An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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فرهنگ ریشه شناختی اخترشناسی-اخترفیزیک

M. Heydari-Malayeri    -    Paris Observatory

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Number of Results: 9 Search : sagitta
Nunki (σ Sagittarii)
  نونکی   
Nunki

Fr.: Nunki   

The second brightest star in the constellation → Sagittarius. It is a blue-white → massive star of → spectral type B2.5 V lying 225 → light-years away.

Unusual name of Babylonian origin, of unknown significance.

Sagitta
  پیکان   
Peykân (#)

Fr.: Flèche   

The Arrow. A very small → constellation, in fact the third smallest constellation in the sky, lying south of → Vulpecula, and north of → Aquila. The constellation contains the prototype → WZ Sagittae star and M71 (NGC 6838), formerly thought to be an → open cluster but now considered to be a → globular cluster of low condensation. Its brightest star α Sge is a yellow bright → giant of → apparent magnitude +4.37 and → spectral type G1 II about 475 → light-years from Earth. Abbreviation: Sge; Genitive: Sagittae.

From L. sagitta "arrow."

Peykân, → arrow.

Sagittarius
  نیم‌اسب   
Nimasb (#)

Fr.: Sagittaire   

The Archer. A large constellation belonging to the → Zodiac, situated between → Scorpius and → Capricorn. It is located in the southern hemisphere at approximately 19h right ascension, 25° south declination. The constellation, part of which lies in the → Milky Way, contains the → Trifid Nebula, → Lagoon nebula, star clusters, and globular clusters. The center of the Galaxy lies in the direction of Sagittarius. Abbreviation: Sgr; Genitive: Sagittarii.

From L. sagittarius "archer," literally "pertaining to arrows," from → sagitta "arrow" + -arius "-ary." In Gk. mythology, Sagittarius is identified as a centaur, half human, half horse. In some legends, the Centaur Chiron was the son of Philyra and Saturn, who was said to have changed himself into a horse to escape his jealous wife, Rhea. Chiron was eventually immortalized in the constellation of → Centaurus, or in some version, Sagittarius.

Nimasb, from Mid.Pers. nêmasp "centaur, Sagittarius," from nêm, nêmag "mid-, half" (Mod.Pers. nim); Av. naēma- "half;" cf. Skt. néma- "half" + asp "horse" (Mod.Pers. asb); O.Pers. asa- "horse;" Av. aspa- "horse," aspā- "mare," aspaiia- "pertaining to the horse;" cf. Skt. áśva- "horse, steed;" Gk. hippos; L. equus; O.Ir. ech; Goth. aihwa-; O.E. eoh "horse;" PIE base *ekwo- "horse."

Sagittarius A (Sgr A)
  نیم‌اسب A   
Nimasb A

Fr.: Sagittarius A   

A strong radio source at the center of our Galaxy. It is a complex object with three components: Sgr A West is a thermal radio source made of several dust and gas clouds, which orbit → Sgr A* and fall onto it at velocities as high as 1000 km per second. Sgr A East is a → non-thermal source, about 25 → light-years across, that appears to be a → supernova remnant. Sgr A* is the most plausible candidate for the location of a Galactic → supermassive black hole with a mass of about 4 million → solar masses.

Sagittarius.

Sagittarius arm
  بازوی ِ نیم‌اسب   
bâzu-ye Nimasb

Fr.: bras du Sagittaire   

One of the → spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. It lies between the Sun and the the → Scutum-Crux arm. Also known as the Sagittarius-Carina Arm.

Sagittarius; → arm.

Sagittarius B2
  نیم‌اسب B2   
Nimasb B2

Fr.: Sagittarius B2   

A massive (3 × 106 → solar masses), dense (up to 108 particles per cm3) → H II region and → molecular cloud complex located near the → Galactic center (about 390 → light-years from it) and about 26,000 light-years from Earth. This complex is one of the largest in the → Milky Way, spanning a region about 150 light-years across. The mean → hydrogen  → density within the cloud is 3,000 atoms per cm3, which is about 20-40 times denser than a typical molecular cloud. It is the richest molecular source in the Galaxy in which many different types of → interstellar molecule have been identified, including glycine, the simplest amino acid, and the sugar molecule glycoaldehyde.

Sagittarius.

Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy
  کهکشان ِ کوتوله‌ی ِ بیضی‌گون ِ نیم‌اسب   
kahkešân-e kutule-ye beyzigun-e nimasb

Fr.: galaxie naine elliptique du Sagittaire   

A satellite galaxy of the Milky Way discovered only in 1994 since most of it is obscured by the Galactic disc. At only 50,000 light years distant from our Galaxy's core, it is travelling in a polar orbit around the Galaxy. Our Galaxy is slowly devouring it, as evidenced by a filament which stretches around the Milky Way's core like a gossamer loop. It is only about 10,000 light-years in diameter, in comparison to the Milky Way's diameter of 100,000 light years. It is populated by old yellowish stars has four known globular clusters: M54, Arp 2, Terzan 7, and Terzan 8. It should not be confused with the → Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy.

Sagittarius; → dwarf; → elliptical; → galaxy.

Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy
  کهکشان ِ کوتوله‌ی ِ بی‌سامان ِ نیم‌اسب   
kahkešân-e kutule-ye bisâmân-e Nimasb

Fr.: galaxie naine irrégulière du Sagittaire   

A dwarf irregular galaxy, discovered in 1977, that is a member of the Local Group of galaxies. It has a diameter of 1,500 light-years and lies about 3.5 million light-years away. SagDIG contains as much as about 108 solar masses of H I gas and is one of the most metal-poor galaxies. It should not be confused with the → Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy.

Sagittarius; → dwarf; → irregular; → galaxy.

WZ Sagittae
   WZ نیم‌اسب   
WZ nimasp

Fr.: WZ Sagittae   

The prototype of a subclass of → dwarf novae with an extremely long outburst period, comparable with that of a → recurrent nova.

variable star designation; → Sagittarius.