An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

The experiment carried out in 1927 that confirmed the → de Broglie hypothesis as to the → wave nature of the → electron. It showed that electrons scattering off crystals form a → diffraction pattern. The experimental setup consisted of a → nickle chloride → crystal as → target, an electron gun, and a → detector placed on a graduated circular scale. The intensity of the reflected electrons was measured as a function of angle and electron energy. The observations showed a strong intensity peak at a certain angle. The nickel crystal acted as a → diffraction grating. → Constructive interference occurred at a particular angle, where the peak intensity was observed in accord with → Bragg's law. Interestingly, the intent of the initial experiment was was not to confirm the de Broglie hypothesis. In fact, the discovery was made by accident.

Carried out by American physicists Clinton Davisson (1881-1958) and Lester Germer (1896-1971); → experiment.

The first daylight in the sky before sunrise, equivalent to morning astronomical → twilight; opposed to → dusk.

M.E. dawen (v.), from O.E. dagung, from dagian "to become day," from root of dæg→ day.

Pegâh, from Mid.Pers. pa gâh, literally "soon; near the time (of sunrise)," from pa "to; for; in; on; with; by; according to," O.Pers. upā, Av. upa "toward, with, on, in, in the time of" (cf. Skt. úpa "toward, together with, under, near to, on," Gk. hypo "under, below," L. sub "under," Ger. auf, E. up; PIE *upo "under, up from under, over") + gâh "time," O.Pers. gāθu-, Av. gātav-, gātu- "place, throne, spot" (Skt. gátu- "going, motion; free space for moving; place of abode," PIE *gwem- "to go, come").
Sepidedam, from sepidé "whitish; dawn," from sepid "white" (Mid.Pers. spêt, Av. spita- "white," Skt. śveta- "white," Lith. sviesti "to shine," svaityti "to brighten," P.Gmc. *khwitaz, O.E. hwit, E. white, Ger. weiss, PIE *kwintos/*kwindos "bright") + dam "moment, time; to blow, breathe; smoke" (Mod./Mid.Pers. damidan "to blow, breathe," Av. dāδmainya- "blowing up," Skt. dahm- "to blow," dhámati "blows," Gk. themeros "austere, dark-looking," Lith. dumti "to blow," PIE dhem-/dhemə- "to smoke, to blow").
Bâmdâd, from Mid.Pers. bâmdât, Av. bāmya- "the dawn," from bā- "to shine" (cf. Skt. bhā- "light, brightness," Gk. phainomai "to appear, shine, gleam," Arm. banam "to open, uncover," PIE *bhā- "to shine").

NASA's mission to explore the two largest objects in the → asteroid belt, the asteroid Vesta and the → dawarf planet Ceres, gathering data relating to their composition, internal structure, density and shape. Launched in September 2007, Dawn entered the orbit of → Vesta in July 2011 and spent 16 months there before leaving for → Ceres. It entered Ceres orbit on March 6, 2015. The Dawn spacecraft is made of aluminium and graphite composite, it has a dry mass of 747.1 kg and a mass of 1217.7 kg when fully fuelled prior to launch. The spacecraft is a box-shaped design measuring 1.64m × 1.27m × 1.77m. Dawn ran out of fuel on Nov. 1, 2018, but the spacecraft will continue to orbit Ceres for several decades.

→ dawn; → spacecraft.

The length of time it takes Earth (or a planet) to rotate once on its axis relative to some external reference. The day is measured in several ways, depending on this reference, → sidereal day; → solar day; → mean solar day.

M.E., from O.E. dæg (cf. Ger. Tag, Swedish and Danish dag "day"), from PIE base *dhegh- "to burn." Not related to L. dies "day" (from *dyeu- "to shine," → diurnal), but rather to Av. dag- "to burn," dažaiti "burns," Mod.Pers. dâq "hot," Skt. dah- "to burn," dáhati, Gk. tephra "ash," L. fovere "to boil," Albanian djeg "to burn," Russ. žeč' "to burn," Lith. dagas "hot season," degti "to burn," O.Prus. dagis "summer."

Ruz "day," from Mid.Pers. rôc, O.Pers. raucah-, Av. raocah- "light, luminous; daylight," Skt. roka- "brightness, light," cognate with Gk. leukos "white, clear," L. lux "light" (also lumen, luna), PIE base *leuk- "light, brightness". The Persian words rowšan "bright, clear," foruq "light," and afruxtan "to light, kindle" also belong to this family, as well as the E. light, Ger. Licht, and Fr. lumière.

A → meteor detected using → radar techniques during daylight or when skies are cloudy.

→ day; → light; → meteor.

A system of adjusting the official local time in some countries in order to provide a better match between the hours of daylight and the active hours of work and school. The "saved" daylight is spent on evening activities which get more daylight, rather than being "wasted" while people sleep past dawn. Although known also as summer time, it includes the spring season and nearly half of autumn.

→ day; → light; saving, from save, from O.Fr. sauver, from L.L. salvare "to secure," from L. salvus "safe," PIE *solwos, from base *sol- "whole" (cf. O.Pers. haruva-, Av. haurva- "whole, intact," Mod.Pers. har "every, all; any," Skt. sarva- "whole, entire," Gk. holos "whole"); → time.

Vaxt, written vaqtوقت but pronounced vaxtوخت, is a Pers. word meaning "portion (of time)". Its variants and related words in Mod./Mid.Pers. are: baxt "what is alloted, fate, fortune," baxš "portion, part, division," baxšidan, baxtan "to divide, distribute, grant," Av. base bag- "to attribute, allot, distribute," baxš- "to apportion, divide, give to," baxta- "what is alloted (luck, fortune)," baxədra- "part, portion," baγa- "master, god," O.Pers. bāji- "tribute, tax," cf. Skt. bhaj- "to share, divide, distribute, apportion," bhájati "divides," bhakta- "alloted; occupied with; a share; food or a meal, time of eating?," Gk. phagein "to eat (to have a share of food)"; PIE base *bhag- "to share out, apportion."
nur→ light.
anduzi, verbal noun of anduxtan "to save; acquire, gather," from Mid.Pers. handôxtan, handôz- "to gain, acquire, amass," from *ham-tuj-, from ham- "together," → com- + *tuj- "to save, gather, (re)pay," cf. Skt. tuj- "to promote, be strong, move quickly."

The time interval when the Sun is above the horizon for a given position.

→ day; → time.

Ruzhangâm, from ruz→ day + hangâm "time, hour, season," Mid.Pers. hangâm "time, epoch, season," Av. ham-gam- "to meet together," from ham- "together," → com- + gam- "to come; to go," jamaiti "goes," O.Pers. gam- "to come; to go," Mod.Pers. âmadan "to come," Skt. gamati "goes," Gk. bainein "to go, walk, step," L. venire "to come," Tocharian A käm- "to come," O.H.G. queman "to come," E. come; PIE root *gwem- "to go, come."

A → white dwarf whose spectrum shows strong He I in the absence of hydrogen or metal lines.

D short for → dwarf; B a convention; → white.

A → white dwarf showing a continuous spectrum with no readily apparent lines.

D short for → dwarf; C a convention; → white.

According to the → de Broglie hypothesis, which has been verified by experiments, every → particle of matter, whatever its nature, has a characteristic → wavelength associated with its wavelike quantum aspect. The de Broglie equation gives the equivalent wavelength of a moving particle: λ = h/mv, where h is → Planck's constant, m the mass of the particle, and v its velocity.
See also: → de Broglie wavelength, → Davisson-Germer experiment.

Named after Louis Victor de Broglie (1892-1987), French physicist, creator of a new field in physics, wave mechanics, who won the Nobel prize in physics in 1929. → equation

The suggestion by Louis de Broglie in 1924 whereby if → electromagnetic waves possess particle properties (→ particle nature), then it might be reasonable to suppose that material particles, such as → electrons, should possess wave properties (→ wave nature). The de Broglie hypothesis was based on the intuitive feeling that nature seems to have strong attachment to symmetry. In other words, if radiation has particle-like properties, then material particles should possess wave-like properties. At the time no direct experimental evidence was present for the validity of this suggestion. The first confirmation of de Broglie's hypothesis was provided by the → Davisson-Germer experiment. See also → wave-particle duality;

→ de Broglie equation; → hypothesis.

The wavelength of the wave associated with a → particle as given by the → de Broglie equation.

→ de Broglie equation; → wavelength.

A solution to → Einstein's field equations of → general relativity which contains no ordinary matter (Ω_M = 0) or radiation (Ω_R = 0), is → Euclidean (k = 0), but has a → cosmological constant (Ω_Λ > 0). The Universe expands exponentially forever. This solution was the first model expanding of → expanding Universe. See also → empty Universe, → Milne Universe.

After the Dutch mathematician and physicist Willem de Sitter (1872-1934) who worked out the model in 1917; → universe.

A mathematical expression describing the → surface brightness profile of a typical → elliptical galaxy, whereby the projected luminosity distribution varies as exp(-R)^1/4.

→ de Vaucouleurs radius; → law.

An → isophotal radius of a galaxy, where the → surface brightness in the B band falls to 25 mag arcsec^-2.

After the French-born American astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs (1918-1995); → radius.

A widely used scheme for classifying galaxies which is an extension to the → Hubble sequence Hubble sequence. De Vaucouleurs introduced a more elaborate classification system for spiral galaxies (→ spiral galaxy) based on three morphological characteristics:
1) Bars. Galaxies are divided on the basis of the presence or absence of a nuclear → stellar bar. SA denotes spiral galaxies without bars, complementing Hubble's use of SB for → barred spirals. De Vaucouleurs also defined an intermediate class, SAB, containing weakly barred spirals. → Lenticular galaxies are also classified as unbarred (SA0) or barred (SB0), with the notation S0 reserved for those galaxies for which it is impossible to tell if a bar is present or not.
2) Rings. Galaxies possessing ring-like structures are denoted (r), those without rings (s), and transition galaxies (rs).
3) Spiral arms. These are divided into the following subclasses: Sd (SBd), that is diffuse, broken arms made up of individual stellar clusters and nebulae; very faint central → bulge; Sm (SBm): irregular in appearance; no bulge component; and Im, that is highly irregular galaxy.
Galaxies in the classes Sm and Im are termed the → Magellanic spirals and irregulars, respectively. The → Large Magellanic Cloud is of type SBm, while the → Small Magellanic Cloud is an irregular (Im).

→ de Vaucouleurs radius; → system.

A prefix occurring in loanwords from L. to indicate:
1) Opposition, reversal: decentralize, decode, deactivate, de-emphasis.
2) Removal from: dethrone.
3) Reduction, degradation: declass, devalue.
4) reversal: detract, detect.
5) Derivation from: derive, deverbative.

M.E., from O.Fr. de-, des-, partly from L. de- "from, down, away," and partly from L. → dis-.

Prefix vâ- denoting "reversal, opposition; separation; repetition; open; off; away," variant of bâz-, from Mid.Pers. abâz-, apâc-; O.Pers. apa- [pref.] "away, from;" Av. apa- [pref.] "away, from," apaš [adv.] "toward the back;" cf. Skt. ápāñc "situated behind."
Foru- "down, downward; below; beneath," Mid.Pers. frôt "down, downward," O.Pers. fravata "forward, downward," Skt. pravát- "a sloping path, the slope of a mountain."

Transition from an excited energy state to a lower energy level, as in spectral line formation or particle emission from an atomic nucleus.

From → de- + → excitation.

To cause a spacecraft to leave its operational orbit to enter a descent phase or to change course.

From → de- + → orbit.

Of a spacecraft, the act or process of departing from an operational orbit. → de-orbit.

Noun form of → de-orbit.