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

Dissatisfaction, disapproval, or annoyance.

→ dis-; → pleasure.

A process where a positive molecular ion recombines with an electron, and as a result it dissociates into two neutral products. For example, AB⁺ + e^-→ A + B, where e^- is an electron, AB⁺ is a diatomic or polyatomic molecular ion, and A and B are the neutral fragmentation products. Dissociative recombination is the dominant recombination process in planetary ionospheres and interstellar clouds.

→ dissociative; → recombination.

Same as → Gauss's theorem.

→ divergence; → theorem.

Formation of two refracted rays of light from a single incident ray; property of certain crystals, notably calcite.

→ double; → refraction.

A → transparent → crystalline substance (such as calcite, quartz, and tourmaline) that is → anisotropic relative to the → speed of light. A ray incident normally on such crystals is broken up into two rays in traversing the crystal, → ordinary ray and → extraordinary ray.

→ doubly; → refracting; → crystal.

1) With or in the direction of the current of a stream. → upstream.
2) Of or pertaining to the latter part of a process or system.

→ down; → stream.

Forud, → incidence; water, → water.

A process by which the nucleosynthesis products inside a star are drawn to upper layers of the star. → first dredge-up; → second dredge-up; → third dredge-up.

From M.E. (Scots) dreg-, O.E. draeg- (in drægnet "dragnet"), akin to dragan "to draw" + up.

Birunkašid, past stem of birun kašidan, from birun "out, the outside" (Mid.Pers. bêron, from bê "outside, out, away" + rôn "side, direction," Av. ravan- "(course of a) river") + kašidan "to draw," Mid.Pers. kašitan, Av. karš- "to draw," Skt. kars-, kársati "to pull, drag, plough," Gk. pelo, pelomai "to be busy, to bustle."

A pre-Colombian Maya manuscript consisting of numerous calendar and astronomical data, probably dating from the 12th century. It seems that it is an updated copy of a document from the period of the old Maya Empire (4th-9th centuries). It contains a table which covers over 32 years, grouping 45 successive → lunations, divided into 69 groups of 5 or 6 lunations. The data are calculated in days and correspond remarkably to the intervals in an eclipse table: each group ends at the probable date of a solar eclipse (M.S.: SDE).

Dresden refers to the Dresden Library where the original document is preserved. It was bought in 1739 by the library director, Johann Christian Götze, who found it in a private library in Vienna. Its earlier history is unknown; codex, from L. codex earlier caudex "book, book of laws," literally "tree-trunk, book (formed originally from wooden tablets);" → codex.

An emission or absorption mark in the spectrum of an astronomical object, the origin of which is attributed to the presence of dust in the object or on the line of sight.

→ dust; → feature.

An indication of the heat amount received by → dust grains from the ambient → radiation field. Dust temperature depends on the optical properties and → sizes of grains (i.e., on the way they → absorb and → emit radiation) as well as on the → interstellar radiation field. Most of the visible and → ultraviolet radiation in galaxies from stars passes through clouds of particles and heats them. This heating leads to re-radiation at much longer wavelengths extending to the millimeter.

→ dust; → temperature.

An irregular galaxy that is much smaller than other irregulars. Dwarf irregulars are generally metal poor and have relatively high fractions of gas. They are thought to be similar to the earliest galaxies that populated the Universe, and are therefore important to understand the overall evolution of galaxies.

→ dwarf; → irregular; → galaxy.

A property of a moving → fluid defined by (1/2)ρv² in → Bernoulli's law, where ρ is → density of fluid and v is → velocity. Dynamic pressure is the difference between → total pressure and → static pressure. Also called → velocity pressure. → ram pressure.

→ dynamic; → pressure.

The evolution over time of a gravitationally → bound system consisting of N components because of encounters between the components, as studied in → stellar dynamics. Due to this process, in a → star cluster, → low-mass stars may acquire larger random velocities, and consequently occupy a larger volume than → high-mass stars. As a result, massive stars sink to the cluster centre on a time-scale that is inversely proportional to their mass. See also → mass segregation.

→ dynamical; → relaxation.

A group of stars pervading the Solar neighbourhood and travelling in the → Galaxy with a similar spatial velocity, such as the → Ursa Major star cluster, The term dynamical stream is more appropriate than the traditional term supercluster since it involves stars of di fferent ages, not born at the same place nor at the same time. A possible explanation for the presence of young groups in the same area as those streams is that they have been put there by the → spiral wave associated with their formation place, while kinematics of the older stars of the sample have also been disturbed by the same wave. The seemingly peculiar chemical composition of the Hyades-Pleiades stream suggests that this stream originates from a specific galactocentric distance and that it was perturbed by a spiral wave at a certain moment and radially pushed by the wave in the solar neighbourhood. This would explain why this stream is composed of stars sharing a common metallicity but not a common age (Famaey et al. 2005, A&A 430, 165).

→ dynamical; → stream.

A hypothetical structure built around a → star by an advanced → civilization to utilize most or all of the → energy radiated by their star. The idea of such a sphere was first formalized and popularized by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson in 1960, though it was originally put forward by a 1945 science fiction novel. Dyson assumed that the power needs of → intelligent civilizations never stops increasing. He also proposed that searching for the existence of such structures might lead to the discovery of advanced civilizations elsewhere in the Galaxy. Sometimes referred to as a → Dyson shell or → megastructure.

Freeman John Dyson (1923-). His article, entitled "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation," appeared in the 1960 issue of Science, 131 (3414), 1667-1668; → sphere.

The innermost part of the Earth consisting of a solid → inner core, mainly composed of → iron, and a → liquid → outer core. The → pressure and → temperature are so extreme that the molten iron solidifies. The temperature at the inner core boundary is expected to be close to the → melting point of iron at 330 gigapascal (GPa). From static laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments up to 200 GPa, using synchrotron-based fast → X-ray diffraction as a primary melting diagnostic, S. Anzellini et al. (2013, Science 340, 484) conclude that the melting temperature of iron at the inner core boundary is 6230 ± 500 K. This estimation favors a high heat flux at the core-mantle boundary with a possible partial melting of the → mantle. The inner core, 2,400 km in diameter, is suspended in the molten metal of the → outer core, which is about 2,240 km thick. The temperature difference between the mantle and the core is the main engine for large-scale thermal movements, which coupled with the → Earth's rotation, function as a generator for the planet's → magnetic field.

→ Earth; → core.

The space around a star in which a planet would experience external conditions that are not incompatible with the existence of life.

Ecosphere, from eco-, → ecology, + → sphere.

Bumsepehr, from bum "eco-," → ecology, + sepehr, → sphere.

A theoretical model in which the → cosmological constant plays a crucial role by allowing an initial phase that is identical to the Einstein static Universe. After an arbitrarily long time, the Universe begins to expand. The difficulty with this model is that the initiation of galaxy formation may actually cause a collapse rather than initiate an → expansion of the Universe.

→ Eddington limit; Lemaître in honor of Georges-Henri Lemaître (1894-1966), a Belgian Roman Catholic priest, who first proposed the Big Bang theory; → universe.

An induced current circulating in masses of metal moving in a magnetic field or located in a changing magnetic field. Also known as → Foucault current.

→ eddy; → current.

Of an antenna, the ratio of the extracted power by the antenna to the power per unit area (power density) in the incident wave.

→ effective; → aperture.