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

A one-second added between 60s and 0s at announced times to keep the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), counted by atomic clocks, within 0s.90 of mean solar time (UT1). Generally, leap seconds are added at the end of June or December.

→ leap; → second.

Of two or more → integers, the smallest positive number that is divisible by those integers without a remainder.

→ least; → common; → multiplier.

A → cross correlation technique for computing average profiles from thousands of → spectral lines simultaneously. The technique, first introduced by Donati et al. (1997, MNRAS 291,658), is based on several assumptions: additive → line profiles, wavelength independent → limb darkening, self-similar local profile shape, and weak → magnetic fields. Thus, unpolarized/polarized stellar spectra can indeed be seen as a line pattern → convolved with an average line profile. In this context, extracting this average line profile amounts to a linear → deconvolution problem. The method treats it as a matrix problem and look for the → least squares solution. In practice, LSD is very similar to most other cross-correlation techniques, though slightly more sophisticated in the sense that it cleans the cross-correlation profile from the autocorrelation profile of the line pattern. The technique is used to investigate the physical processes that take place in stellar atmospheres and that affect all spectral line profiles in a similar way. This includes the study of line profile variations (LPV) caused by orbital motion of the star and/or stellar surface inhomogeneities, for example. However, its widest application nowadays is the detection of weak magnetic fields in stars over the entire → H-R diagram based on → Stokes parameter V (→ circular polarization) observations (see also Tkachenko et al., 2013, A&A 560, A37 and references therein).

→ least; → square; → deconvolution.

An improvement of → Schwarzschild's criterion for convective instability, which includes effects of chemical composition of the gas. In the Ledoux criterion the gradient due to different molecular weights is added to the adiabatic temperature gradient.

After the Belgian astrophysicist Paul Ledoux (1914-1988), who studied problems of stellar stability and variable stars. He was awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1972 (Ledoux et al. 1961 ApJ 133, 184); → criterion.

The → differential equation of the form: d/dx(1 - x²)dy/dx) + n(n + 1)y = 0. The general solution of the Legendre equation is given by y = c₁P_n(x) + c₂Q_n(x), where P_n(x) are Legendre polynomials and Q_n(x) are called Legendre functions of the second kind.

Named after Adrien-Marie Legendre (1752-1833), a French mathematician who made important contributions to statistics, number theory, abstract algebra, and mathematical analysis; → equation.

A mathematical operation that transforms one function into another. Two differentiable functions f and g are said to be Legendre transforms of each other if their first derivatives are inverse functions of each other: df(x)/dx = (dg(x)/dx)^-1. The functions f and g are said to be related by a Legendre transformation.

→ Legendre equation; → transformation.

1) The act of making or enacting laws.
2) A law or a body of laws enacted (Dictionary.com).

From Fr. législation, from L.L. legislationem, from legis latio, "proposing (literally 'bearing') of a law," → legislator.

Qânungoz&acric;ri "act or process followed by the qânungoz&acric;r", → legislator.

Same as → Lorentz contraction.

→ length; → contraction.

A → meteor shower emanating from an apparent point in the constellation → Leo that occurs from November 14-20, with a maximum on November 17-18. It is due to the annual passage of the Earth through the orbit of the comet → Tempel-Tuttle and encounter with the dust debris from the comet.

From L. Leon, → Leo, + → -ids.

An → elementary particle that does not participate in the → strong interaction. The Lepton family includes → electrons, → muons, tau leptons, → neutrinos and their → antiparticles. The lepton is a → fermion.

From Gk, lepto-, combining form of leptos "small, slight" + -on a suffix used in the names of subatomic particles (gluon; meson; neutron), quanta (photon; graviton), and other minimal entities or components.

Postulate that the magnitude of the lepton number density is comparable to or larger than the thermal radiation photon number density, so relaxation to equilibrium produces a degenerate sea of neutrinos. Degenerate neutrinos would suppress the number of neutrons relative to protons in the very early Universe; degenerate antineutrinos would suppress the number of protons relative to neutrons. Either case would affect BBNS (Peebles, P. et al., 2009, Finding the Big Bang, Cambridge: UK, Cambridge Univ. Press).

→ lepton; → degeneracy.

The era following the hadronic era, when the Universe consisted mainly of leptons and photons. It began when the temperature dropped below 10¹² degrees kelvin some 10^-4 seconds after the Big Bang, and it lasted until the temperature fell below 10¹⁰ degrees kelvin, at an era of about 1 second.

→ lepton; → era.

In particle physics, a quantum number attributed to elementary particles which is conserved in nuclear reactions. It is +1 for a lepton, -1 for an antilepton and 0 for other particles.

→ lepton; → number.

A bright blue star of → apparent visual magnitudeV = 2.70, that with → Shaula (Lambda Scorpii) makes up the Scorpion's stinger. Among its other designations: HR 6508 and HIP 85696. Lesath is 580 → light-years away. Lesath and Shaula appear very close on the sky (less than a degree apart), but they are not physically related. Lesath is a → subgiant of → spectral type B2 IV with a → luminosity of about 7,380 Msun. It has a radius of about 6 Rsun, and a → surface temperature of about 22,000 K.

Lesath, from Ar. al-Las'ah (اللسعه) "the sting."

1) The action of rising or causing something to rise and float in the air, typically by means of supposed magical powers.
2) → radiative levitation.

→ levitate; → -tion.

The counterclockwise rotation of the → plane of polarization of light (as observed when looking straight through the incoming light) by certain substances.

Adj. related to → levorotation.

Small oscillations of a → celestial body about its mean position. The term is used mainly to mean the Moon's libration caused by the apparent wobble of the Moon as it orbits the Earth. The Moon always keeps the same side toward the Earth, but due to libration, 59% of the Moon's surface can be seen over a period of time. This results from three kinds of libration working in combination: → libration in longitude, → libration in latitude, and → diurnal libration. See also: → geometrical libration, → physical libration.

L. libration- "a balancing."

Halâzân "to and fro motion, oscillation," literally "a swing: a seat suspended by ropes on which a person may sit for swinging," from Gilaki halâcin "a swing," Ilâmi harazân "a swing," variants (Dehxodâ) holucin, holu "a swing," probably from Proto-Ir. *harz- "to send, to set."
Roxgard, literally "turning the face," from rox, variant ru(y) "face, surface; aspect; appearance" (Mid.Pers. rôy, rôdh "face;" Av. raoδa- "growth," in plural form "appearance," from raod- "to grow, sprout, shoot;" cf. Skt. róha- "rising, height") + gard "turning, changing," from gardidan "to turn, to change" (Mid.Pers. vartitan; Av. varət- "to turn, revolve;" Skt. vrt- "to turn, roll," vartate "it turns round, rolls;" L. vertere "to turn;" O.H.G. werden "to become;" PIE base *wer- "to turn, bend").

A tiny oscillating motion of the Moon arising from the fact that the Moon's axis is slightly inclined relative to the Earth's. More specifically, the Moon's polar axis is tilted nearly 7° with respect to the plane of its orbit around Earth. Hence for half of each orbit we see slightly more of the north pole when its tipped toward us, and for the other half we see slightly more of its south pole. Libration in latitude displaces the mean center of the Moon north-south by between 6°.5 and 6°.9.

→ libration; → latitude.

A tiny oscillating motion of the → Moon arising from the fact that the Moon's orbit is not a precise circle but rather an → ellipse. Therefore, Moon is sometimes a little closer to the Earth than at other times, and as a result its → orbital velocity varies a bit. Since the Moon's rotation on its own axis is more regular, the difference appears as a slight east-west oscillation. Libration in longitude is the most significant kind of libration. It varies between about 4°.5 and 8°.1 because of gravitational perturbations in the Moon's orbit caused by the Sun.

→ libration; → longitude.

The reflex adaptation of the eye to bright light, consisting of an increase in the number of functioning cones, accompanied by a decrease in the number of functioning rods; opposed to dark adaptation.

→ light; → adaptation.