An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The energy required to remove a particle (a proton or a neutron) from a particular atomic nucleus.

→ separation; → energy.

The formation of second-generation stars in a → molecular cloud, as triggered by the presence of → massive stars. The observation that some nearby → OB associations contain distinct, spatially separate subgroups of → OB stars in a sequence of monotonically changing age led Blaauw (1964, ARA&A 2, 213) to suggest that star formation in fact occurs in sequential bursts during the lifetimes of the corresponding molecular clouds. The first quantitative model of this mechanism was presented by Elmegreen and Lada (1977, ApJ 214, 725), who showed that the powerful ultraviolet photons of the massive star create an → ionization front which advances in the molecular cloud and is preceded by a → shock front. The compressed neutral gas lying between the ionization and shock fronts is gravitationally unstable and collapses in time-scales of a few million years to form a new generation of massive stars. The propagation of successive births of OB groups would produce a chain of associations presenting a gradient of age. Elmegreen and Lada estimated the propagation velocity to be 5 km s^-1. For a region with a length larger than 100 pc, this would imply an age difference of the order of 20 million years between the extremities. See also → stimulated star formation, → triggered star formation; → collect and collapse model.

→ sequential; → star formation.

A collection of → nonempty subsets of a set A such that every element of A is in exactly one of the subsets. In other words, A is the → disjoint  → union of these subsets.

→ partition; → set.

An optical device, a modern version of the → Hartmann test, used for analyzing the wavefront of light. Theses sensors can be used to characterize the performance of optical systems. Moreover, they are increasingly used in real-time applications, such as → adaptive optics to remove the wavefront distortion before creating an image. It consists of a microlens array placed in front of a CCD array. A planar wavefront that is transmitted through a microlens array and imaged on the CCD array will form a regular pattern of bright spots. If, however, the wavefront is distorted, the light imaged on the CCD will consist of some regularly spaced spots mixed with displaced spots and missing spots. This information is used to calculate the shape of the wavefront that was incident on the microlens array.

Named after the German astronomer Johannes Hartmann (1865-1936), who first developed the method, and R. V. Shack, who in the late 1960s replaced the screen by a microlens array; → wavefront; → sensor.

A cone-shaped shadow cast by Earth or the Moon pointing away from the Sun. The dark inner portion of the shadow cone is called the → umbra. The lighter outer portion of the shadow is called the → penumbra. Its extension is called the → antumbra.

→ shadow; → cone.

→ information entropy.

Claude Elwood Shannon (1916-2001), an American mathematician and pioneer of → information theory; → entropy.

Same as → sampling theorem.

→ Shannon entropy; → sampling; → theorem.

Same as the → Shapley supercluster.

→ Shapley's wing; → concentration

A rotation mode in which internal rotation of a star depends essentially on depth and little on latitude: Ω(r,θ) = Ω(r), where r is the mean distance to the stellar center of the considered level surface (or → isobar). This particular mode was introduced by J.-P. Zahn (1992, A&A 265, 115) to simplify the treatment of rotational → mixing, but also on more physical grounds. Indeed differential rotation tends to be smoothed out in latitude through → shear turbulence. See also → von Zeipel theorem; → meridional circulation .

Shellular, the structure of this term is not clear; it may be a combination of → shell (referring to star's assumed division in differentially rotating concentric shells) + (circ)ular, → circular. The first bibliographic occurrence of shellular is seemingly in Ghosal & Spiegel (1991, On the Thermonuclear Convection: I. Shellular Instability, Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn. 61, 161). However, surprisingly the term appears only in the title, and nowhere in the body of the article; → rotation.

Carxeš, → rotation; puste-yi, adj. of pusté, → shell.

A → natural satellite in orbit near the edge of a → planetary ring, whose → gravitational force on the ring particles strongly controls the distribution of material within the ring, creating ringlets and density waves within the ring and sharp edges at ring boundaries. Examples include → Saturn's → Prometheus and → Pandora, which shepherd the narrow outer → F ring and the → Uranus satellites → Cordelia and → Ophelia and the epsilon ring. The faster-moving inside satellite accelerates the inner ring particles as it passes them, causing them to spiral out to larger orbits. At the same time the slower-moving outer satellite decelerates the outer ring particles as they pass by, causing them to spiral inward. The result is a narrow, well-defined ring.

→ shepherd; → moon.

→ tibia.

→ tibia

Doroštney, literally "big reed," from dorošt, → macro-, + ney "reed, cane."

Any of a series of rings/disks that are formed in a jet flow exhausting a → nozzle when there is a huge difference between the exit pressure and the ambient pressure. At sea level, the exhaust pressure might be lower than the thick atmosphere. In contrast, at very high altitudes, the exhaust pressure might be higher than the thin atmosphere. Shock diamonds can appear just as a rocket is taking off, or at high altitudes when it shifts into → supersonic speed. Shock diamonds are also known as Mach diamonds, → Mach disks, Mach rings, doughnut tails, or thrust diamonds.

→ shock; → diamond.

The boundary over which the physical conditions undergo an abrupt change because of a → shock wave.

→ shock; → front.

The time taken by the Moon to complete one → revolution around the Earth with respect to a background, → fixed star. The average time is 27.321 661 days (27d 7h 43m 11.5s). Same as → lunar sidereal orbital period.

→ sidereal; → month.

The time taken by a planet or satellite to complete one revolution about its primary with respect to stars. For Earth, same as → sidereal year. Sidereal periods of the solar system planets, interms of the sidereal year, are as follows: Mercury 0.240846 (87.9691 days); Venus 0.615 (225 days); Earth 1 (365.25636 solar days); Mars 1.881; Jupiter 11.86; Satrurn 29.46; Uranus 84.01; and Neptune 164.8. That of the Moon is 0.0748 (27.32 days) and for → Sedna 12050.

→ sidereal; → revolution; → period.

The rotation period of a celestial body with respect to fixed stars. For Earth, same as → sidereal day.

→ sidereal; → rotation; → period.

1) Something that is signified, → meaning, sense.
2) The act of signifying. → significance, → significant, → level of significance.

Verbal noun of → signify.

A non-metallic chemical element; symbol Si. Atomic number 14; atomic weight 28.0855; melting point 1,410°C; boiling point 2,355°C; specific gravity 2.33 at 25°C. It occurs in a combined state in minerals and rocks and constituting more than one fourth of the earth's crust.

From silic(a), from L. silex (genitive silicis) "flint, pebble" + -on, as in carbon and boron.

Silisiom, from Fr. silicium, from silic(a), as above, + -ium as in magnesium, barium.

The → nucleosynthetic process taking place in the interior of → massive stars whereby → silicon is transmuted into iron, nickel, and neighboring nuclei collectively called the → iron peak elements.

→ silicon; → burning.

Polygons that are exactly the same shape, but can be different sizes.

→ similar; → polygon.