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

A person who takes care of sheep; a pastor. → shepherd moon.

From M.E. shepherde; O.E. sceaphierde, from sceap "sheep" + hierde "herder," from heord "a herd;" cf. M.L.G., M.Du. schaphirde, M.H.G. schafhirte, Ger. dial. schafhirt.

Cupân "shepherd," variants šobân, šabân; Mid.Pers. šubân, from šu + -bân. The first component from Av. pasu-, fšu- "sheep;" Mid.Pers. pâh, pasvīk "cattle;" Laki and Tâti pas "sheep;" Kurd. pez/paz; Ossetain (Digor.) fus, (Iron.) fys; Zazaki pes "small cattle;" Lâri pah; Qasrâni cu; Sogd. psw "cattle, sheep;" cf. Skt. paśu- "cattle;" L. pecu "flock, farm animals, cattle," pecunia "money, property;" Goth. faihu "money, fortune;" O.E. feoh "cattle, money;" Ger. Vieh "cattle;" Lith. pekus "cattle;" PIE base *peku- "cattle." The second component -pân/-bân a suffix denoting "keeper, guard," sometimes forming agent nouns or indicating relation, → host.

A → natural satellite in orbit near the edge of a → planetary ring, whose → gravitational force on the ring particles strongly controls the distribution of material within the ring, creating ringlets and density waves within the ring and sharp edges at ring boundaries. Examples include → Saturn's → Prometheus and → Pandora, which shepherd the narrow outer → F ring and the → Uranus satellites → Cordelia and → Ophelia and the epsilon ring. The faster-moving inside satellite accelerates the inner ring particles as it passes them, causing them to spiral out to larger orbits. At the same time the slower-moving outer satellite decelerates the outer ring particles as they pass by, causing them to spiral inward. The result is a narrow, well-defined ring.

→ shepherd; → moon.