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

A process in which a star is not formed spontaneously but is provoked by the action of external forces, such as pressure and shock on a molecular cloud by close-by → massive stars, → supernova explosions, etc. See also → sequential star formation.

Stimulated, p.p. of → stimulate; → star formation.

1a) Mechanics: To subject a body to → translation.
1b) Math.: To perform a → translation.
2a) To turn from one language into another.
2b) To convert computer data to a different form according to an → algorithm.

M.E. translaten, from L. translatus, from → trans- "across" + latus suppletive p.p. of ferre "to carry;" cognate with Pers. bordan "to carry, transport;" Mid.Pers. burdan; O.Pers./Av. bar- "to bear, carry," barəθre "to bear (infinitive);" Skt. bharati "he carries;" Gk. pherein "to carry;" PIE base *bher- "to carry."

1) Tarâjâyidan, from tarâ-, → trans- "across" + jâ "place" (from Mid.Pers. giyag "place;" O.Pers. ā-vahana- "place, village;" Av. vah- "to dwell, stay," vanhaiti "he dwells, stays;" Skt. vásati "he dwells;" Gk. aesa (nukta) "to pass (the night);" Ossetic wat "room; bed; place;" Tokharian B wäs- "to stay, wait;" PIE base *ues- "to stay, live, spend the night") + -idan infinitive suffix.
2) Tarâzabânidan, from tarâ-, as above, + zabân "tongue; language" (Mid.Pers. uzwân "tongue; language;" O.Pers. hzanm, hizānam "tongue;" Av. hizuua-, hizū- "tongue;" cf. Skt. jivhā- "tongue;" L. lingua "tongue, speech, language;" O.Ir. tenge; Welsh tafod; Lith. liezuvis; O.C.S. jezyku; M.Du. tonghe; Du. tong; O.H.G. zunga; Ger. Zunge; Goth. tuggo; PIE base *dnghwa-) + -idan infinitive suffix. The similarity of tarâzabân with the classical Pers. terms tarzafân, tarzabân "a person who translates orally from one language into another; eloquent" is intriguing: from tar- variant of tarâ- + zafân, zabân "tongue, language"?!

A geometrical method in land surveying for the determination of the relative position of points. In contrast to → triangulation, trilateration involves measuring the lengths of the three sides of touching or overlapping triangles and not their angles.

→ tri-; → lateral; → side; → -tion.

In evolutionary models of → post-asymptotic giant branch stars, the occurrence of the helium shell burning when the star has reached the → white dwarf cooling track. This leads to the possibility of a violent → helium shell flash and expansion on a time-scale of ≤ 10 years. The rapid expansion and prompt change in surface composition observed in → Sakurai's Object are thought to be due to such a very late thermal pulse.

→ very; → late; → thermal; → pulse.

To break, infringe, or transgress (a law, rule, agreement, promise, instructions, etc.). → parity violation.

M.E., from L. violatus p.p. of violare "to treat with violence, violate," from violentus "violent, " from vis "force, violence."

Enâhidan infinitive from enâh, from Av. aēnah- "violence, mischief, crime, outrage," from aēn- "to do violence to, to violate, to injure, to offend;" cf. Skt. énas- "offence, mischief, crime, sin;" Gk. ainos "terrible."

An optical element that retards the phase of one plane of vibration of light relative to the plane at right angles. The two beams then recombine to form a single beam with new polarization characteristics. A typical wave plate is a birefringent crystal with a carefully chosen orientation and thickness. Also known as → retardation plate. A → half-wave plate creates a half-wave retardation. See also → quarter-wave plate.

→ wave; → plate.

A member of a class of isolated, radio-silent → pulsars with peculiar properties. They show a purely thermal spectrum at X-ray energies with no evidence for a high-energy, power-law component often detected in other → isolated neutron star classes. The X-ray luminosity is 10³¹ - 10³² erg s^-1, fully consistent with surface blackbody emission with temperatures ~ 40-100 eV and (radiation) radii of a few kilometers, as derived from X-ray spectral fits. With the only exception of RX J1856.5-3754, broad absorption features have been found in all XDINSs. These features have energies ~ 300 - 700 eV, equivalent widths of ~ 50 - 150 eV and, as in the case of RX J0720.4-3125, may be variable.

→ X-ray; → dim; → isolated; → neutron; → star.