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

The emission of radiation from an atom when it is bombarded by photons. The induced radiation has the same wavelength and direction as the bombarding radiation. Same as → stimulated emission.

→ induced; → emission.

The portion of → electromagnetic radiation from → astrophysical objects in → infrared frequencies.

→ infrared; → emission.

A NASA lander designed to study the interior of the planet Mars. It will be a stationary mission, in contrast to NASA's famous Opportunity, Spirit and Curiosity rovers. Staying in place is necessary for its major science goals, which include learning more about the Martian composition, and how tectonically active the red planet is. InSight launched toward Mars on May 5, 2018, landed on Nov. 26, 2018, at the Martian Elysium Planitia, an equatorial zone just south of an ancient volcanic area. InSight will send back data about Mars' interior for about 1 Mars year, or 728 Earth-days. The lander uses sophisticated instruments, to delve deep beneath the surface and seek the fingerprints of the processes that formed the terrestrial planets. It does so by carrying out → seismology, heat flow measurements, and precision tracking.

InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport; → mission.

A follow-up mission of the → Kepler satellite funded by → NASA. K2 provides an opportunity to continue Kepler's observations in the field of → exoplanets and expand its role into new astrophysical observations by assigning to Kepler new mission.

K, short for → Kepler spacecraft; 2, for second → mission.

Same as → LINER.

→ low; → ionization; → nuclear; → emission; → line; → region.

An emission arising from the → maser process.

→ maser; → emission.

An operation designed to carry out the goals of a specific program, such as a a space flight or voyage.

Mission, from L. missionem (nominative missio) "act of sending," from mittere "to send," of unknown origin.

Gosilân, from gosil, variant gosi "sending away, dismission;" Mid.Pers. wisé "to despatch" (Parthian Mid.Pers. wsys- "to despatch;" Buddhist Mid.Pers. wsydy "to despatch;" Sogdian 'ns'yd- "to exhort"), from Proto-Iranian *vi-sid- "to despatch, send off," from prefix vi- "apart, away, out," + *sid- "to call" + -ân nuance suffix.

An → electromagnetic radiation emitted by → interstellar molecules through → transitions between → energy states of → molecules.

→ molecular; → emission.

A type of radioactive decay of atoms containing excess neutrons, in which a neutron is ejected from the nucleus.

→ neutron; → emission.

→ non-thermal radiation.

→ non-thermal; → emission.

The act of permitting. Authorization granted to do something.

verbal noun of → permit; → -tion.

A → continuum emission with frequencies in the radio range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

→ radio; → continuum; → emission.

→ Electromagnetic radiation carried by → radio waves.

→ radio; → emission.

The emission of → secondary electrons from the surface of a material when an incident particle (often, charged particle such as electron or ion) impacts the material with sufficient energy.

→ secondary; → emission.

A manned or unmanned space flight outside the Earth's atmosphere.

→ space; mission, from L. missionem (nominative missio) "act of sending," from mittere "to send," of unknown origin.

Gosilân, from gosil, variant gosi "sending away, dismission;" Mid.Pers. wisé "to despatch" (Parthian Mid.Pers. wsys- "to despatch;" Buddhist Mid.Pers. wsydy "to despatch;" Sogdian 'ns'yd- "to exhort"), from Proto-Iranian *vi-sid- "to despatch, send off," from prefix vi- "apart, away, out," + *sid- "to call" + -ân nuance suffix; fazâyi adj. of fazâ, → space.

The emission of electromagnetic radiation from an atom or molecule that does not depend on the presence of external fields.

→ spontaneous; → emission.

The process by which an electron, which is already in an excited state (an upper energy level, in contrast to its lowest possible level or "ground state"), can "stimulate" a transition to a lower level, producing a second photon of the same energy. The quantum energy of the incoming photon should be equal to the energy difference between its present level and the lower level. This process forms the basis of both the → laser and → maser. Same as → induced emission.

Stimulated, p.p. of → stimulate; → emission.

An act or instance of submitting. The condition of having submitted. → submit

Verbal noun of → submit.

→ thermal radiation.

→ thermal; → emission.

Electrons gaining enough thermal energy to escape spontaneously from the cathode or dynodes and mimic photoelectrons.

thermion; → emission.