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

Covering the period of a year; occurring or happening every year or once a year.

Annual, from M.Fr. annuel, from L.L. annualis, blend of L. annuus "yearly," from annus "year" and L. annalis "yearly," from annus "year," from PIE *atnos, from *at- "to go" (Skt. a'tati "he goes, wanders").

Sâlâné, from sâl, → year, + âné "-ly".

The apparent, small displacement in position of a star during the year due to the → aberration of starlight. It depends on the → celestial latitude, and its maximum value is about 20''.50. See also → constant of aberration; → aberration orbit.

→ annual; → aberration.

→ annual motion.

→ annual; → apparent; → motion.

An irregularity in the Moon's orbit, which can amount to 11 degrees in a period of one year. It results from the Sun's disturbing effect on the motion of the Moon due to varying distance between them.

→ annual; → equation.

The annual apparent motion of the → Sun in the sky with respect to → fixed stars along the path called → ecliptic. The apparent annual motion is due to the → Earth's → revolution about the Sun. In the course of this motion, the Sun appears to shifts about 1° eastward per day.

→ annual; → motion.

The difference in position of a star as seen from the → Earth and → Sun, i.e. the angle subtended at a star by the mean → radius of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Same as → heliocentric parallax. Because the Earth revolves around the Sun, we observe the sky from a constantly moving position in space. Therefore, we should expect to see an annual effect, in which the positions of nearby objects appear to oscillate back and forth in response to our motion around the Sun. This does in fact happen, but the distances to even the nearest stars are so great that we need to make careful observations with a telescope to detect it. The annual parallax of the nearest star, → Proxima Centauri, is 0.762 arcsec, which is too small for our → acuity of vision.

→ annual; → parallax.

Generally, the variation of a quantity over a year. In particular the yearly change in the right ascension or declination of a star, produced by the combined effects of the precession of the equinoxes and the proper motion of the star.

→ annual; → variation.

Same as → constant of aberration.

→ constant; → annual; → aberration.