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

1) A compact mass, in particular that contained in a less dense environment.
2) → molecular clump.
3) Inhomogeneities on small scales present in → stellar winds. See also → clumped wind.

Clump, from Du. klomp "lump, mass," or Low Ger. klump.

Gudé "ball, bowl, tumour" in Gilaki, cf. Skt. guda- "ball, mouthful, lump, tumour," Gk. gloutos "rump," L. glomus "ball," globus "globe," Ger. Kugel, E. clot, PIE *gel- "to make into a ball."

A → radiation-driven wind of → Wolf-Rayet and → O stars, which is not homogeneous, and contains compressions and rarefactions in the form of density clumps. Observationally, wind clumping appears as moving, small-scale structures in spectral line profiles. Indirect indicators of wind clumping include: electron scattering wings of emission lines, too-weak observed UV line profiles, and shapes of X-ray lines. The most likely physical explanation for the presence of these clumps is an instability in radiatively-driven winds. The inclusion of a clumping factor in the models of W-R winds reduces the → mass loss rates by a factor ~ 2-4 relative to homogeneous models. See also → clumping factor.

→ clumpy; → wind.

Of a → molecular cloud, the property of being made up of → clumps.
The extent with which a molecular cloud is → clumpy.

Clumpiness, from → clumpy + → -ness.

Gudegi from gudé, → clump, + -gi suffix forming noun from adjectives ending in -é.

The massing together of material to form clumps. → wind clumping.

→ clump; → -ing.

The ratio f_cl = <ρ²> / <ρ >², where ρ represents the → stellar wind density and the brackets mean values. Unclumped wind has f_cl = 1 and → clumping becomes significant for f_cl≅ 4.

→ clumping; → factor.

Of a → molecular cloud, being composed of → clumps.

Clumpy, from → clump + -y suffix meaning "full of or characterized by," from O.E. -ig, from P.Gmc. *-iga, akin to Gk. -ikos, L. -icus, → -ics.

Gudedâr, from gudé, → clump, + dâr "having, possessor," from dâštan "to have, to possess," O.Pers./Av. root dar- "to hold, keep back, maitain, keep in mind," Skt. dhr-, dharma- "law," Gk. thronos "elevated seat, throne," L. firmus "firm, stable," Lith. daryti "to make," PIE *dher- "to hold, support."

An irregularly shaped, clumpy → star-forming galaxy that does not fall anywhere on the → Hubble sequence and appears frequently at → redshifts z ~ 1-4. Galaxies at z ≤ 1 with similar morphologies and enhanced → star formation have been identified, but become less common with decreasing redshift. Clumpy galaxies are prominent in the → early Universe.

→ clumpy; → galaxy.

The diffuse medium between → clumps inside → molecular clouds.

→ inter- + → clump + → medium.

One of many compact and dense sub-structures in a → molecular cloud. Their typical sizes are about 0.5-10 → parsecs and their masses range from about 50 to 10³ → solar masses. The gas temperatures are about 10-20 K, and the number densities from about 10³ to 10⁴ cm^-3.

→ molecular; → clump.

A concentration, on the → horizontal branch, of → red giant stars that roughly have the same intrinsic brightness. These core → helium burning stars are the metal rich equivalents of the better known → horizontal branch stars. Theoretical models predict that their absolute luminosity only weakly depends on their age and chemical composition.

→ red; → clump.

A star on the → horizontal branch which results from the evolution of a → red giant with an initial mass of ~ 1 Msun.

→ red; → clump; → star.

The inhomogeneous property of a → radiation-driven wind, or the physical mechanism accounting for the → clumped wind.

→ clumpy; → wind.