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

1) The bottom support of anything; a fundamental principle or groundwork.
2) Geometry: The line or surface on which a figure is assumed to stand.
3) Arithmetic: The number which, raised to various powers, forms the main counting units of a system. Thus 10 is the base of the decimal system.
4) Logarithm: The number a in the equation N = a^x. The base of common logarithm is 10.
5) A centre of operations or supply, such as a → database.
6) Chemistry: A substance that reacts with an acid to yield a salt and water.

M.E., from O.Fr. bas, from L. basis "foundation," from Gk. basis "step, pedestal," from bainein "to step."

Pâyé "base," from pâ, pây "foot," from Mid.Pers. pâd, pây; Av. pad-, cf. Skt. pat: Gk. pos, genitive podos; L. pes; PIE *pod-/*ped-.
Pâygâh, from pâyé + gâh "place" (O.Pers. gāθu-; Av. gātav-, gātu- "place, throne, spot;" cf. Skt. gâtu- "going, motion; free space for moving; place of abode;" PIE *gwem- "to go, come."
Bâz, loan from Fr., as above.

1) In radio interferometry, the separation between the electrical, or phase centers of two interferometer elements.
2) In spectroscopy, the contribution to a spectrum from phenomena that are not of astronomical interest, such as frequency dependent properties of the receivers, or by astronomical sources other than those under study.

→ base; → line.

A combined and coordinated set of data that supplies information for a specific purpose in a variety of forms.

→ data; → base.

The altitude at which the atmosphere becomes collisionless.

→ exo-; → base.

A composition of different databases which work in an integrated manner while preserving their autonomy.

→ federate; → database; → system.

A rule base in a → fuzzy logic system constructed to control the → output variable. A fuzzy rule is a simple if-then rule with a condition and a conclusion.

→ fuzzy; → rule; → base.

An astronomical observation carried out using a telescope on Earth, as opposed to that from an orbiting satellite.

→ ground; based, adj. of base, from O.Fr. bas, from L. basis "foundation," from Gk. basis "step, pedestal," from bainein "to step;" → observation.

Nepâheš, → observation; az "from," → ex-; zamin, → ground.

A network of ten 25-m radio telescopes for → very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI), operated by the U.S. National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Eight of the VLBA telescopes are distributed across the continental United States, while the other two are in Hawaii and the Virgin Islands, giving a maximum baseline of about 8,000 km and a resolution better than a milliarcsecond at its shortest wavelength.

→ very; → large; → baseline; → array.

A technique in radio interferometry in which the individual telescopes are not directly connected together, but instead make their observations separately with very accurate timings. The data are later sent to a central correlator to be combined. With this technique the individual telescopes can be arbitrarily far apart, and so the technique provides the highest resolution images in astronomy, typically down to a few milliarcseconds.

→ very; → large; → baseline; → interferometry.