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

A → survey that collects data on the whole sky. For example the infrared → Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and the X-ray → ROSAT All-Sky Survey.

→ all; → sky; → survey.

Systematic observation of the sky in particular searching for → asteroids that may have a close approach to the Earth. → near-Earth object.

→ asteroid; → survey.

Bardid, → survey; sayyârakhâ plural of sayyârak, → asteroid.

A mode of → survey particularly in → radio astronomy such that two different observing goals are achieved simultaneously. Commensal survey necessitates compromises whenever necessary.

→ commensal; → survey.

Observing a large area of sky (or the whole sky) in infrared wavelengths.

→ infrared; → survey.

Initial name given to → Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

→ large; → synoptic; → survey; → telescope.

A survey in which the observed objects are bighter than a given → apparent magnitude.

→ magnitude; → limited; → volume.

A photographic atlas of the northern hemisphere and a portion of the southern hemisphere created at Mount → Palomar Observatory in southern California. The original survey was completed in 1954 using the 48-in Schmidt (Oschin) Telescope. The square photographic plates were 35.5 cm (14-inch) on a side, each encompassing roughly 6 × 6 degrees of the sky. The survey was originally intended to cover the entire sky from +90 degrees declination down to -24 degrees (plate centers) in 879 regions, using both red and blue sensitive emulsions, and including stars to magnitude +22. Ultimately the survey was extended to -30 degrees (both red and blue), an additional 57 regions. Finally, the Whiteoak Southern Extension was added in 1962 (red plates only), with another 100 plates which extended the set down to a declination of -42 degrees plate center.

→ Palomar Observatory; → sky; → survey.

Recording a large area of the night sky by photographic techniques, as practiced in the past before the advent of electronic detectors.

Adj. of → photography; → survey.

A map or series of images of a region of sky obtained in → radio wavelengths of the → electromagnetic radiation.

→ radio; → survey.

A survey of a large region of the sky to measure the redshifts of all the galaxies down to a certain limiting magnitude.

→ redshift; → survey.

The observation and recording of large extents of the sky with a particular instrument using one or more wavelengths in the same spectral domain. → survey.

→ sky; → survey.

A major → redshift survey using a dedicated 2.5-m wide angle telescope with different modes in → imaging and → spectroscopy. The telescope, a modified → Ritchey-Chretien→ altitude-azimuth type is located at Apache Point Observatory, south east New Mexico, United States. A large consortium of universities and institutions all over the world participate in the project. The telescope started its observations in 2000, taking spectra and images of about 35% of the night sky, with 3 million spectra and 500 million images coming together to form the most comprehensive astrophysical catalog in the world. This catalog contains millions of galaxies up to z = 1, bright → quasars up to z = 6, with images in five major filter bands (u, g, r, i and z). SDSS was divided into multiple surveys/projects: SDSS I (2000-2005); SDSS II (2005-2008), including the Sloan Supernova Survey; SDSS III (2008-2014), including the APO Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS); SDSS IV (2014-2020), including the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA).

Named after the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which contributed significant funding; → digital; → sky; → survey.

1) General: A general or comprehensive view; a detailed inspection or investigation.
2) Astro.: The observation and recording of large extents of the sky with a particular instrument using one or more wavelengths in the same spectral domain. → all-sky survey; → infrared survey; → redshift survey; → photographic survey.
3) To conduct a survey of.

M.E. surveien, from M.Fr. surv(e)eir, surveoir "to oversee," from L. supervidere, from → super- + videre "to look;" cognate with Pers. bin present stem of didan "to see;" Mid.Pers. wyn-; O.Pers. vain- "to see;" Av. vaēn- "to see;" cf. Skt. veda "I know;" Gk. oida "I know," idein "to see;" L. videre "to see;" PIE base *weid- "to know, to see."

Bardid from bar- "up; upon; on; in; into; at; forth; with; near; before; according to" (Mid.Pers. abar; O.Pers. upariy "above; over, upon, according to;" Av. upairi "above, over," upairi.zəma- "located above the earth;" cf. Gk. hyper- "over, above;" L. super-; O.H.G. ubir "over;" PIE base *uper "over") + did past stem of didan "to see" (Mid.Pers. ditan "to see, regard, catch sight of, contemplate, experience;" O.Pers. dī- "to see;" Av. dā(y)- "to see," didāti "sees;" cf. Skt. dhī- "to perceive, think, ponder; thought, reflection, meditation," dādhye; Gk. dedorka "have seen").

1) A person whose occupation is taking accurate measurements of land areas in order to determine boundaries, elevations, and dimensions.
2) One of a series of space probes (1966-1968) that analyzed lunar soil and obtained other scientific information after soft-landing on the Moon.

→ survey; → -or.

A → NASA space telescope devoted to the hunt for planets orbiting the brightest stars in the sky, launched on April 18, 2018. The mission is planned to monitor at least 200,000 stars for signs of → exoplanets using the → planetary transit method. TESS is equipped with four identical refractive → cameras with a combined → field of view (FOV) of 24 × 96 degrees. Each camera consists of a → CCD detector assembly, a → lens assembly, and a lens hood. The → entrance pupil diameter is 10.5 cm and the wavelength range 600 to 1,000 nm. The satellite is a follow-up of NASA's → Kepler spacecraft, but focuses on stars that are 30 to 100 times brighter than those Kepler examined.

→ transit; → exoplanet; → survey.

An astronomical → survey conducted from 1997 to 2001 of the entire sky in near-infrared J, H, and K bands (wavelengths 1.25, 1.65, and 2.17 microns respectively). The aim was to detect and characterize point sources brighter than about 1 → mJy in each band, with → signal-to-noise ratio greater than 10, using a pixel size of 2".0. Two automated 1.3-m telescopes were used, one at Mt. Hopkins, AZ, and one at CTIO, Chile. 2MASS is currently producing the following data products: 1) A digital atlas of the sky comprising approximately 4 million 8' × 16' images, having about 4" spatial resolution in each of the wavelength bands. 2) A point source catalog containing accurate positions and fluxes for 300 million stars and other unresolved objects. 3) An extended source catalog containing positions and total magnitudes for more than 1,000,000 galaxies and nebulae.

→ two; → micron; → all-sky survey.

A survey in which the observed objects are contained in a given volume of space.

→ volume; → limited; → survey.

A → NASA infrared astronomical → space telescope launched in December 2009 to carry out an → all-sky survey from 3 to 22 → microns. With its 40-cm → telescope telescope and → infrared cameras, WISE aimed at a wide variety of studies ranging from the evolution of → protoplanetary disks to the history of → star formation in normal galaxies. In early October 2010, after completing its prime science mission, the spacecraft ran out of → coolant that keeps its instrumentation cold. However, two of its four infrared cameras remained operational. Hence, NASA extended the NEOWISE portion of the WISE mission by four months, with the primary purpose of hunting for more → asteroids and → comets, and to finish one complete scan of the main → asteroid belt. In August 2013, the WISE telescope's mission was extended for more three years to search for asteroids that could collide with Earth.

→ wide field; → infrared; → survey; → explorer.