An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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Moderately cold.

M.E., from O.E. col, PIE base *gel- "cold, to freeze."

Sard "cold, cool," from Mid.Pers. sart, Av. sarəta- "cold," Skt. śiśira- "cold," Ossetian sald "cold," L. calidus "warm," Lith. šaltas "cold," Welsh clyd "warm," PIE *keltos- "cool".

A highly unstable, → very massive star lying just below the empirical upper luminosity boundary in the → H-R diagram (→ Humphreys-Davidson limit) with spectral types ranging from late A to M. Cool hypergiants very likely represent a very short-lived evolutionary stage, and are distinguished by their high → mass loss rates. Many of them also show photometric and spectroscopic variability, and some have large → infrared excesses and extensive circumstellar ejecta. The evolutionary state of most of these stars is not known but they are all → post-main-sequence stars (Humphreys, 2008, IAUS 250).

→ cool; → hypergiant.

An agent of → cooling process.

→ cooling.

1) The process of losing heat; a falling temperature.
2) The participial adjective of to cool.

→ cool; → -ing.

A phenomenon observed in a → cluster of galaxies, whereby the cluster core loses energy via X-ray radiation because of the collisions between the gas particles. The radiation rate is proportional to the square of the density, and the → cooling time, which remains in the outer parts too large, becomes smaller than the → Hubble time in the core. As a result, the central regions of clusters of galaxies cool down; and since in the center of a cluster gas pressure and gravitational attraction are in equilibrium, the gas density has to rise to maintain the pressure necessary for supporting the outer layers of gas. To cause its density to rise, the cooled gas has to flow inward. As the densest gas, which cools quickest, is already concentrated in the center of the cluster, the inward flow will start at the center, soon followed by the outer layers. This flow of gas is called the cooling flow. Cooling flows are moderated through feedback due to the → supermassive black hole in the nucleus of the central galaxy. The gas inflow to the center fuels the → active galactic nucleus (AGN). The latter then heats again the gas through its → radio jets.

→ cooling; → flow.

The spectral → emission line through which the → colling process takes place.

→ cooling; → line.

The process of → radiative cooling in which the → temperature of an astrophysical system decreases due to the radiation of a major → emission line. For example, → molecular → emission at → millimeter wavelengths and → submillimeter wavelengths results in decreasing the temperature in molecular clouds. At temperatures less than 300 K, the main → coolant is the → carbon monoxide (CO) molecule which contains most of the carbon. Similarly, the → [C II] line is a major coolant in → photodissociation regions. See also → line cooling, → cooling time.

→ cooling; → process.

1) The time in which a → white dwarf cools to half its temperature. It depends on the composition, the mass, and the actual luminosity at some point in time. Cooling time is given by the relation: t = 8.8 × 10⁶ (12/A) (M)^5/7 (μ/2)^-2/7 (L)^-5/7 in years, where M and L are mass and luminosity in solar units, A the mean → atomic mass, and μ the → mean molecular weight (Iben & Tutukov, 1984, ApJ 282, 615). See also → Mestel theory; → white dwarf crystallization.
2) The time needed by a → plasma to radiate its thermal energy. The cooling time is directly proportional to the square root of the temperature and inversely proportional to the density. It turns out that for the → intercluster medium in a → cluster of galaxies this time is longer than the → age of the Universe. At the centers of some clusters, however, the cooling time is smaller than the age of the Universe due to the presence of a → cooling flow.

→ cooling; → time.

1) Any of a series of numbers which, in relation to a given → frame of reference, locate a point in space. See also: → astronomical coordinates→ canonical coordinates→ Cartesian coordinates→ celestial coordinates→ cylindrical coordinates→ equatorial coordinates→ Galactic coordinates→ generalized coordinates→ polar coordinates→ spherical coordinates→ precessed coordinates→ topocentric coordinates.
2) To place in the same order or rank; to organize in a concordant operation.

From L. co- "together," → com- + orinatus, p.p. of ordinare "to put in order, arrange," from ordo "order."

Hamârâ, from ham- "together," → com- + ârâ stem of ârâstan "to arrange, to set in order, adorn," Mid.Pers. ârây-, ârâstan "to arrange, adorn," O.Pers. râs- "to be right, straight, true," râsta- "straight, true" (Mod.Pers. râst "straight, true"), râd- "to prepare," Av. râz- "to direct, put in line, set," Av. razan- "order," Gk. oregein "to stretch out," L. regere "to lead straight, guide, rule," p.p. rectus "right, straight," Skt. rji- "to make straight or right, arrange, decorate," PIE base *reg- "move in a straight line."

Math: A system for locating each point in space by a set of numbers.
Astro: Values in a reference system used to relate the position of a body on the celestial sphere. Four main coordinate systems are utilized in astronomy: the equatorial, horizontal, ecliptic, and galactic coordinates systems.

→ coordinate; → system.

In relativity, the proper time in the specified reference frame. Because of time dilation, this may differ from the time experienced by any participant in the events being considered. It is the time basis (or coordinate) to be used in the theory of motions referred to this system.

→ coordinate; → time.

An international high-precision time standard based on the Greenwich Mean Time and adjusted to compensate for divergence from atomic time. It is based on the non-uniform rotation of the Earth (UT1) and the perfectly uniform international atomic time (TAI). UTC differs from TAI by the total number of → leap seconds, so that UT1-UTC stays smaller than 0.9 sec in absolute value.

→ coordinate; → universal; → time.

The act or state of coordinating or of being coordinated.

Verbal noun of → coordinate.

A chemical compound in which a group of atoms or ions are attached by a coordination bond to a usually metallic central atom or ion.

→ coordination; → compound.

Crystallography: The crystal structure of a → coordination compound.

→ coordination; → lattice.

1) Crystallography: The number of nearest neighbors of an atom or ion in a → crystal lattice. A large coordination number indicates that the structure is more closely packed.
2) Chemistry: The number of atoms, ions, or molecules surrounding a central atom or ion in a complex.

→ coordination; → number.

A general heading which covers a wide variety of complex views on → quantum theory. As the first and the founding interpretation of the → quantum mechanics, it was developed in the late 1920's mainly by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, but also Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and other physicists who made important contributions to the overall understanding of this field. Bohr expressed himself on the subject at various meetings and later published several articles and comments, but he never wrote a systematic and complete version of his views. There is not a unique Copenhagen Interpretation but various more or less complete versions, the common denominator of which is mainly the work of Bohr. Among those opposed to the Copenhagen Interpretation have been Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Louis de Broglie, Max Planck, David Bohm, Alfred Landé, Karl Popper, and Bertrand Russell. The Copenhagen Interpretation recognizes that the deterministic picture of the universe that works so well at the macroscopic level does not work for the world at the quantum level. The universe at the quantum level is predictable only in a statistical sense. This implies that we can never really know the nature of quantum phenomena. The four cornerstones of the Copenhagen Interpretation are: → wave-particle duality, the probability → wave function, the → uncertainty principle, and the significance of the → observer. The observer is of the utmost importance because he causes the reality to unfold in the way it does. The key feature of the Copenhagen Interpretation is a concept known as the → collapse of the wave function, for which there is no known physical explanation; see also → Schrodinger's cat.

Copenhagen, from Dan. København "merchant's port," from køber "merchant" ("buyer") + havn "port," from the fact that the originator and chief interpreter of this school was Niels Bohr whose headquarters was in Copenhagen; → interpretation.

A model of the Solar System proposed by Copernicus in which the Sun lies at the center with the planets orbiting around it. In this model, the Earth is a planet, and the Moon is in orbit around the Earth, not the Sun. The stars are distant objects that do not revolve around the Sun. Instead, the Earth is assumed to rotate once in 24 hours, causing the stars to appear to revolve around the Earth in the opposite direction. This model readily explained both the varying brightness of the planets and the → retrograde motion. In the Copernican model the planets executed uniform circular motion about the Sun. As a consequence, the model could not explain all the details of planetary motions on the celestial sphere without → epicycles of the → Ptolemaic system. However, the Copernican system required many fewer epicycles than its predecessor because it moved the Sun to the center. Hence, Copernicus borrowed elements from variants of the Ptolemaic system developed by Middle Eastern astronomers, mainly the Iranian Nasireddin Tusi (1201-1274) and the Damascene Ibn al-Shatir (1304-1375), which Copernicus apparently knew about.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the L. rendition of the Polish original name Mikołaj Kopernik, author of the epoch making work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published in 1543, in which he exposed his heliocentric system; → model.

1) Physics: A basic statement that there should be no "special" observers to explain the phenomena. The principle is based on the discovery by Copernicus that the motion of the heavens can be explained without the Earth being in the geometric center of the system, so the Aristotelian/Ptolemaic assumption that we are observing from a special position can be given up.
2) Exobiology: By extension, human beings and the Earth are not at the centre of the → Universe and therefore are not "special". Life would therefore be commonplace. Compare → anthropic principle.

→ Copernican model; → principle.

A system of forces acting on a body that all are in the same plane.

→ com- + planar adj. from → plane.