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

Same as → free-floating object.

→ rogue; → planet.

The → extreme adaptive optics system and → coronagraphic facility at the → European Southern Observatory (ESO) → Very Large Telescope (VLT) (UT3) available from May 2014. Its primary science goal is imaging, low-resolution spectroscopic, and polarimetric characterization of → exoplanetary system at → visible and → near-infrared wavelengths (0.5-2.32 μm). SPHERE is capable of obtaining → diffraction-limited images at 0''.02 to 0''.08 resolution depending on the wavelength. Its → spectral resolution is 30 to 350, depending on the mode.

→ spectro-; → polarimetric; → high; → contrast; → exoplanet.

The symmetry plane of the → Local Supercluster, where density of galaxies in our environment is the largest. The plane passes through the → Virgo cluster of galaxies, about which many of the brightest galaxies in the sky are concentrated. The supergalactic plane was recognized by Gérard de Vaucouleurs (1918-1995) in 1953 from the  → Shapley-Ames catalogue.

→ supergalactic; → plane.

A planet whose orbit lies outside that of the Earth. The superior planets are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. → planet.

→ superior; → planet.

The four innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They are called terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like the Earth's. The planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres while Mercury has almost none. These planets are approximately the same size, with the Earth the largest. They are considerably denser than the Jovian planets, ranging from a specific gravity of 4 for Mars to 5.5 for the Earth.

→ terrestrial; → planet.

A → NASA space telescope devoted to the hunt for planets orbiting the brightest stars in the sky, launched on April 18, 2018. The mission is planned to monitor at least 200,000 stars for signs of → exoplanets using the → planetary transit method. TESS is equipped with four identical refractive → cameras with a combined → field of view (FOV) of 24 × 96 degrees. Each camera consists of a → CCD detector assembly, a → lens assembly, and a lens hood. The → entrance pupil diameter is 10.5 cm and the wavelength range 600 to 1,000 nm. The satellite is a follow-up of NASA's → Kepler spacecraft, but focuses on stars that are 30 to 100 times brighter than those Kepler examined.

→ transit; → exoplanet; → survey.

A planet that passes in front of its star directly between Earth and the star. The → transit method is used for detecting → exoplanets around stars.

→ transit; → planet.

A Belgian facility devoted to the detection and characterization of → exoplanets and to the study of → comets (→ transiting planet) and other → small solar system bodies. It consists of two 60 cm robotic telescopes located at the → European Southern Observatory, → La Silla, in Chile and at Oukaïmden Observatory in Marroco.

→ transit; → planet; → planetesimal; → small; → telescope.

A → plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars that was chosen as the landing site of the Viking II space probe on September 3, 1976.

Mod.L. Utopia, literally "nowhere," coined by Thomas More (1516), from Gk. ou "not" + topos "place;" planitia, from planus, → plain.

Dašt, → plain; nâkojâ "nowhere," from nâ-, → un-, + kojâ "where?; a place;" Mid.Pers. kugiyâg, from kū "where; that; than" + giyâk "place" (O.Pers. ā-vahana- "place, village;" Av. vah- "to dwell, stay," vanhaiti "he dwells, stays;" Skt. vásati "he dwells;" Gk. aesa (nukta) "to pass (the night);" Ossetic wat "room; bed; place;" Tokharian B wäs- "to stay, wait;" PIE base ues- "to stay, live, spend the night"); nâkojâ âbâd literally "city of nowhere, habitation of nowhere," from nâkojâ, as explained, + âbâd "city; habitation; cultivated" (Mid.Pers. âpât, âpâtân "cultivated, inhabitated;" Proto-Iranian *ā-pāta- "protected," from prefix ā + pā- "to protect, guard" (Mod.Pers. pâyidan), → observe.

A geometric plane defined for the analysis/processing of → interferometer observations, for which the axes are conventionally termed u and v. The plane is at right angles to a direction from which radiation is being received from the sky. Unlike a typical telescope, a → radio interferometer cannot produce an image of the sky directly. Instead it measures the → Fourier transform of the sky brightness distribution in the uv plane. The Fourier transform relates the → interference pattern to the intensity on the sky. A measurement on a particular → baseline corresponds to a point on this plane with coordinates u and v, at a distance from the origin equal to the projected length of the baseline measured in wavelengths. Two telescopes form one baseline which represents one point in uv plane; three telescopes create three baselines and are therefore represented by three points in uv plane. Good uv coverage requires many simultaneous baselines amongst many antennas, or many sequential observations from a few antennas. Good coverage of points is essential for high-quality → aperture synthesis mapping.

u and v conventional symbols; → plane.

In → interferometry, the projection of a → baseline onto the plane normal to the source direction defining a vector in (u,v) space, measured in wavelength units.

→ visibility; → plane.

Same as → ocean planet.

→ water; → planet.

An international collaboration, more accurately named SuperWASP, led by the United Kingdom, that aims at detecting → extrasolar planets by means of the → transit method. SuperWASP consists of two robotic observatories that operate continuously all year around, providing coverage of the sky in both hemispheres. The first, SuperWASP-North, is located on the island of La Palma. The second, SuperWASP-South, is located at the site of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). The observatories each consist of eight wide-angle cameras that simultaneously monitor the sky for → planetary transit events. Using the array of cameras makes it possible to monitor millions of stars simultaneously at an → apparent visual magnitude from about 7 to 13.

→ wide; → angle; → search; → planet.