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

A → Besselian day number denoted by C or D.

→ aberration; → -al; → day; → number.

The → locus of points on the → celestial sphere occupied by a star during the annual → revolution of the → Earth about the → Sun due to → annual aberration. annual aberration.

→ aberrational; → ellipse.

The → erosion of a surface through a process such as → vaporization or → friction.

L. ablatio, ablation, from ablatus, from ab- "away" + latus "carried."

Farsâb from far-, prefix denoting "abundance, excess" + sâb present stem of sâbidan "to rub, wear out," variants sâyidan, pasâvidan "to touch," Khotanese sauy- "to rub," Sogdian ps'w- "to touch," Proto-Iranian *sau- "to rub."

The stopping of a process; a result of such termination.

Verbal noun of → abort.

For a body that moves with respect to a rotating → reference frame, the vector sum of the observed acceleration, the → Coriolis acceleration, and the → centrifugal acceleration. See also the → Coriolis theorem.

→ absolute; → acceleration.

1) General: The process or fact of absorbing.
2) Physics: The action of energy or matter penetrating or being assimilated into a body of matter with no reflection or emission. → adsorption, → desorption, → sorption.
See also: → absorption band, → absorption coefficient, → absorption curve, → absorption feature, → absorption line, → absorption nebula, → absorption spectrum, → atmospheric absorption, → discrete absorption component, → foreground absorption, → intergalactic absorption, → internal absorption, → interstellar absorption, → mass absorption coefficient, → photoabsorption, → selective absorption, → self-absorption.

Verbal noun of → absorb; → -tion, from L. absorptionem.

1) A series of very closely spaced absorption lines in stellar spectra resulting from the absorption of light by molecules. Bands caused by titanium oxide (→ TiO bands) and carbon compounds occur in the spectra of low temperature M and C stars.
2) A range of wavelengths, usually in electromagnetic radiation, that are absorbed by a given substance. Absorption bands are characteristic of molecules and correspond to changes of electron orbits in the molecules. See also → anomalous dispersion.

→ absorption; → band.

The fraction of normally incident light that is absorbed per unit path length or by a unit mass of absorbing medium.

→ absorption; → coefficient.

A graphic representation of the amount of radiant energy absorbed by a material as a function of the wavelength.

→ absorption; → curve.

A dip in a spectrum indicating that light has been absorbed on the path from the emitting source to the observer. It may be a line, corresponding to a well-defined atomic or molecular transition, or a more complex feature whose physical origin is not necessarily understood.

→ absorption; → feature.

A dark line in the spectrum of a source produced by a lower temperature gas cloud lying between the source and the observer.

→ absorption; → line.

A dark cloud of dust and gas that absorbs light from and impedes the view of background stars; dark nebula.

→ absorption; → nebula.

A spectrum of absorption lines or bands, produced when light from a hot source, itself producing a continuous spectrum, passes through a cooler gas.

→ absorption; → spectrum.

1) The mental process in which an element or quality is separated from a total object. Also the result of this process.
2) Chemistry: → abstraction reaction.

Verbal noun from → abstract; → -tion.

Chemistry: A bimolecular chemical reaction that involves removal of an atom or ion from a molecule. For example, hydrogen abstraction from methane: CH₄ + Cl → CH₃ + HCl.

→ abstraction; → reaction.

The motion of an object subject to → acceleration. Opposite to → uniform motion.

Accelerated, from → accelerate; → motion.

Jonbeš, → motion; šetâbdâr "accelerated," from šetâb→ accelerate + 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;" cf. Skt. dhr-, dharma- "law;" Gk. thronos "elevated seat, throne;" L. firmus "firm, stable;" Lith. daryti "to make;" PIE *dher- "to hold, support").

→ accelerating Universe.

→ accelerating; → expansion; → Universe.

The rate at which the velocity of an object changes with time.

Acceleration, from accelerate, from L. accelerare "quicken," from → ad- "to" + celerare "hasten," from celer "swift" (cf. Skt. car, carati "to move, go, drive," Gk. keles "fast horse, horse race," Av. kar- "to walk, move, go around," Mod.Pers. cal, calidan "to move, to go, to walk" (jald? "quick, active, brisk"), Gilaki/Hamadâni jal "quick, fast,"Lori žil "motion, impulse"); PIE *kel- "to drive, set in swift motion."

Šetâb "quickness, haste, speed," Mid.Pers. ôštâp "hurry, haste," ôštâftan "to hurry, hasten," from *abi.stap-, from abi- " to; in addition to; against" + *stap- "to oppress," Arm. (loanword) štap "haste, trouble."

The acceleration that an object experiences because of gravity when it falls freely close to the surface of a massive body, such as a planet. Same as → gravitational acceleration.

→ acceleration; → gravity.

A measure of the departure from a constant rate of the acceleration of the Universe, expressed by: q(t) = R(t)R ^..(t)/R ^.2(t), where R(t) represents the size of the Universe at time t. Traditionally, a negative sign is inserted in the above equation for the → deceleration parameter.

→ acceleration; → parameter.