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

A linear combination of vectors in which all the vector coefficients add up to one.

→ affine; → combination.

General: Successive change from one thing or state to another and back again.
The process of periodically varying a voltage from zero to a maximum, back to zero, to a minimum, and then to zero.

Alternation, noun from → alternate.

1) General: The angle between one plane and another, or the angle formed by a reference axis and a given line.
2) Binary systems: The angle between the plane of the orbit and the → plane of the sky.
3) Rotating stars: The angle between the → equatorial plane and the → plane of the sky.

→ angle; → inclination.

1) An appointment for a meeting.
2) The act of assigning; → assignment (Dictionary.com).

Verbal noun of → assign.

1) For an asteroid whose orbit is precisely known, a number and optionally a proper name, e.g. (7) Iris, (24101) Cassini, (99942) Apophis.
2) For an asteroid whose orbit is not known, a provisional designation composed of four elements: number.letter.letter.(optionally)number. The first number indicates the year of discovery. The first letter denotes the half-month of the discovery (A: first half of January, Y: second half of December; the letter "I" is excluded). The second letter and the following number indicate the order of discovery within the half-month. For example, the first asteroid discovered in the first half of May 1960 is: 1960 JA. Since more than 25 objects (without "I") might be detected within a half-month, the number following the second letter indicates the number of 25 discoveries. Hence, 2001 SD3 was discovered in the second half of September 2001 and was the (D =) 4 + (25 x 3) or the 79th object found during that period.

→ asteroid; → designation.

The angle at which a planet's axis of rotation is tilted, with respect to that of the planet's orbit.

→ axial; → inclination.

A stellar designation system in which a specific star is identified by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of its hosting → constellation's Latin name. For example, Alpha Eridani, Delta Cephei, Lambda Bootis. The Greek alphabet has only 24 letters. In case a single constellation contained a larger number of stars, Bayer amended with Latin letters: upper case A, followed by lower case b through z (omitting j and v), for a total of another 24 letters. Bayer did not go beyond z, but later astronomers added more designations using both upper and lower case Latin letters, the upper case letters following the lower case ones in general. Examples include, for Vela: a Vel (Velorum), z Vel, A Vel, Q Vel; for Scorpius: d Sco (Scorpii), A Sco; for Leo: b Leo (Leonis), o Leo, A Leo, → c Orionis. Compare with the → Flamsteed designation.

First introduced by Johann Bayer (1572-1625) in his atlas Uranometria, published in 1603 at Augsburg, Germany; → designation.

The complement of → declination; the angular distance along a great circle from the celestial pole, i.e., 90° - declination.

Codeclination, from → co- + → declination.

Hamvâkil, from ham-, → co-, + vâkil, → declination.

1) General: The act of combining or the state of being combined.
2) Math: The number of ways elements making up a set can be arranged into various groups without regard to their order in the group. → permutation

Noun from → combine

A → nomenclature system for naming → comets. In early 1995, a new comet designation system was established by the → International Astronomical Union. The main rules are as follows:
a) If the comet is a newly discovered one, it first gets a provisional name, which closely matches the → asteroid designation system. For example, the first comet discovered in the first half of 1998 January is designated 1998 A1, the second 1998 A2, etc.
b) The name of the person(s) who discovered the comet may be added to this designation (limited, however, to three names). For example, comet → Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) has its full name as Hale-Bopp C/1995 O1, whereas its designation is C/1998 O1. If several people are involved with a discovery at an observatory, the comet may be named after the observatory instead of the individuals.
c) → Long-period comets and one-apparition → periodic comets receive only a provisional designation.
d) A → short-period comet would get the P/designation until it is recovered in a second → apparition. At this point, the P/Year designation would be replaced with a number followed immediately by an upper case P, and a slash followed by the name of the discoverer(s). The number here is one more than the number of known periodic comets that have reappeared. For example, the comet Hug-Bell (P/1999 X1) was given the full name 178P/Hug-Bell after it reappeared in 2007. Previously, 177 periodic comets had got assigned numbers.
e) Long-period comets are indicated by the prefix C.
f) If the comet is destroyed, or if it fails to appear after several apparitions, it would be prefixed D/ (→ defunct comet) followed by the year of its discovery. For example, → Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 has been assigned D/1993 F2 since it was discovered in the second half of March in 1993 and was destroyed when it crashed into Jupiter in 1994.
g) Comets that lack sufficient position measurements for an orbital determination are given the designation of X/ followed by the year of their discovery and the appropriate letter and number code.
h) When a → comet nucleus nucleus splits, each fragment is given the comet designation followed by A, B, C, etc (for fragments).

→ comet; → designation.

The act of condemning; the state of being condemned.

Verbal noun of → condemn.

The act or state of coordinating or of being coordinated.

Verbal noun of → coordinate.

A chemical compound in which a group of atoms or ions are attached by a coordination bond to a usually metallic central atom or ion.

→ coordination; → compound.

Crystallography: The crystal structure of a → coordination compound.

→ coordination; → lattice.

1) Crystallography: The number of nearest neighbors of an atom or ion in a → crystal lattice. A large coordination number indicates that the structure is more closely packed.
2) Chemistry: The number of atoms, ions, or molecules surrounding a central atom or ion in a complex.

→ coordination; → number.

The act of culminating or the instant at which a celestial object reaches its highest altitude above the horizon by crossing the observer's meridian. → upper culmination; → lower culmination.

Verbal noun of → culminate.

Bâlest, from Mid.Pers. bâlist "culmination point of a star; highest, summit," from bâlây "high" + -ist superlative suffix, Av. barəzišta- "highest," from barəz- "high, mount" (Skt. bhrant- "high," O.E. burg, burh "castle, fortified place," from P.Gmc. *burgs "fortress," Ger. Burg "castle," Goth. baurgs "city," E. burg, borough, Fr. bourgeois, bourgeoisie, faubourg; PIE base *bhergh- "high") + -išta- superlative suffix (Skt. -istha-, Gk. -istos, O.H.G. -isto, -osto, O.E. -st, -est, -ost).

1) Angular distance (symbol δ) from the celestial equator. One of the coordinates, with → right ascension, that defines the position of a heavenly body in the equator system. Declination is measured positively (+) north or negatively (-) south of the celestial equator from 0° to 90°.
2) Angle between geographic North and magnetic North (symbol D).

Verbal noun of → decline; → -tion.

The axis to which the telescope tube is fastened in an → equatorial mounting.

→ declination; → axis.

For a telescope with an → equatorial mounting, a graduated circle attached to the → declination axis that shows the → declination to which the telescope is pointing.

→ declination; → circle.

1) A name or designation.
2) The action of naming or classifying something. 3) One of the grades or degrees in a series of designations of quantity, value, measure, weight, etc. (Dictionary.com).

Verbal noun of → denominate.