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

The maximum angle at which a display, such as a TV screen, can be viewed with acceptable visual performance.

Viewing, from view, M.E. v(i)ewe (n.); M.Fr. veue "sight," feminine p.p. of veoir "to see," from L. videre "to see," → vision; → angle.

Zâviyé, → angle; did→ vision.

The numeral system based on → twenty.

From L. vigesimus, variant of vicesimus, vicensimus "twentieth," from vigniti "twenty" + → -al.

The gradual reduction in energy through an optical system as the off-axis angle increases, resulting from limitations of the clear apertures of elements within the system.

From vignette "an unbordered picture, often a portrait, that shades off into the surrounding color at the edges;" "softening the edges of a picture in vignette style;" from Fr. vignette, O.Fr., diminutive of vigne "vineyard;" from L. vinea "vine, vineyard," from vinum "wine."

Labe-puš, literally "limb covering," from labé "limb," from lab "lip;" (Mid.Pers. lap; cf. L. labium; O.E. lippa; E. lip; Ger. Lefze) + puš present stem of pušidan "to cover; to put on" (Mid.Pers. pôšidan, pôš- "to cover; to wear;" cf. Mid.Pers. pôst; Mod.Pers. pust "skin, hide;" O.Pers. pavastā- "thin clay envelope used to protect unbaked clay tablets;" Skt. pavásta- "cover," Proto-Indo-Iranian *pauastā- "cloth").

A small group of dwellings in a rural area, usually ranking in size between a hamlet and a town.

M.E. village, from O.Fr. village, from L. villaticus, ultimately from L. villa "country house," related to vicus "village, group of houses," vecinus "neighbor;" cf. Mid.Pers. wis "village," Manichean Mid.Pers. wys "to repose;" Khotanese bäsā "house;" O.Pers. viθ- "settlement;" Av. vis- "to enter;" cf. Skt. vis- "house;" Albanian vis- "place;" Gothic weihs "village;" E. suffix wich, -wick (as in Norwich and Brunswick); Iranian dialects/languages Xonsâri hos "house, home;" Lori, Laki hoš, höš, hovš "house, home;" Baluci ges "house, home;" Kermânshahi, Ilâmi, Lori huz "clan, family, tribe;" Parachi γos, γus "house, home;" Wakhi wiš- / wišt- "to set [of sun];" Yaghnavi wes-, ves- "to go down;" PIE *ueik- "to settle (down)."

Deh, dehkadé, from Mid.Pers. dêh "village, settlement, country;" loaned into Armenian deh "district;" O.Pers./Av. dahyu- "country."

A star located in the → Virgo constellation, also called ε Virginis. It is a yellow → giant of apparent magnitude 2.83 and → spectral type G8 III. Vindemiatrix lies about 102 → light-years from Earth, has a luminosity 83 times the → solar luminosity, and a → surface temperature about 5,000 K.

L. Vindemiatrix "grape-harvestress," feminine of vindemiator "grape-hervester," translation of Gk. names Protrugeter, Protrugetes, and Trugeter used by Ptolemy, Plutarch, and other Gk. authors. The first of these words denoted "Fruit-plucking Herald." In Gk. trugos is the process of collecting the grapes. It has been argued that the first visibility of the star in morning light was the time of gathering the grapes. The original Gk. name was translated in Ar. as al-Mutaqaddim lil-Qaţāf (المتقدم للقطاف) "Harvest Precursor," and later to Almuredin maybe with the same meaning, but the etymology is not clear.

Angurcin "grape harvester," from angur "grape" (related to quré "unripe grape," angordé "a single grape, a berry;" cf. Skt. ankurá- "buds, sprout, shoot, blossom, swelling") + cin present stem of cidan "to gather, collect," related to gozidan "to choose, select" (Mid.Pers. cyn- "to gather, collect;" Av. ci- "to heap up, gather"

Any of various plants, especially the grapevine, having long flexible stems that creep along the ground or climb by clinging to a support by means of tendrils, leafstalks, etc (Dictionary.com).

M.E., from O.Fr. vigne "vine, vinyard," from L. vinea "vine, vineyard," from vinum "wine," from PIE *win-o- "wine."

Mow, tâk, raz "vine," Persian words of unknown origin.

To break, infringe, or transgress (a law, rule, agreement, promise, instructions, etc.). → parity violation.

M.E., from L. violatus p.p. of violare "to treat with violence, violate," from violentus "violent, " from vis "force, violence."

Enâhidan infinitive from enâh, from Av. aēnah- "violence, mischief, crime, outrage," from aēn- "to do violence to, to violate, to injure, to offend;" cf. Skt. énas- "offence, mischief, crime, sin;" Gk. ainos "terrible."

The act of violating. The state of being violated. → parity violation

Verbal noun from → violate.

Intense in force, effect; severe; extreme.
See also: → optically violent variable (OVV) quasar, → violent galaxy, → violent interstellar environment, → violent relaxation, → violent star formation.

M.E., from O.fr. violent, from L. violentus "vehement, forcible."

Surâ, from Av. sūra- "strong, powerful, mighty;" cf. Skt. śūra- "strong, powerful, valiant."

A type of galaxy that releases a tremendous amount of energy, on the average 10⁵⁸ ergs, compared with a supernova release of 10⁴⁹ ergs. Violent galaxies include quasars and exploding galaxies. About 1 percent of the galaxies are classified as violent. The nearest violent galaxy is Cen A.

→ violent; → galaxy.

A description of the interstellar medium justified by the presence of supersonic shock waves, massive star winds, turbulence, supernova explosions, etc.

→ violent; → interstellar; → environment.

A process in which a dynamical system made up of many objects (star cluster, galaxy cluster) rapidly relaxes from a chaotic initial state to a quasi-equilibrium.

→ violent; → relaxation.

The concept of star formation pertaining to a variety of systems (OB associations, giant H II regions, H II galaxies, massive star clusters, etc.) that are believed to have formed large numbers of stars in a very short time.

→ violent; → star formation.

A color at the opposite end of the visible spectrum from red, an effect of light with a wavelength between 4000 and 4500 Å. → ultraviolet.

M.E., from O.Fr. violete, diminutive of viole "violet," from L. viola, akin to Gk. ion "violet."

Banafš "violet," related to banafšé "violet flower;" Mid.Pers. vanafšak "violet flower."

A layer of particles in the upper Martian atmosphere that scatter and absorbs electromagnetic radiation at shorter wavelengths, making the atmosphere opaque to blue, violet, and ultraviolet light.

→ violet; → layer.

The Maiden. A large constellation of the Zodiac, situated at the celestial equator with 13h right ascension, 2° south declination. The brightest star is the first magnitude → Spica, and there are seven others brighter than fourth magnitude. Because of the presence of a background galaxy cluster, → Virgo cluster, this constellation is especially rich in galaxies. Eleven of the brighter galaxies are listed in the → Messier catalog. Abbreviation: Vir; Genitive: Virginis.

L. virgo "maiden, unwedded girl or woman."

Dušizé "maiden, virgin;" Mid.Pers. dôšizag "maiden, virgin," related to duxtar, duxt "daughter" (O.Pers. *duxçi-; Av. dugədar-, duγdar-; cf. Skt. duhitár-, Gk. thygater; E. daughter; Ger. Tochter; PIE base *dhug(h)əter-); Manichean Mid.Pers. duxš "princess, girl of noble birth;" O.Pers. duxši- (Elamite du-uk-ši-iš) "royal princess" + diminutive suffix -izag, -izé (as in suffixed Fr. demoiselle, from V.L. *dominicella, from domin(a) "lady" + -i- + -cella diminutive suffix).

The most powerful radio source in the constellation Virgo, among the thousands of galactic systems comprising the → Virgo Cluster. Optically, it is an elliptical galaxy (M87) with a luminous blue jet about 1500 pc long. It is also an X-ray source (3C 274, Virgo X-1, 2U 1228+12).

→ Virgo.

The largest and nearest galaxy cluster to the Local Group. The Virgo cluster spans 120 square degrees on the sky and contains on the order of 2,000 galaxies. It is located at a distance of about 60 million light-years. It is an irregular cluster with no central concentration. The giant elliptical galaxy M87 is the most massive in the cluster.

→ Virgo; → cluster.

A → Michelson interferometer using → laser beams designed to detect → gravitational waves. It consists of two 3-km-long arms, which house the various machinery required to form a → laser interferometer. The gravitational waves searched for have frequencies between 10 Hz and 10 kHz. Virgo has been designed and built by a collaboration between the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN). It is now operated and improved in Cascina, a small town near Pisa on the site of the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), by an international collaboration of scientists from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Hungary. The initial Virgo detector observed the sky between 2007 and 2011 together with the two interferometers of the → Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), located in the United States. Virgo underwent a major upgrade after a long shutdown period. The "Advanced Virgo" overhaul lasted 5-year and costed 23 million Euros. The upgraded observatory was inaugurated on 20 February 2017 and, notably, detected the → GW170817 event.

Named after the → Virgo cluster of galaxies whose stellar explosions it aims to detect; → interferometer.

The irregular supercluster that contains the Virgo cluster and the Local Group. At least 100 galaxy groups and clusters are located within its diameter of 110 million light-years. It is one of millions of superclusters in the observable Universe.

→ Virgo; → supercluster.