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

In contrast to a → dark nebula, a bright cloud of interstellar gas and dust. The term designates both emission nebulae and reflection nebulae.

→ bright; → nebula.

The act or process of becoming bright or brighter. → limb brightening, → gravity brightening

Verbal noun of brighten, from → bright.

General:The state or quality of being bright.
Astronomy:The amount of light or other radiation received from a celestial object. It depends on the intrinsic brightness of the object, its distance and the amount of interstellar extinction. → luminosity.

→ bright + → -ness.

Deraxšandegi, from deraxš, present stem of deraxšidan "to shine," → bright, + -andé adjective suffix + -gi noun suffix.

A statistical distribution of the brightness of an astronomical extended object.

→ brightness; → distribution.

Vâbâžeš, → distribution; deraxšandegi, → brightness.

In radio astronomy, the temperature of a source calculated on the assumption that it is a blackbody emitting radiation of the observed intensity at a given wavelength. → antenna temperature.

→ brightness; → temperature.

A mathematical function appearing in the → magnetization equation of a → paramagnetic substance.

→ Brillouin zone; → zone.

Scattering of electromagnetic waves in solids and liquids when, as a result of the scattering process, an acoustic → phonon is emitted or absorbed. Brillouin scattering is analogous to → Raman scattering.

→ Brillouin zone; → scattering.

Crystallography: One of the several regions which, in reciprocal space, represent the solution of the wave equations for the propagation of → phonons or electrons in solids. The first Brillouin zone is the Wigner-Seitz cell of the reciprocal lattice. It is a polyhedron obtained by connecting a lattice point to its first neighbors and drawing the planes perpendicular to these connecting lines and passing through their midpoints. The second Brillouin zone is obtained by a similar construction but the second-nearest neighbours.

After Léon Brillouin (1889-1969) French physicist; → zone.

1) Water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.
2) Any saline solution.

M.E. from O.E. bryne "brine," origin unknown; cognate with Du. brijn.

Aždem, from Gilaki and Tâti aždem "very salty water" used for preserving fish.

An international collaboration between Austria, Canada, and Poland, currently comprising five nano-satellites to investigate stellar structure and evolution of the brightest stars in the sky and their interaction with the local environment. BRITE is also used to study micropulsation, wind phenomena, and other forms of stellar variability. These nano-satellites aim to monitor stars brighter than V ~ 5 mag using two color pass-bands, over various observing campaigns. Each nano-satellite hosts a 3 cm telescope, providing a wide field of view (24° x 20°) to simultaneously observe up to a few dozen stars (Weiss et al. 2014).

BRITE, short for → BRIght Target Explorer; → bright; → target; → explorer.

A → substance that has a low → elastic limit. For example → glass, which breaks if its low elastic limit is exceeded.

M.E. britel, from brit-, akin to O.E. brytan "to crush, break to pieces," + -el adj. suffix.

Tord "brittle, fragile;" ultimately from Proto-Ir. *tard- "to split, pierce;" related to tâlidan (Dehxodâ) "to spoliate, plunder," eftâlidan "to tear, break," → dissipate; cf. Shughni tidarδ- "to tear, pluck," zidarδ- "to tear, break;" Skt. tard- "to split, to pierce."

Wide in extent from side to side.

M.E. bro(o)d, from O.E. brad; cf. O.N. breiðr, Du. breed, Ger. breit, Goth. brouþs.

Pahn "wide, broad," from Mid.Pers. pah(a)n; Av. paθana- "broad, wide, spacious;" PIE root *pete- "to spread;" cf. L. patere "to be open," Gk. petannynai "to spread out," petalon "a leaf."

Photometric measurements carried out through filters with a band-width (about one-tenth the central wavelength) in the range 30-100 nm. Typical examples are Johnson photometry, Krons-Cousins RI photometry, and the six-color system.

→ broad; → band; → photometry.

A radio galaxy that shows broad optical emission lines. → broad-line region.

→ broad; → line; → radio galaxy.

The inner region of a → quasar or an → active galactic nucleus exhibiting broad → spectral lines which indicate ionized matter moving with speeds in excess of 10,000 km sec^-1, probably due to the presence of an → accretion disk surrounding a → supermassive black hole. Also called Type I AGN. See also → obscuring torus.

→ broad; → line; → region.

To make or become broad or broader.

→ borad.

Pahnidan, from pahn, → broad, + -idan infinitive suffix.

The act of making something wider. → instrumental broadening; → line broadening.

Broadening, from → broad + → -ing noun froming suffix.

Pahneš, from pahn (→ broad, present tense stem of pahnidan "to broaden" + -idan infinitive suffix) + eš verbal-noun suffix.

Same as the → Coathanger and Collinder 399.

Named after the American amateur astronomer D. F. Brocchi who created a map of the cluster in the 1920s for calibrating photometers; → cluster.

A system of connected line → segments joined end to end.

Past participle of → break; → line.

The only liquid non-metallic chemical element; symbol Br. → Atomic number 35; → atomic weight 79.904; → melting point -7.2°C; → boiling point 58.78°C; → specific gravity of liquid 3.12 at 20°C; → valence -1, +1, +3, +5, or +7. A member of the halogen group of elements. Volatilizes readily at room temperature to a red vapor with strong disagreeable odor and very irritating effect on the eyes and throat. Occurs in combination with various metals, as potassium, sodium and magnesium bromides, which are found in mineral waters, in river and sea-water, and occasionally in marine plants and animals. Its compounds are widely used in photography and medicine. Discovered by Antoine-Jerome Balard (1802-1876) in 1826. Its two stable → isotopes are ⁷⁹Br (50.69%) and ⁸¹Br (49.31%).

From Fr. brome, from Gk. bromos for "stench, bad odor," coined by its discoverer.

Brom, loan from Fr., as above.