metallicity; → environment.