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

A → planetary nebula in the constellation → Ursa Major, one of the four planetary nebulae in → Messier catalog. It is one of the more complex planetary nebulae known. Its appearance has been interpreted as that of a cylindrical torus shell viewed obliquely, so that the projected matter-poor ends of the cylinder correspond with the Owl's eyes. Also known as M97 or NGC 3587.

Discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781, the name goes back to Lord Rosse, who first used it in 1848. → owl; → nebula.

The substance which supplies the → oxygen in an → oxidation → reaction. Same as → oxydizing agent agent and → oxidizer.

Agent noun from → oxidize.

The combination of → oxygen with a substance, or the removal of → hydrogen from it.

Verbal noun of → oxidize.

The total number of electrons that an atom either gains or loses in order to form a chemical bond with another atom. In other words, the charge that atom would have if the compound was composed of ions. The oxidation number of an atom is zero in a neutral substance that contains atoms of only one element. Same as → oxidation state.

→ oxidation; → number.

Same as → oxidation number.

→ oxidation; → state.

A compound of → oxygen and another → chemical element.

From Fr. oxyde, from oxygène, → oxygen and acide, → acid.

Capable of undergoing a → chemical→ reaction with → oxygen.

→ oxidize + → -able.

To convert a → chemical element into an → oxide; combine with → oxygen.

→ oxide + → -ize.

Combined with or having undergone a chemical → reaction with → oxygen.

Past participle of → oxidize.

A substance that → oxidizes another substance. Same as → oxidant and → oxidizing agent.

Agent noun from → oxidize.

A substance that brings about an → oxidation. Same as → oxidant and → oxidizer.

→ oxide; → -ize; → -ing; → agent.

A gaseous → chemical element; symbol O. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the → Universe not produced in the → Big Bang, and the third most common overall. It is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas that is the second most abundant constituent of dry air (20.95% by volume). → Atomic number 8; → atomic weight 15.9994; → melting point -218.4°C; → boiling point -182.962°C; → density 1.429 grams per liter at STP. Oxygen was discovered for the first time by a Swedish Chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in 1772. Joseph Priestley, an English chemist, independently, discovered oxygen in 1774 and published his findings the same year, three years before Scheele published. Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, also discovered oxygen in 1775, was the first to recognize it as an element.

From Fr. oxygène, literally "acid former," coined in 1777 by the Fr. chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), from Gk. oxys "sharp, acid" + Fr. -gène "something that produces" from Gk. -genes "formation, creation" (cognate with Pers. zâdan "to bring forth, give birth;" Mid.Pers. zâtan; Av. zan- "to bear, give birth to a child, be born," infinitive zazāite, zāta- "born;" cf. Skt. janati "begets, bears;" L. gignere "to beget," nasci "to be born," as above, PIE base *gen- "to give birth, beget").

Oksižen, loan from Fr., as above.

The stage when a star fuses → oxygen into → silicon and → sulfur. It occurs only in → massive stars, with a mass over eight → solar masses.

→ oxygen; → burning.

A form of oxygen, O₃, in which the molecule is made of three atoms instead of the usual two.

From Ger. Ozon, coined in 1840 by Ger. chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein (1799-1868) from Gk. ozon, neute pr.p. of ozein "to smell." So called for its peculiar odor.

Not really a "hole," but a region of exceptionally depleted ozone in the stratosphere over the Antarctic that happens at the beginning of Southern Hemisphere spring (August-October). It was first noticed in the 1970s by a research group from the British Antarctic Survey.

→ ozone; → hole.

An atmospheric layer that contains a high proportion of oxygen that exists as ozone. It acts as a filtering mechanism against incoming ultraviolet radiation. It is located between the troposphere and the stratosphere, around 15 to 20 kilometers above the Earth's surface.

→ ozone; → layer.

The ozone layer within the stratosphere that filters out potentially lethal intensities of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.

→ ozone; shield, from O.E. scield, scild, related to sciell "seashell, eggshell," from P.Gmc. *skeldus (cf. Du. schild, Ger. Schild, Goth. skildus); PIE base *(s)kel- "to cut."

Separ "shield," from Mid.Pers. spar "shield;" cf. Skt. phalaka- "board, lath, leaf, shield," phálati "(he) splits;" Gk. aspalon "skin, hide," spolas "flayed skin," sphalassein "to cleave, to disrupt;" O.H.G. spaltan "to split;" Goth. spilda "board;" PIE base *(s)p(h)el- "to split, to break off;" → ozone.

A feature in a stellar spectrum showing strong hydrogen and helium emission lines with absorption lines on their blueward wing. This line profile indicates a strong outflow of matter from a star. → inverse P Cygni line profile.

After → P Cygni star.

1) A variable star in the constellation → Cygnus, and one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is a → Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) star of → spectral type B2 Ia located about 7000 light-years away. It was unknown until the 17th century, when it suddenly brightened to third magnitude. It briefly disappeared and returned, and today has a magnitude of about 4.8.
2) A member of a class of high-luminosity, early-type stars, in which spectral lines have a characteristic → P Cygni profile.

P, letter of alphabet; Cygni, pertaining to → Cygnus; → star.

Acoustic waves trapped inside stars, which act as a resonating cavity, exhibiting millions of oscillation modes or standing waves. Same as → pressure mode. P-mode oscillations in the Sun have frequencies in the 0.2-5.5 mHz range. They are particularly intense in the 2-4 mHz range, where they are often referred to as solar "5-minute oscillations." See also → pulsation mode.

P, referring to pressure; → mode.