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

A plant, Allium cepa, of the amaryllis family, having an edible, succulent, pungent bulb (Dictionary.com).

M.E., from Anglo-French union, O.Fr. oignon "onion," from L. unio-, also "pearl," literally "one, unity;" sense connection is the successive layers of an onion.

Mid.Pers. payâz, payâc; cf. Sogd. piyâk "onion," Yidgha piq, Vakhi piûk, Yazghulami piyeq, Kurd. pivaz; maybe related to PIE *peuk- "to prick, to sting, to stab," because of its pungent taste; cf. Gk. peukos "sting, prick, cusp, peak."

An adverb meaning without others or anything further; alone; solely; exclusively. → if and only if.

M.E., from O.E. anlic, from ân, → one.

Ivâz, from Mid.Pers. êvâz/êvâc, from Proto-Iranian *aiua-ka-; cf. Pers. yek, → one.
Tanhâ "only," from Mid.Pers. tanihâ "alone," literally "by one person," from tan "body, person;" Av. tanu- "body, person;" cf. Skt. tanu- "body, person;" perhaps related to Proto-Iranian *tan-, PIE root *ten- "to extend, stretch," → tension.

1) Classical philosophy: That part of metaphysics which is concerned with the nature of existence or the essence of things.
2) Contemporary philosophy: The conceptions of existence in general, such as those dealt with in various versions of existentialism.
3) Informatics: A description of knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships that can exist between those concepts. An ontology is designed for the purpose of enabling knowledge sharing and reuse.

From Mod.L. ontologia, from Gk. on (genitive ontos) "being" (pr.p. of einai "to be"), akin to L. esse "to be;" Pers. hastan, astan "to be," hasti "existence, being," as below; + -logia, → -logy.

Hasti-šenâsi, from hasti "existence," from hastan "to be," → entity, + -šenâsi, → -logy.

A huge theoretical cloud of → comets surrounding the Sun between about 50,000 and 100,000 → astronomical units and thought to be the reservoir of → long-period comets entering the inner solar system.

Named after Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-1992), a Dutch astronomer who proposed its existence in 1950. He also made major contributions to our knowledge of the structure and rotation of the Milky Way Galaxy; → cloud.

1) The upper limit for the density of all matter in the plane of the Galaxy near the Sun's locality, as calculated from the velocities and distribution of stars in relation to the gravitational field of the Galactic disk. The value is 0.14 solar masses per cubic parsec, or 9.5 x 10^-24 g cm³.
2) The outer boundary of the → Oort cloud. The current estimate is about 100,000 → astronomical units from the Sun, which is approximately one third of the distance to the nearest star → Alpha Centauri.

→ Oort cloud; → limit.

A 40-year period of unusually low → solar activity, from about 1010 to 1050. See also the → Maunder minimum.

→ Oort cloud; → minimum.

Two parameters, denoted A and B, that describe the major features of our Galaxy's differential rotation in the Sun's neighbourhood. A is one-half of the shear and equal to +14.4 ± 1.2 km s^-1 kpc^-1, and B, one-half of the vorticity, equal to -12.0 ± 2.8 km s^-1 pc^-1.

→ Oort cloud; → constant.

1) General: The state or quality of being opaque.
2) A measure of the absorption of photons on their way from the stellar center to the surface. Opacity depends upon the frequency of the radiation, the density, the chemical composition, and the thermodynamic state of the gas. For a given density, the hotter the gas the lower the opacity, since the gas absorbs less readily, as described by → Kramers' law. Conversely, the cooler the gas the higher the opacity. See also → stellar pulsation, → kappa mechanism, → valve mechanism, → partial ionization zone.

From Fr. opacité, from L. opacitatem (nom. opacitas) "shade, shadiness," from opacus "shaded, dark, opaque."

Kederi, from keder "opaque," from Ar. kader + -i suffix forming nouns from adjectives.

A → mineral, an amorphous form of → silica, SiO₂ with some → water of → hydration, found in many varieties and colors, including a form that is milky white.

M.E., from M.Fr. opalle, from L. opalus, from Gk. opallios "opal, gem;" probably from a source akin to Skt. upala "jewel, precious stone."

Loan from E., as above.

1) The state of being → opalescent, or emitting an → iridescence like that of an opal.
2) Physics: The milky → iridescent appearance of a dense transparent medium when it is illuminated by → polychromatic visible radiation (such as sunlight) due to local → fluctuations in its density and therefore in its → refractive index. → critical opalescence.

→ opal; → -escence.

Exhibiting a play of colors like that of the opal.

→ opal; → -escent.

General: Not permitting a radiation to pass through.
Meteo.: A condition where a material, such as a cloud, blocks the passage of radiant energy, especially light.

Adj. form of → opacity.

Not closed.
Math.: → open interval; → open set.

O.E. open "not closed down, raised up," also "uncovered, bare; plain, evident," related to up; from P.Gmc. *upana (cf. O.N. opinn, Swed. öppen, Dan. aaben, O.Fris. epen, O.H.G. offan "open"), from PIE *upo "up from under, over;" cf. L. sub; Gk. hypo; O.Pers. upā (prep.) "under, with;" Av. upā, upa (prep.; prevb) "toward, with, on, in;" Mod.Pers. bâ "with," from abâ; Skt. úpa (adv., prevb., prep.) "toward, with, under, on."

Bâz "open," 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."

A loose grouping of dozens or hundreds of young stars distributed in a region a few light-years across. Open clusters are relatively young, typically containing many hot, highly luminous stars. They are located within the disk of the Galaxy, whence their older name Galactic clusters.

→ open; → cluster.

An interval that does not include its two endpoints.

→ open; → interval.

In the context of solar physics, a → magnetic field line when it crosses the solar surface only once, i.e., when it goes from surface to infinity. This is the case at a sufficiently large scale in → coronal holes. This is mostly not the case in → active regions.

→ open; → magnetic; → field; → line.

A → set consisting of points having → neighborhoods wholly contained in the set, as the set of points within a circle.

→ open; → set.

A space of infinite volume without any boundary. Triangles which lie on the surface of an open space will have a sum of angles which is less than 180°. An open space has a negative → curvature. See also → open Universe, → closed space.

→ open; → space.

Thermodynamics: A system which can exchange both energy and matter with the surroundings. → closed system; → isolated system.

→ open; → system.

A → Freidmann-Lemaitre  → cosmological model in which → space is → infinite and of → negative  → curvature or → Euclidean, and which expands forever.

→ open; → universe.