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

The Lyre. A small, bright constellation in the northern hemisphere at about 19h right ascension, 40° declination. The brightest star in Lyra is → Vega.

L. lyra, from Gk. lyra, a foreign word of uncertain origin.

Cang "harp," frpm Mid.Pers. cang "harp."

A member of a large class of → pulsating stars of type A2-F6 with periods less than 1 day. They are similar to → Cepheids, except that their periods are much shorter and are less luminous. RR Lyrae stars belong to → Population II and are often found in → globular clusters (hence one of their older names cluster variables) or elsewhere in the → galactic halo. They are used as distance indicators (→ standard candle) out to more than 200 kpc.

→ Lyra; → star.