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

A class of binary millisecond pulsars in which the pulsar is eclipsed by its stellar companion, and the companion is being gradually ablated by the relativistic wind of the pulsar. The first system discovered in 1988 was PSR 1957+20, a 1.6074 millisecond in a near circular 9 hr orbit around a low-mass companion star.

Black widow, a venomous spider (Latrodectus mactans), shiny, coal black in color, that lives in North and South America. The female averages 8-10 mm in length and has long slender legs and a round abdomen. → black; widow, from O..E. widewe, widuwe, from P.Gmc. *widewo (cf. Du. weduwe, weeuw, Ger. Witwe), from PIE *widhewo (cf. Av. viδavâ-, Mid.Pers. wêwag, Mod.Pers. bivé, Skt. vidhava-, L. vidua, Rus. vdova,); → pulsar.

Tapâr , → pulsar; siyâh-bivé "black widow," from siyâh, → black + bivé, akin to E. widow, as explained above.