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

→ electric charge.

Charge from O.Fr. chargier "load, burden," from L.L. carricare "to load a wagon, cart," from L. carrus "wagon."

Bâr "charge, weight," from Mid.Pers. bâr, from O.Pers./Av. base bar- "to bear, carry," Mod.Pers. bordan "to carry," L. brutus "heavy, dull, stupid, brutish," Skt. bhara- "burden, load," bharati "he carries," Gk. baros "weight," Mod.Pers. gerân "heavy," Skt. guru, L. gravis; PIE *gwere- "heavy," *bher- "carry, give birth."

The heavy saturation of CCD pixels whereby electrons spill over up and down the column; also called blooming.

→ chrge; bleeding, from Bleed, from O.E. bledan, from P.Gmc. *blothjan "emit blood" (cf. Ger. bluten), from *blotham "blood", PIE root bhel- "to bloom, thirve".

Sarriz "overflow", from sar "head" (Mid.Pers. sar, Av. sarah- "head," Skt. siras- "head," Gk. kara "head," keras "horn," Mod.Pers. sarun "horn," L. cerebrum "brain;" PIE *ker- "head, horn") + riz present stem of rixtan "to pour; to flow; to cast" (Mid.Pers. rēxtan and rēcitan "to flow," Av. raēk- "to leave, set free; to yield, transfer," infinitive *ricyā, Mod.Pers; rig in morderig "heritage" (literally, "left by the dead"), Skt. rinakti "he leaves," riti- "stream; motion, course," L. rivus "stream, brook," Old Church Slavic rēka "river," Rus. reka "river," Goth. rinnan "run, flow," rinno "brook," O.E. ridh "stream;" PIE base *rei- "to flow; to run").

A mobile particle carrying an electric charge. In semiconductors, a mobile electron or hole. Also called carrier.

→ charge; → carrier.

In particle physics, an operation that changes a particle to its antiparticle in equations describing subatomic particles or, equivalently, reverses its charge and magnetic moment.

→ charge; → conjugation.

The → electric charge per unit volume in space, or per unit area on a surface, or per unit length of a line. They are respectively called volume- (ρ), surface- (σ), or line (λ) charge density.

→ charge; → density.

The way a number of → electric charges are arranged in space with respect to the point of observation.

→ charge; → distribution.

A collisional process in which an → ion collides with a neutral → atom or → molecule and captures one of its electrons. One of the most important charge-exchange processes occurring in the → interstellar medium is: O⁺ + H → H⁺ + O + 0.020 eV.

→ charge; → exchange.

The → electric charge carried by an object is independent of the → velocity of the object with respect to the → observer. In other words, the charge is the same in any → frame of reference.

→ charge; → invariance.

Same as → charge conjugation and → C-symmetry.

→ charge; → symmetry.

Defects or impurities in a CCD structure which prevent charges in certain pixels from being transferred to the next pixel.

→ charge; trap, from O.E. træppe "snare, trap," from P.Gmc. *trap-.

Talé "trap," Mid.Pers. talag "trap, snare."

A solid-state detector that stores the electrons, produced by incident photons, in potential wells at the surface of a semiconductor. The packages of charge are moved about the surface by being transferred to similar adjacent potential wells. The wells are controlled by the manipulation of voltage applied to surface electrodes.

→ charge; coupled adj. from → couple; → device.

A charge-transfer device that passes along stored charges positioned at predetermined locations; it is used as an image sensor in which the image points are accessed by reference to their horizontal and vertical coordinates.

→ charge; → injection; → device.

The laws of physics should be the same if a particle is interchanged with its → antiparticle (→ charge conjugation), or swapped for its mirror image (→ parity symmetry). It is known that charge-parity (CP) symmetry holds for interactions involving → electromagnetism, → gravitation, and → strong interactions, but CP violation is known to occur during → weak interactions involved in → radio decay. Same as → CP-symmetry.

→ charge; → parity; → symmetry.

A semi-conductor device that relays stored charges positioned at predetermined locations, such as charge-coupled or charge-injection devices.

→ charge; → transfer; → device.

Fraction of the original charge which is successfully transferred from one pixel to the next in one CCD cycle.

→ charge; → transfer; → efficiency.

Quality of a → particle, → body, or → system that possesses → electric charge

Past participle of "to → charge."

Bârdâr "charged," from bâr, → cahrge, + dâr "having, possessor," from dâštan "to have, to possess," Mid.Pers. dâštan, O.Pers./Av. root dar- "to hold, keep back, maitain, keep in mind," Skt. dhr-, dharma- "law," Gk. thronos "elevated seat, throne," L. firmus "firm, stable," Lith. daryti "to make," PIE *dher- "to hold, support."

Any particle containing either a → positive or → negative → electric charge.

→ charged; → particle.

An → asteroid that belongs to the class of → Centaurs (discovered through stellar → occultation observations). At just 250 km across, Chariklo is the smallest body so far found to have rings. There are two dense rings, with respective widths of about 7 and 3 km, → optical depth of 0.4 and 0.06, and orbital radii of 391 and 405 km (see F. Braga-Ribas et al. Nature, 2014, 26 March).

From Khariklo, the name of a nymph in Greek mythology, the wife of → Chiron and the daughter of → Apollo.

The volume of a fixed mass of any gas increases for each degree rise in temperature by a constant fraction of the volume at 0° C, the pressure being constant throughout.

Named after Jacques Charles (1746-1823), French physicist, who first discovered the law, and who was responsible for the first balloon ascents using hydrogen.

The largest satellite of Pluto. It is about 1,040 km across, roughly half Pluto's diameter. Charon is unusual in that it is the largest moon with respect to its primary planet in the Solar System. Moreover, the Pluto-Charon system is extraordinary because the center of mass lies in open space between the two, a characteristic of a double planet system. Pluto and Charon are also tidally locked in a synchronous orbit. Pluto's rotational period is 6.39 Earth days. It takes 6.39 days for Charon to make one revolution around Pluto. Thus, the two bodies continuously face each other. Also called Pluto I.

In Gk. mythology, Xαρον (Charon) was a figure who ferried the dead across the river Styx into Hades (the underworld).