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

The meridian at which longitude is defined to be 0°. The meridian running through Greenwich.

→ primary; → meridian.

A number which is divisible by no whole number other than itself and one.

→ prime; → number.

The great circle through the observer's zenith that intersects the horizon at the west and east points. → vertical circle.

→ primary; → vertical.

Lemaître's (1931) name for the early dense Universe, which later became known as the → Big Bang theory.

From L. primaevus "early in life," from primus "first," → prime, + aevum "an age," + → -al; → atom.

Pertaining to or existing at or from the very beginning.

From L.L. primordialis "first of all, original," from L. primordium "the beginning," from primus "first" + stem of ordiri "to begin."

Bonâqâzin, from bon "basis; root; foundation; bottom" (Mid.Pers. bun "root; foundation; beginning," Av. būna- "base, depth," cf. Skt. bundha-, budhná- "base, bottom," Pali bunda- "root of tree") + âqâzin "pertaining to the beginning," from âqâz "beginning" (Proto-Iranian *āgāza-, from prefix ā- + *gāz- "to take, receive," cf. Sogdian āγāz "beginning, start," pcγz "reception, taking").

The relative amount of a light element (e.g. deuterium, lithium, helium) synthesized in the early Universe.

→ primordial; → abundance.

A black hole formed following the Big Bang event due to incredibly violent turbulence that squeezed concentrations of matter to high densities. These black holes, first suggested by Stephen Hawking, are expected to have a mass comparable to that of a mountain and a size as small as an atom. Same as → mini black hole.

→ primordial; → black hole.

In cosmological models, the phenomenon that is supposed to seed the → cosmic microwave background anisotropies and the structure formation of the Universe.

→ primordial; → curvature; → perturbation.

A high redshift, metal-deficient galaxy that formed very early in the history of the Universe.

→ primordial; → galaxy.

The helium element created in the → early Universe, around 3 minutes after the → Big Bang, when the temperature dropped to 10⁹ degrees; in contrast to the helium being synthesized in stars. Based on observations of helium → emission lines in → H II regions of metal-poor dwarf galaxies (→ metal-deficient galaxy), the primordial ⁴He → chemical abundance (by mass) is estimated to be Y_P = 0.24672 ± 0.00017. Moreover, using observations of a near-pristine → intergalactic cloud, a value of 0.250 ^+0.033_-0.025 has been reached (Cooke & Fumagalli, 2018, Nature Astronomy, 2, 657). The theoretical He abundance predicted by → Big Bang nucleosynthesis is 0.24709 ± 0.00017 (Pitrou et al., 2018, arXiv:1801.08023).

→ primordial; → helium.

The formation of → chemical elements in the → early Universe, between about 0.01 seconds and 3 minutes after the → Big Bang, when the nuclei of primordial matter collided and fused with one another. Most of the → helium in the → Universe was created by this process. Same as → Big Bang nucleosynthesis

→ primordial; → nucleosynthesis.

Statistics: Experiments in which results will not be essentially the same even though conditions may be nearly identical.

→ random; → experiment.

The outer edge, border, margin, or brink of something, especially of a circular object.

M.E., from O.E. -rima (in compounds, as in særima "seashore"); cognate with O.Norse rimi "raised strip of land, ridge"

Labé "limb, edge," from lab "lip;" Mid.Pers. lap; cognate with L. labium, E. lip; Ger. Lefze.

A long fissure on the surface of a planet or Moon; plural form rimae.

From L. rima "fissure, slit."

Loan from E., as above.

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.

Of or relating to → spectropolarimetry.

→ spectropolarimetry; → -ic.

A technique of observation in → astrophysics which combines → spectroscopy and → polarization measurements. Spectropolarimetry has a wide range of applications in astrophysics, including → stellar magnetic field studies. → ESPaDOnS, → HARPSpol.

→ spectro-; → polarimetry.

An experiment devised for measuring the → magnetic moment of → silver atoms. A → beam of silver atoms is directed between the → poles of a non-homogeneous → magnetic field. Contrarily to the prediction of the classical theory, the atoms divide into two distinct parts. One half of atoms are deflected up, the other half deflected down. The amount of deflection up or down is exactly of the same magnitude. Whether an individual atom is deflected up or down appears to be random. From a measurement of the → deflection, one can find the strength of the magnetic moment. This experience provides proof that there exist only two permitted orientations, called the → quantization of → spin.

In honor of Otto Stern (1888-1969), German physicist, Nobel laureate in Physics 1943, and Walter Gerlach (1889-1979), German physicist, who carried out the experiment in 1922. They used a beam of silver atoms from a hot oven because they could be readily detected on a photograph emulsion. Moreover, the silver atoms allowed studying the magnetic properties of a single electron because the atoms have a single outer electron; → experiment.

A demonstration which is carried out in the realm of the imagination, rather than in a laboratory. Thought experiments are designed to test ideas, theories, and hypotheses which cannot physically be tested, at least with current scientific equipment. Some examples: → Maxwell's demon; → Einstein's elevator; Heisenberg's gamma-ray microscope; → Schrodinger's cat. Also called Gedanken experiment.

→ thought; → experiment. Based on both the Ger./L. compound Gedankenexperiment and its Ger. equivalent Gedankenversuch.

The experiment which provided the first accurate measurement of the speed of light. The experiment, conducted by the French physicist Armand H. L. Fizeau (1819-1896) in 1849, used a rotating wheel containing 720 teeth. The function of the wheel was to cut a light beam into short pulses and to measure the time required for these pulses to travel to a distant mirror and back (17.34 km). The round-trip time for each pulse could be calculated to be about 1/18,000 sec, which yielded the value of 315,300 km/sec for the speed of light. Leon Foucault (1819-1868) improved on Fizeau's method by replacing the cogwheel with a rotating mirror. Foucault's estimate, published in 1862, was 298,000 km/s.

From tooth; M.E.; O.E. toth (cf. O.S., Dan., Swed., Du. tand, O.N. tönn, O.Fris. toth, O.H.G. zand, Ger. Zahn, Goth. tunthus), cognate with Pers. dandân, as below; → wheel; → experiment.

Âzmâyeš, → experiment; carx→ wheel; dandâne-dâr "toothed," from dandân "tooth," Mid.Pers. dandân; Av. dantan-; cf. Skt. dánta-; Gk. odontos; L. dens (Fr. dent); Lith. dantis, O.Ir. det, Welsh dent; PIE base *dont-/*dent- "tooth."