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

Between or among → nations; involving two or more nations. → International Astronomical Union, → International Atomic Time, → International Date Line, and so forth.

International, from → inter- + nation, from O.Fr. nacion, from L. nationem (nom. natio) "nation, stock, race," literally "that which has been born," from natus, p.p. of nasci "be born;" cognate with Pers. zâdan→ generate, + → -al.

Jahâni "of or relating to the world" (Fr. mondial), → world.
Andarnafâni, from andar-, → inter-, + nafâni, adj. of nafân "family relation; kinship," proposal for "nation," from naf, from Mid.Pers. nâf "family," nâfag "navel," naft "descendant," Parthian n'p "family" (Mod.Pers. nâf "navel"); Av. nāfa- "navel, near relationship, family," hama.nāfaēna- "of the same family;" cf. Skt. nábhya- "hub (of wheel);" Gk. omphalos "navel;" L. umbilicus "navel;" O.H.G. nabalo "navel;" Ger. Nabel "navel" + -ân suffix denoting family relationship, as in Bâbakân "family of Bâbak."

An astronomical association of astronomers that is the controlling body of world astronomy. It was founded in Brussels in 1919.

→ international; → astronomical; → union.

A weighted average of the time kept by about 200 caesium atomic clocks in over 50 national laboratories worldwide. It has been available since 1955, and became the international standard on which UTC is based on January 1972.

→ international; → atomic; → time.

An imaginary line following approximately the 180th meridian which, by international agreement in 1884, marks the beginning or or end of a day. The regions to the east of which are counted as being one day earlier in their calendar dates than the regions to the west.

→ international; → date; → line.

The metric system of units based on the → meter, → kilogram, → second, → ampere, → kelvin, and → candela. Also called MSKA system. Other SI units are → hertz, → radian, → newton, → joule, → watt, → coulomb, → volt, → ohm, → farad, → weber, and → tesla.

→ international; → system; → unit.

A satellite dedicated to spectroscopic observations of astronomical objects in ultraviolet wavelengths, launched in 1978. It was an international collaboration between → NASA, the → European Space Agency (ESA), and the United Kingdom's Science and Engineering Research Council. It operated until September 1996 and collected over 70,000 spectra. IUE consisted of a 45-cm telescope (f/15) equipped with two spectrographs operating in the ranges 1850-3300 Å and 1150-2000 Å. Each spectrograph had a high-resolution and a low-resolution mode with resolutions of about 0.2 Å and 6 Å respectively.

→ international; → ultraviolet; → explorer.

An international cooperation whose objective is to facilitate the international coordination and collaboration necessary for the development and deployment of the tools, systems and organizational structures necessary to enable the international utilization of astronomical archives as an integrated and interoperating → Virtual Observatory. The IVOA, created in 2002, now comprises 20 Virtual Observatory programs from various countries and international organizations.

→ international; → virtual; → observatory; → alliance.