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

The prototype of the → Amor asteroids discovered by the Belgian astronomer Eugène Joseph Delporte (1882-1955) on 12 March 1932. It is about 1 km across, has an → orbital period of 2.66 years, an → aphelion distance of 2.754 → astronomical units, and a → perihelion distance of 1.086 AU.

After the Roman god of love, better known as Cupid.

A → near-Earth asteroid (NEA) with → perihelion distances between 1.017 and 1.3 → astronomical units. The Amor asteroids approach the orbit of the Earth from beyond, but do not intersect it. Most Amors do cross the orbit of Mars. It is estimated that 32% of the total number of NEAs are Amors. One of the larger Amors is → Eros.

→ Amor; → asteroid.

The quality of an → anamorphic system.

→ ana- "up," + morphe "form," → morphology + → -ic.

An optical system whose optical power, and imaging scale, differs in the two principal directions. See also → anamorphosis.

→ anamorphic; → system.

1) Optics: The formation of a distorted image by an → anamorphic system.
2) Biology: The evolution from one type to another through a gradual and steady process of changes.
3) Art: A distorted image that appears in proportion when it is viewed from a specific point of view or reflected in a curved mirror, or with some other optical device.

From Gk. anamorphosis "transformation," noun of action from anamorphoein "to transform," from → ana- "up," + morphe "form" + -sis a suffix forming abstract nouns of action, process, state, condition, etc.

Ânârixtmandi, from ânâ- "up," + rixt "morphe," → morphology, + mand, → -ist + noun suffix -i.