An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A type of electronic circuit involving → Josephson effect, capable of switching at very high speeds when operated at temperatures approaching → absolute zero.

→ Josephson effect; → junction.

The gaseous envelope surrounding Jupiter. It is about 90% → hydrogen and 10% → helium (by numbers of atoms, 75/25% by mass) with traces of → methane, → water, and → ammonia. This is very close to the composition of the primordial → solar nebula from which the entire solar system was formed. Saturn has a similar composition, but Uranus and Neptune have much less hydrogen and helium. The outermost layer is composed primarily of ordinary → molecular hydrogen and helium. Visually, Jupiter is dominated by two atmospheric features; a series of ever-changing atmospheric cloud bands arranged parallel to the equator and an oval atmospheric blob called the → Great Red Spot.

→ Jupiter; → atmosphere.

A branch of → linguistics that deals with the principle and methods of writing dictionaries.

→ lexicology; → -graphy.

→ lithophile element.

→ litho-; → -phile.

In the → Goldschmidt classification, a → chemical element that shows an → affinity for → silicate phases and is concentrated in the silicate portion of the Earth (→ crust and → mantle). This group includes → lithium (Li), → beryllium (Be), → sodium (Na), → magnesium (Mg), → potassium (K), → calcium (Ca), → barium (Ba), → titanium (Ti), → chromium (Cr), → aluminium (Al), → silicon (Si), → phosphorus (P), → chlorine (Cl), etc.

→ lithophile; → element.

The solid portion of the → Earth, as compared to the → atmosphere and the → hydrosphere. The lithosphere consists of semi-rigid plates that move relative to each other on the underlying → asthenosphere. The process is known as → plate tectonics and helps explain → continental drift.

→ litho-; → sphere.

Generally and quite loosely, that part of the atmosphere in which most weather phenomena occur (i.e., the → troposphere and lower → stratosphere); hence used in contrast to the common meaning for the → upper atmosphere. In other contexts, the term implies the lower troposphere (Meteorology Glossary, American Meteorological Society).

→ lower; → atmosphere.

An extremely thin gathering of gas surrounding the → Moon. It is made up of → atoms and → ions generated at the Moon's surface by interaction with → solar radiation, → plasma in the Earth's → magnetosphere, or → micrometeorites.

→ lunar; → exosphere.

One of the various changes in the apparent shape of the Moon, because as the Moon orbits the Earth different amounts of its illuminated part are facing us. The phases of the Moon include: the → new moon, → waxing crescent, → first quarter, → waxing gibbous, → full moon, → waning gibbous, → last quarter, → waning crescent, and → new moon again.

→ lunar; → phase.

A gigantic cloud of → hydrogen hydrogen gas emitting the → Lyman alpha line identified in → high redshift, → narrow band → surveys. LABs can span hundreds of thousands of → light-years that is larger than galaxies. Normally, Lyman alpha emission is in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, but Lyman alpha blobs are so distant, their light is redshifted to (longer) optical wavelengths. The most important questions in LAB studies remain unanswered: how are they formed and what maintains their power? One of the largest LABs known is SSA22-LAB-01 (z = 3.1). Embedded in the core of a huge → cluster of galaxies in the early stages of formation, it was the very first such object to be discovered (in 2000) and is located so far away that its light has taken about 11.5 billion years to reach us. Recent observations of SSA22-LAB-01 using → ALMA shows two galaxies at the core of this object and they are undergoing a burst of → star formation that is lighting up their surroundings. These large galaxies are in turn at the centre of a swarm of smaller ones in what appears to be an early phase in the formation of a massive cluster of galaxies (see J. E. Geach et al. 2016, arXiv:1608.02941).

→ Lyman; → alpha; → blob.

A galaxy belonging to an important population of low mass → star-forming galaxies at → redshift z > 2. Their number increases with redshift. A large fraction of the → dwarf starburst galaxies during the → reionization epoch may be intrinsic LAEs, but their Lyα photons can be scattered by the → neutral hydrogen (H I) in the → intergalactic medium (IGM), which makes Lyα line a powerful probe of reionization. These high-z LAEs have low → metallicity, low stellar masses, low dust → extinction, and compact sizes. The current best nearby analogs of high-z LAEs are → Green Pea galaxies (Yang et al, 2017, arxiv/1706.02819 and references therein).

→ Lyman alpha line; → emit; → -ing; → galaxy.

The appearance of many differentially → redshifted→ Lyman alpha lines in → absorption in a → quasar's → spectrum, caused by intervening → hydrogen clouds along our → line of sight to the quasar.

→ Lyman; → forest.

The spectral line in the → Lyman series which is associated with the → atomic transition between → energy levels n = 2 and n = 1. The corresponding wavelength is 1216 Å in the → far ultraviolet.

→ Lyman; → line.

A huge gaseous nebula (≥ 50 kpc) lying at high → redshifts (z ~ 2-6) and strongly emitting radiation due to the → Lyman alpha line (luminosities of  ≥ 10⁴³ erg s^-1) of hydrogen gas. Also called Lyman alpha blobs, they are thought to lie in massive (M ~ 10¹³ solar masses) → dark matter halos, which would subsequently evolve into those typical of rich → galactic clusters.

→ Lyman; → nebula.

An → ultraviolet photon with an energy between 11.2 and 13.6 eV, corresponding to the energy range in which the Lyman and Werner absorption bands of → molecular hydrogen (H₂) are found (→ Lyman band, → Werner band). The first generation of stars produces a background of Lyman-Werner radiation which can → photodissociate molecular hydrogen, the key → cooling agent in metal free gas below 10⁴ K. In doing so, the Lyman-Werner radiation field delays the collapse of gaseous clouds, and thus star formation. After more massive → dark matter clouds are assembled, atomic line cooling becomes effective and H₂ can begin to shield itself from Lyman-Werner radiation.

→ Lyman; → Werner band; → photon.

The failure of numerical star formation calculations to produce rotationally supported → Keplerian disks because of the → magnetic braking effect, when → magnetic fields of strengths comparable to those observed in → molecular clouds are accounted for. The formation and early evolution of disks is a long-standing fundamental problem in → star formation models. Early work in the field had concentrated on the simpler problem of disk formation from the → collapse of a rotating dense core in the absence of a magnetic field. However, dense star-forming cores are observed to be significantly magnetized. There is increasing theoretical evidence that disk formation is greatly modified, perhaps even suppressed, by a dynamically important magnetic field. This has been found in analytic studies, axisymmetric numerical models and in 3D calculations using → ideal magnetohydrodynamics. By contrast, recent observations suggest the presence of massive, 50-100 AU disks and evidence for associated → outflows in the earliest (→ class 0) stages of star formation around both low and high mass stars. Two primary solutions have been proposed: → turbulence and → non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics. Calculations of the collapse of a massive 100 Msun core have shown that 100 AU scale disk formation in the presence of strong magnetic fields was indeed possible, with some argument over whether this is caused by turbulent reconnection or another mechanism. Studies, using simulations of collapsing 5 Msun cores, have found that turbulence diffuses the strong magnetic field out of the inner regions of the core, and that the non-zero → angular momentum of the turbulence causes a misalignment between the rotation axis and the magnetic field. Both of these effects reduce the magnetic braking, and allow a massive disk to form (Wurster et al. 2016, arxiv/1512.01597 and references therein).

→ magnetic; → braking; → catastrophe.

The region around a celestial body in which the magnetic field of the body dominates the external magnetic field. Each planet with a magnetic field (Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) has a magnetopause. The Earth's magnetosphere is a dynamic system that responds to solar variations. It prevents most of the charged particles carried in the → solar wind, from hitting the Earth. Since the solar wind is → supersonic, a → bow shock is formed on the sunward side of the magnetosphere. The solar wind ahead is deflected at a boundary called → magnetopause. The region between the bow shock and the magnetopause is called the → magnetosheath. As the solar wind sweeps past the Earth, the terrestrial magnetic field lines are stretched out toward the night side to form a → magnetotail.

From → magnet + → sphere.

The layer of the atmosphere located between the → stratosphere and the → ionosphere, where temperature drops rapidly with increasing height. It extends between 17 to 80 kilometers above the Earth's surface.

→ meso-; → sphere.

The region lying between the → troposphere and the → thermosphere comprising the → stratosphere and the → mesosphere (Meteorology Glossary, American Meteorological Society).

→ middle; → atmosphere.

The physics developed since about 1900, which includes Einstein's → relativity theory and → quantum mechanics, as distinguished from → classical physics. Much of modern physics is concerned with the behavior of matter and energy under extreme conditions or on the very small scale.

→ modern; → physics.