An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A → dwarf spheroidal galaxy located about 4.3 million → light-years from. Earth. It is a very faint object, with an apparent magnitude of 16.2. The galaxy was not discovered until 1997. (PGC 29194) The Antlia Dwarf lies on the outer rim of the Local Group of galaxies, possibly even beyond it, and there is evidence suggesting that it is tidally interacting with another small galaxy, NGC 3109, in the → Hydra constellation.

→ Antlia; → dwarf.

An small → irregular galaxy undergoing → violent star formation activity. These objects appear blue by reason of containing clusters of hot, → massive stars which ionize the surrounding interstellar gas. They are chemically unevolved since their → metallicity is only 1/3 to 1/30 of the solar value. Same as → H II galaxy.

→ blue; → compact; → dwarf; → galaxy.

A star-like object whose mass is too small to sustain → hydrogen fusion in its interior and become a star. Brown dwarfs are → substellar objects and occupy an intermediate regime between those of stars and giant planets. With a mass less than 0.08 times that of the Sun (about 80 → Jupiter masses), nuclear reactions in the core of brown dwarfs are limited to the transformation of → deuterium into ³He. The reason is that the cores of these objects are supported against → gravitational collapse by electron → degeneracy pressure (at early spectral types) and → Coulomb pressure (at later spectral types). Brown dwarfs, as ever cooling objects, will have late M dwarf spectral types within a few Myrs of their formation and gradually evolve as L, T and Y dwarfs → brown dwarf cooling. As late-M and early-L dwarfs, they overlap in temperature with the cool end of the stellar → main sequence (→ M dwarf, → L dwarf, → T dwarf, → Y dwarf). In contrast to the OBAFGKM sequence, the M-L-T-Y sequence is an evolutionary one. These objects were first postulated by Kumar (1963, ApJ 137, 1121 & 1126) and Hayashi & Nakano (1963, Prog. Theor.Phys. 30, 460).

The term brown dwarf was first used by Jill Tarter in her 1975 PhD thesis; → brown; → dwarf.

The process whereby a → brown dwarf cools over time after the → deuterium burning phase, which lasts a few 10⁷ years. The → effective temperature and luminosity decrease depending on the mass, age, and → metallicity. Even though massive brown dwarfs may start out with star-like luminosity (≥ 10^-3→ solar luminosities), they progressively fade with age to the point where, after 0.5 Gyr all → substellar objects are less luminous than the dimmest, lowest mass stars. More explicitly, brown dwarfs may start as star-like objects hotter than 2200 K, with → M dwarf spectral types, and, as they get older, pass through the later and cooler L, T, and Y spectral types (→ L dwarf, → T dwarf, → Y dwarf).

→ brown; → dwarf; → cooling.

The observational result indicating a deficit in the frequency of → brown dwarf companions to Sun-like stars, either relative to the frequency of less massive planetary companions or relative to the frequency of more massive stellar companions. However, this desert exists mainly for low-separation brown dwarfs detected using orbital velocity surveys. No brown dwarf desert is noticed at wide separations (J. E. Gizis et al. 2001, ApJ 551, L163).

→ brown; → dwarf; → desert.

A → white dwarf whose spectrum shows the → Balmer lines of hydrogen only, with no helium or metals.

D short for → dwarf; A a convention; → white.

A → white dwarf whose spectrum shows strong He I in the absence of hydrogen or metal lines.

D short for → dwarf; B a convention; → white.

A → white dwarf showing a continuous spectrum with no readily apparent lines.

D short for → dwarf; C a convention; → white.

Same as → white dwarf.

→ degenerate; → dwarf.

A → white dwarf whose spectrum shows strong lines of singly ionized helium He II; He I or H may be present. As a DO star cools, the He II will recombine with free electrons to form He I, eventually changing the DO type into a DB white dwarf.

D short for → dwarf; O a convention; → white.

A → double-lined binary with two → white dwarf components. Short-period double white dwarfs can lose → orbital angular momentum by emitting → gravitational radiation and if the total mass of the binary exceeds the → Chandrasekhar limit, their eventual → merger might produce a → Type Ia supernova.

→ double; → white; → dwarf.

A → white dwarf whose spectrum shows carbon features of any kind.

D short for → dwarf; Q a convention; → white.

A dwarf elliptical galaxy that is a satellite of our Galaxy and lies at a distance of about 250,000 light-years from the Galactic center. Its diameter is only about 3,500 light-years, and its absolute magnitude -8.6, making it the least luminous galaxy known.

→ Draco; → dwarf.

1) General: A person of abnormally small height owing to a pathological condition; an animal or plant much smaller than the average of its kind or species.
2) Astro.: An adjective characterizing a particular type of object, as in → dwarf star, → dwarf galaxy, → dwarf planet.
See also:
→ blue compact dwarf galaxy, → brown dwarf, → brown dwarfcooling, → brown dwarfdesert, → DA white dwarf, → DB white dwarf, → DC white dwarf, → DO white dwarf, → double white dwarf, → DQ white dwarf, → Draco Dwarf, → dwarf Cepheid, → dwarf elliptical galaxy, → dwarf irregular galaxy, → dwarf nova, → dwarf spheroidal galaxy, → dwarf spiral galaxy, → dwarf starburst galaxy, → DZ white dwarf, → L dwarf, → M dwarf, → OB subdwarf, → red dwarf, → Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, → Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy, → Sculptor Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, → subdwarf, → T dwarf, → tidal dwarf galaxy, → white dwarf, → white dwarf cooling track, → white dwarf crystallization, → Y dwarf.

Dwarf, from ME dwerg, dwerf, O.E. dweorg, dweorh, O.H.G. twerg "dwarf," from P.Gmc. *dweraz.

Kutulé, from kut "small, short" + Pers. diminutive suffix -ulé, → -ula. The first component kut is the base of kutâh "short, small, little," kudak "child, infant," Mid.Pers. kôtâh "low," kôtak "small, young; baby;" the Mid/Mod.Pers. kucak "small," belongs to this fammily; Av. kutaka- "little, small."

An old name for a class of pulsating variable stars with small variations in amplitude, also called an AI Velae star or delta Scuti star. They lie in the lower part of the Cepheid instability strip.

→ dwarf; → Cepheid.

A galaxy that is much smaller than other members of the elliptical class; it is designated as dE. A subtype of dwarf ellipticals is called a → dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph). The basic characteristics of the class are low surface brightness and smooth light distribution. They range in luminosity from that of the faintest dSph galaies M_V ~ -9 to about -17. In the → Local Group there are 19 known dEs. They are very common in → galaxy clusters.

→ dwarf; → elliptical; → galaxy.

A small, low luminosity galaxy that is associated with a larger spiral galaxy and may make up part of a galactic halo. There are many of them in the Local Group, and often orbit around larger galaxies such as the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. There are three main types of them: → dwarf elliptical galaxy (dE), → dwarf irregular galaxy (dI), and → dwarf spiral galaxy (dSA).

→ dwarf; → galaxy.

An irregular galaxy that is much smaller than other irregulars. Dwarf irregulars are generally metal poor and have relatively high fractions of gas. They are thought to be similar to the earliest galaxies that populated the Universe, and are therefore important to understand the overall evolution of galaxies.

→ dwarf; → irregular; → galaxy.

A class of → novae and → cataclysmic variables that have multiple observed → eruptions. Their prototype is → U Geminorum star. Optically, dwarf nova eruptions have amplitudes of 2-6 mag in V, a duration of a few to 20 days and a recurrence time-scale of weeks to years. Dwarf novae are thought to be → semidetached binary stars consisting of a → white dwarf  → primary accreting via → Roche lobe overflow from a → companion which is usually a → late-type, generally → main-sequence star. DN outbursts are usually attributed to the release of gravitational energy resulting from an → instability in the → accretion disk or by sudden mass transfers through the disk.

→ dwarf; → nova.

A new category of → astronomical objects in the → solar system introduced in a resolution by the 26th General Assembly of the → International Astronomical Union (IAU) on August 24, 2006. The characterizing properties are as follows: 1) It is in orbit around the Sun; 2) It has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a → hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape; 3) It has not "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit; and 4) It is not a → satellite of a → planet, or other non-stellar body. The property 3 reclassified → Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet because it has not cleared the neighborhood of its orbit (the → Kuiper Belt). The largest known dwarf planets are: → Eris, → Pluto, → Ceres, → Makemake, and → 2015 RR245.

→ dwarf; → planet.