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

1a ) A distinguishing feature or quality.
1b) The integer part of a → common logarithm. For example, log₁₀ (23) = 1.362, where the characteristic is 1 and the → mantissa is 0.362.
2) Pertaining to, constituting, or indicating the character or peculiar quality of a person or thing; typical; distinctive.

→ character; → -istic.

Of a pulsar, a normalized period of rotation assumed to be a good approximation to pulsar's true age.

→ characteristic; → age.

Graph representing an optical film's response to the amount of light falling on it.

→ characteristic; → curve.

Physics: An analytical relationship between a set of physical variables that determines the state of a physical system.
Math.: The equation which is solved to find a matrix's eigenvalues, also called the characteristic polynomial.

→ characteristic; → equation.

A typical or most likely mass for the formation of an astronomical object. In current star formation models, it is of order of a few tenths of a → solar mass.

→ characteristic; → mass.

The quantity kT in the → Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution law, where k is → Boltzmann's constant and T the gas temperature. See also → thermal energy.

→ characteristic; → thermal; → energy