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

1) Not true or correct; erroneous.
2) Not properly, accurately, or honestly made, done, or adjusted.
→ false color, → false dawn, → false nucleus, → false vacuum.

From O.Fr. fals, faus, from L. falsus "deceived, erroneous, mistaken," p.p. of fallere "to deceive, disappoint."

Zif, from Tâleši saf "wrong," from Mid.Pers. zêfân, zaspân "wrong, vile;" in classical Pers. dictionaries zif "churlishness; sin."

In imaging technique, assigning color to black and white images to differentiate features or convey information. → true color.

→ false; → color.

An unusually early glow of the horizon near the rising sun during certain times of the year. This early glow does not originate directly from the Sun, but is rather caused by → zodiacal light. It may be mistaken for a sunrise.

→ false; → dawn.

An especially concentrated region in the → coma of some → comets, representing the dense cloud of inner coma rather than the much smaller true nucleus. Also called apparent nucleus and → pseudo-nucleus.

→ false; → nucleus.

A peculiar, hypothetical state of matter which is predicted to exist by current theories of → elementary particles, including the → grand unified theories. Unlike the ordinary vacuum, a false vacuum has a large → energy density and a large → negative pressure. A false vacuum is the driving force behind the rapid expansion in the → inflationary model of the → Universe.

→ false; → vacuum.