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

Any → transformation preserving → collinearity.

→ affine; → transformation.

The act of affirming or something affirmed.

Verbal noun of → affirm.

The part of day from → noon to → evening.

→ after; → noon.

Same as → Moon's age.

→ Moon's age.

1) A jumbled cluster or mass of varied parts.
2) The act or process of agglomerating (Dictionary.com).

Verbal noun of → agglomerate.

The act or process of agitating; state of being agitated. → thermal agitation.

Verbal noun of → agitate.

The brightest star in the → Pleiades, located in the constellation → Taurus. → Apparent visual magnitude 2.87, → spectral type B7 III.

In Gk. mythology, a daughter of Aelous who, with her husband, Ceyx, was transformed into a kingfisher.

Nayyer-e Sorayyâ "the bight of the Pleiades," from Ar. nayyir "luminous" + Thorayyâ "the Pleiades".
Raxšân-e Parvin "the bight of the Pleiades," from Mod.Pers. raxšân "bright, luminous" + Parvin "the Pleiades".

A set of tables created in Toledo, under Alfonso X, el sabio, king of Castile and Léon (1252 to 1284) to correct the anomalies in the → Toledan Tables. The starting point of the Alfonsine Tables is January 1, 1252, the year of king's coronation (1 June). The original Spanish version of the tables is lost, but a set of canons (introductory instructions) for planetary tables are extant. They are written by Isaac ben Sid and Judah ben Moses ha-Cohen, two of the most active collaborators of Alfonso X. The Alfonsine Tables were the most widely used astronomical tables in the Middle Ages and had an enormous impact on the development of European astronomy from the 13th to 16th century. They were replaced by Erasmus Reinhold's → Prutenic Tables, based on Copernican models, that were first published in 1551.The Latin version of the Alfonsine Tables first appeared in Paris around 1320, where a revision was undertaken by John of Lignères and John of Murs, accompanied by a number of canons for their use written by John of Saxony. There is a controversy as to the exact relationship of these tables with the work commissioned by the Spanish king.

After the Spanish monarch Alfonso X (1221-1284); → table.

Large amplitude fluctuations in the → solar wind with properties resembling those of → Alfvén waves. A fluctuation is said to be Alfvénic if the following relationship between the velocity fluctuations (Δv) and magnetic field fluctuations (ΔB) is satisfied: Δv = ± ΔB/(μ₀ρ)^1/2. Also called Alfvénicity.

→ Alfvén wave; → fluctuation.

Large amplitude fluctuations in the → solar wind with properties resembling those of → Alfvén waves. A fluctuation is said to be Alfvénic if the following relationship between the velocity fluctuations (Δv) and magnetic field fluctuations (ΔB) is satisfied: Δv = ± ΔB/(μ₀ρ)^1/2. Also called Alfvénicity.

→ Alfvénic; → fluctuation.

An equation in the form of P = 0, where P is a → polynomial having a finite number of terms.

→ algebra; → equation.

A function expressed in terms of → polynomials and/or roots of polynomials. In other words, any function y = f(x) which satisfies an equation of the form P₀(x)yⁿ + P₁(x)y^{n - 1} + ... + P_n(x) = 0, where P₀(x), P₁(x), ..., P_n(x) are polynomials in x.

→ algebraic + → function.

The act of allocating; the state of being allocated.

Verbal noun of → allocate.

The central and brightest of the three stars in → Orion's Belt and the fourth brightest in the whole of → Orion. Alnilam is a blue-white → supergiant of → spectral type B0 Iae with a → visual magnitude of 1.70 and a → luminosity of 375,000 times the → solar luminosity. It lies at about 1,340 → light-years.

Alnilam, from Ar. An-Nizam al-Jawza' (النظام‌الجوزاء) "the Orion's arrangement (of pearls, beads)," from nizam "arrangement" + Jawza' "Orion".

The left hand or easternmost star in → Orion's Belt, which is the fifth brightest in the whole of → Orion with a → visual magnitude of 1.79. Alnitak is a wide visual binary system consisting of components ζ Ori A (HR 1948) and ζ Ori B (HR 1949), currently separated by ~ 2''.4. ζ Ori A is a → close binary system comprising Alnitak Aa and Alnitak Ab. Aa is a hot → blue supergiant of → spectral type O9.5 Iab with an → absolute magnitude of -6.0 and an → apparent magnitude of 2.08. Its mass is estimated as being up to 33 times as massive as the Sun and to have a diameter 20 times greater. It is some 250,000 times more luminous than the Sun, with a surface temperature of about 30,000 K. It is the brightest star of class O in the night sky. Alnitak Ab is a blue → subgiant of spectral type B1 IV with an absolute magnitude of -3.9, an apparent magnitude of 4.3, and a mass of 14 Msun. Ab revolves around Ab with a period of 2,687 days. The system has a 4th magnitude companion, Alnitak B, nearly 3 arc-seconds distant. It is a B0 III type star which orbits Alnitak A every 1,500 years. Alnitak is associated with the → emission nebula  → IC 434 containing the → Horsehead Nebula.A much fainter fourth component, ζ Ori C, is located about 57'' away from ζ Ori Aa (C. A. Hummel et al., 2013, A&A 554, A52, arXiv:1306.0330).

Alnitak, from Ar. An-Nitaq al-Jawza' (النطاق‌الجوزاء) "Orion's Belt," from nitaq "belt" + Jawza "Orion."

The release of → alpha particles at high velocity from an atom's nucleus as it undergoes radioactive transformation.

→ alpha; → emission.

Also known as Gemma, the brightest star in Corona Borealis (visual magnitude 2.23). Alphekka is an A type dwarf lying at about 7 → light-years. Actually it has a faint Sun-like (G5 V) companion, that produces an eclipse of the primary every 17.4 days.

Alphekka, from Ar. Nayyir al-Fakkah "the bright of the broken" (ring of star), from Nayyir "bright" + fakkah "broken," from fakk "to disjoin, unloose".

1) The act or process of altering; the state of being altered.
2) The result of altering.

Verbal noun of → alter.

General: Successive change from one thing or state to another and back again.
The process of periodically varying a voltage from zero to a maximum, back to zero, to a minimum, and then to zero.

Alternation, noun from → alternate.

The process by which the coating of aluminium is deposited on a telescope mirror.

Verbal noun of → aluminize.