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

A substance which removes → oxygen from, or adds → hydrogen, to another substance. In the more general sense, one which loses electrons. Also called → reductant.

→ reduce; → -ing; → agent.

1) An atmospheric condition in which oxidation is prevented by removal of oxygen and other oxidating gasses or vapours. Usually nitrogen or hydrogen gas is used in order to produce specific effects, e.g. on ceramic wares being fired.
2) An atmosphere of a planet or moon which has a high hydrogen content, either in the form of free hydrogen or hydrogen-containing compounds, such as methane or ammonia. The early atmosphere of Earth is thought to be reducing, dominated by carbon dioxide.

Reducing verbal adj. of → reduce; → atmosphere.

Same as → reducing agent.

Agent noun from → reduce.

Logic, Math.: A method of → reasoning in which one assumes some statement to be → true and from that → assumption proceeds to deduce a logical → absurdity and hence to a conclusion that the original assumption must have been → false.

L. reductio ad absurdum "reduction to absurdity," → reduction; → absurd.

1) In → data processing, the transformation of data from a "raw" form to some usable form.
2) Chem.: The removal of → oxygen from a substance, or the addition of → hydrogen to it. The term is also used more generally to include any reaction in which an atom gains → electrons.

Verbal noun of → reduce.

The fact of repeating or duplicity.
That part of the data content that can be dropped without any significant loss of the original information.

From L. redundantia "an overflowing, excess," from redundare "to flow back, overflow, be excessive," from → re- "again" + undare "rise in waves," from unda "a wave."

Afzun-âyi "redundancy, superabounding," from afzun "more, greater; more ample," from afzudan "to add, increase" (Mid.Pers. abzudan "to increase, grow;" O.Pers. abijav- "to increase, add to, promote," from abi-, aiby- "in addition to; to; against" + root jav- "press forward;" Av. gav- "to hasten, drive;" Sk. jav- "to press forward, impel quickly, excite," javate "hastens") + âyi verbal noun of ây- present stem of âmadan "to come, arrive, become" (Av. ay- "to go, to come," aēiti "goes;" O.Pers. aitiy "goes;" Skt. e- "to come near," eti "arrival;" L. ire "to go;" Goth. iddja "went," Lith. eiti "to go;" Rus. idti "to go").

The → Sachs-Wolfe effect in which the calculations are extended to nonlinear mass concentrations. In the non-linear regime of large-scale → structure formation the → gravitational potential changes with time, and photons climb out of a → potential well slightly different from the one that they fell into. Therefore, nonlinear density fluctuations produce extra evolution of the potentials against the background expansion. On large scales, the nonlinear contribution to the full ISW effect is expected to be dominated by the linear ISW effect in a Universe with → cosmological constant (Seljak, 1996, ApJ 460, 549).

Martin J. Rees (1942-) & Dennis W. Sciama (1926-1999), 1968, Nature 217, 511; → effect.

1) To direct for information or anything required.
2) To hand over or submit for information, consideration, decision, etc.
3) To have relation; relate.
4) To make reference or allusion (Dictionary.com).

M.E. referren, from L. referre "to bring back," from → re- "back" + ferre "carry, bear," cognate with Pers. bordan "to carry, bear," as below.

Bâzbordan, literally "to bring back," from bâz "back," → re- + bordan "to carry, bear" (Mid.Pers. burdan, O.Pers./Av. bar- "to bear, carry," barəθre "to bear (infinitive)," Skt. bharati "he carries," Gk. pherein, L. fero "to carry;" PIE base *bher- "to carry").

1) An act or instance of referring.
2) A book, article, or passage to which one is directed.

Verbal noun of → refer.

A mathematically defined surface that approximates the Earth's shape, which is basically a sphere "flattened" at its poles. The length of one of the axes at the Equator is chosen so that the ellipsoid coincides at this latitude with the mean sea level. It is the first-order definition of the non-spherical shape of the Earth as an ellipsoid of revolution. To first order, it accounts for over 90% of the → geoid.

→ reference; → ellipsoid.

A set of axes to which positions and motions in a system can be referred. Same as → frame of reference.

→ reference; → frame.

An astronomical source in a field used as a reference for the detection of another object, astrometry, etc.

→ reference; → source.

1) To bring to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities.
2) To make more fine, subtle, or precise (Dictionary.com).

→ re-; → fine.

1) Pâludan "to purify, starin, → filter."
2) Nâzokidan, from nâzok "tender, delicate, subtle, neat," → fine.

1) Fineness or elegance of feeling, taste, manners, language, etc.
2) The act or process of refining. the quality or state of being refined.
3) An improved, higher, or extreme form of something.
Math.: A → set whose elements include the elements of a given set (Dictionary.com).

Verbal noun of → refine.

Any of a series of features occurring in the → light curve of → dwarf novae and → Soft X-ray Transient (SXT)s during → outburst decay. Reflares appear when the surface density Σ behind the cooling front is high enough to reach Σ_max. At the radius at which this happens, the disk becomes thermally unstable and a new heating front develops. This front propagates outward like an inside-out outburst, reheating the disk until Σ(R) ≤ Σ_min, when cooling can resume. The density in the cold region is depleted as matter is accreted during this process, and the following reflare occurs at smaller radii and have lower amplitudes (G. Dubus et al., 2001, A&A 373, 251).

→ re-; → flare.

To throw or bend back from a surface, specially light, sound, or heat.

M.E. reflecten, from L. reflectere "to bend back," from → re- "back" + flectere "to bend."

Bâztâbidan, from bâz-, → re- + tâbidan, variants tâftan "to shine," tafsidan "to become hot;" Mid.Pers. tâftan "to heat, burn, shine;" taftan "to become hot;" Parthian t'b "to shine;" Av. tāp-, taf- "to warm up, heat," tafsat "became hot," tāpaiieiti "to create warmth;" cf. Skt. tap- "; to heat, be/become hot; to spoil, injure, damage; to suffer," tapati "burns;" L. tepere "to be warm," tepidus "warm;" PIE base *tep- "to be warm."

1) Same as → reflection factor.
2) Computers: In optical character recognition, the relative value of the ink color compared to the background.

From → reflect + -ance

Bâztâbâyi, verbal noun from adj./agent noun bâztâbâ "reflecting."

A → light ray that is reflected from a surface.

→ reflect; → ray.

An instrument for measuring angular distances, based on the same principle as the → octant, but with a full circular limb divided into 720°. It was invented in 1752 by the German astronomer Johann Tobias Mayer (1723-1762) to improve on the octant which often gave wrong results because of incorrect graduations. The instrument consisted of an index arm and a small telescope, both pivoted centrally. In practice, the index arm is first set to zero, and the telescope rotated until the two images of a star are seen in coincidence (the one directly, the other by double reflection). Then the index arm is freed, and rotated until the other object is seen in coincidence after double reflection. The angle has now been measured, but the double operation is repeated several times, and the final angle divided by the number of repetitions to find a mean value. Hence, the instrument was sometimes called a "repeating circle." The reflecting circle had little success because it was heavy and uncomfortable to use. Its improved form is called → Borda circle.

→ reflection; → circle.

A telescope in which the image is produced by reflection of light by a concave mirror.

Reflecting, verbal adj. of → reflect; → telescope.