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

A → Solar System object belonging to the → Kuiper belt. The largest known objects of this type are → Pluto and its moon → Charon, → Quaoar, → Sedna, and → Orcus. See also → trans-Neptunian object.

→ Kuiper belt; → object.

An astronomical object that creates → gravitational lensing. See also → lensing galaxy.

→ lensing; → object.

An → abstract object dealt with in mathematics that has a definition, obeys certain properties, and can be the target of certain operations. It is often built out of other, already defined objects. Some examples are → numbers, → functions, → triangles, martices (→ matrix), → groups, and entities such as → vector spaces, and → infinite series.

→ mathematical; → object.

Any of the nebulous-looking → astronomical objects listed in the → Messier catalog.

→ Messier catalog; → object.

A peculiar blue object near the → elliptical galaxy NGC 541 in the → galaxy cluster Abell 194. According to several pieces of evidence, the → starburst in Minkowski's object was triggered by the → radio jet emerging from the → nucleus of the nearby → active galaxy NGC 541. This is similar to the jet-induced → star formation associated with → Centaurus A, and the radio-aligned star forming regions in powerful radio galaxies at → high redshift. Absorption and emission line measurements and broadband → SED fitting, give an age of around 7.5 Myr for Minkowski's object.

Minkowski, R., 1958, PASP, 70, 143; → object.

A technique of spectroscopy using fiber optics whereby several objects distributed over the field of view can be observed simultaneously.

→ multi-; → object; → spectroscopy.

An → asteroid, → comet, or large → meteoroid whose orbit brings it exceptionally close to the Earth, and which may therefore pose a collision danger. Most such objects are in orbits around the Sun with → perihelion distance less than 1.3 → astronomical units. See also → near-Earth asteroid.

→ near; → earth; → object.

1) General: Anything that is visible or tangible.
2) Physics: A collection of masses, taken to be one.
3) Optics: The collection of points that acts as a source of light rays for an optical system.
4) Astro.: A general designation for material bodies studied in this science.
5) Math.: Anything that could be formally defined, and with which one may do deductive reasoning and mathematical proofs. → mathematical object
6) Computer science: A free standing chunk of code that defines the properties of some thing.
7) Grammar: In English grammar, a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that is affected by the action of a verb (a direct object or an indirect object) or that completes the meaning of a preposition (the object of a preposition).
8) To raise or state an argument against.

From M.L. objectum "thing thrown down or put before" (the mind or sight), neutral of objectus, p.p. of obicere "to present, oppose, cast in the way of," from ob "against" + jacere "to throw," from PIE base *ye- "to do" (cf. Gk. iemi, ienai "to send, throw," Hitt. ijami "I make").

Barâxt "thing drawn against, before" from bar- + âxt. The prefix bar- "on; upon; against; before; at; in," from Mid.Pers. abar, O.Pers. upariy "above; over, upon, according to," Av. upairi "above, over" (upairi.zəma- "located above the earth"), cf. Gk. hyper- "over, above," L. super-, O.H.G. ubir "over;" PIE base *uper "over".
The second component âxt, contraction of âxté, p.p. of âxtan, variants âhixtan, âhiz- "to draw (a sword)," âhanjidan "to draw up, pull, extract," Mid.Pers. âhixtan, âhanjitan "to draw out, pull up, extract," Av. θanj- "to draw, pull, drive;" Proto-Iranian *θanj-.
Kondâr, literally "action receiver," from kon- present stem of kardan "to do, make," → -or, used as action noun (like xor, xâb, foruš), + dâr agent noun from dâštan "to receive" (Dehxodâ), originally "to have, hold, possess," → property.

The → lens or lenses in the → object end of the body tube of a → microscope, by means of which the rays coming from the object examined are brought to a focus. Same as → objective. An old term for the → objective lens of a → refracting telescope.

→ object; → glass.

Any language described by a → metalanguage. For example, the sentence "In Persian, the word setâré means "star" " is part of a metalanguage (here, English), and the language described (namely Persian) is an object language. Metalanguage and object language may be identical.

→ object; → language.

In an → optical system, the space between the object being viewed and the → entrance pupil. See also → image space.

→ object; → space.

In computer science a programming technique that uses → objects and their interactions to design applications and programs.

→ object; oriented, p.p. from the verb of → orientation; → programming.

Barnâme-sâzi, → programming; barâxt, → object; gerâ agent adj. of gerâyidan "to incline toward; to intend; to make for." The stem gerâ may be a variant of Mod.Pers. kil "bent, inclined" (k/g and l/r interchanges), from PIE base *klei- "to lean, incline," cognate with L. clinare "to bend" (E. declination, inclination, etc.), Gk. klinein "to cause to slope, slant, incline," Skt. sri- "to lean," O.Pers. θray-, Av. sray- "to lean," P.Gmc. *khlinen (Ger. lehnen, E. lean).

1) The act of objecting.
2) A statement presented in opposition.

Verbal noun of → object.

1a) Of or pertaining to something that can exist independent of thought or perception as part of reality. Opposite of → subjective.
1b) Free of any bias or prejudice caused by personal feelings.
2) The → lens or combination of lenses nearest the → object in an optical instrument ( → telescope, → microscope, → camera).
3) The → primary mirror of a → reflecting telescope.
4) Grammar: Relating to nouns, noun phrases, or pronouns that are the objects of verbs or prepositions.

Adjective of → object.

A diffraction grating placed over the aperture of a telescope in order to produce spectra of all the objects in the field of view.

→ objective; → grating.

The lens or system of lenses in a → telescope or → microscope that magnify an object and project a larger → image. The object lens is nearest the object being viewed

→ objective; → lens.

A dispersing prism placed in front of a telescope objective to produce spectra of all luminous objects in the field of view.

→ objective; → prism.

A probability determined by the long-term frequency of an event; in contrast to subjective probability.

→ objective; → probability.

1) The state or quality of being → objective. Opposite of → subjectivity.
2) Ability to view things objectively.
3) External reality.

→ objective + → -ity.

Initial name of → quasars.

→ quasi-; → stellar; → object.