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

1a) A race, conflict, or other competition between rivals, as for a prize.
1b) Struggle for victory or superiority.
1c) Strife in argument; dispute; controversy.
2a) To struggle or fight for, as in battle.
2b) To argue against; dispute (Dictionary.com).

From Fr. contester "to dispute, oppose," from M.Fr., from L. contestari "to call to witness, bring action," from → com- "together" + testari "to bear witness," from testis "a witness."

Hâbard, from hâ-, variant ham- "together," → com-, + bard "to fight, to struggle," cf. nabard, nibard "fight, struggle, war," variants nâvard, âvard, ultimately from Proto-Ir. *part- "to fight, to struggle."

In → calculus, a method for determining whether an → inflection point is a → local minimum, → local maximum, or neither.

→ first; → derivative; → test.

The determination of the shape of an optical surface by means of → interferometry using a → fringe pattern formed with respect to a reference surface.

Named after the French physicist Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau (1819-1896), see also → toothed-wheel experiment; → test.

A method used to test the → image quality of → mirrors and → lenses. The test is performed by moving a knife edge laterally into the → image of a small → point source. The → eye, or a → camera, is placed immediately behind the knife edge, and the → exit pupil of the system is observed.

Named after the French physicist Léon Foucault (1819-1868), who invented the method; → knife; → edge; → test.

The Greatest → elongation of an inferior planet occurring after sunset.

Superlative of → great; → eastern; → elongation.

The instant when the axis of the Moon's → shadow cone passes closest to Earth's center. For → total eclipses, the instant of greatest eclipse is virtually identical to the instants of greatest magnitude and greatest duration. However, for → annular eclipses, the instant of greatest duration may occur at either the time of greatest eclipse or near the sunrise and sunset points of the eclipse path (F. Espenak, NASA).

Superlative of → great; → eclipse.

The largest → elongation of an inferior planet from the Sun. It may be → greatest eastern elongation or → greatest western elongation. The greatest elongation of Mercury is about 28°, and thus Mercury can only be observed 112 minutes after sunset or before sunrise. For Venus, it is about 47°, making it visible at most about 3 hours after sunset or before sunrise.

Superlative of → great; → eastern; → elongation.

The Greatest → elongation of an inferior planet occurring before sunrise.

Superlative of → great; → western; → elongation.

A way of testing the quality of optical systems. In this method, incident rays from a point source are isolated by small holes in an opaque screen located close to the lens or mirror under test. Photographic plates are inserted into the beam within and beyond the focal region. The black dots on the exposed plates, which reveal differences of optical focus in the various zones of the lens or mirror, are analyzed to yield the objective's figure. → Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor.

Named after the German astronomer Johannes Hartmann (1865-1936), who developed the method. → test.

The same as → Foucault knife-edge test.

→ knife; → edge; → test.

The presence or not of the lithium absorption line at 6708 Å, which is considered to be a sufficient condition for → substellarity in → L dwarfs. It has been shown that any object with lithium absorption and → effective temperature less than 2670 K is a → brown dwarf. For a discussion of potential problems with the lithium test see Kirkpatrick et al. (1993, ApJ 406, 701).

→ lithium; → test.

The observation and measurement of the flatness of a mirror surface. The process generally is done before coating so as not to damage the delicate coated surface. For coated and curved surfaces, non-contact methods are often employed, generally using interference techniques.

→ mirror; → test.

1) An expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid.
2) To give manifest expression to objection or disapproval; remonstrate (Dictionary.com).

M.E., from O.Fr. protest, from preotester, and directly from L. protestari "to declare publicly, protest," from → pro- "forth, before" + testari "testify," from testis "witness."

Pâxos, literally "strike against," from pâ-, contraction of pâd- "agianst," → counter-, + xos "to strike," Gazi xos-, xus-, xûs- "to strike, throw;" Hamedani xostän, xus- "to throw", Khunsari xus- "to strike, throw," Kurd. (Sorani) xa-, (Kurmanji) xistin, xi- "to strike, beat," Qohrudi xosta "to throw," Ardestâni xoste, Shughni xust, xay-; Mid.Pers. xwas-, hws- "to trample;" Av. paiti xvanh- "to thresh;" Proto-Ir. *huah- "to strike, thresh" (Cheung 2007). ,

1a) (n.) An adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them.
1b) (originally) Any of the German princes who protested against the decision of the Diet of Speyer in 1529, which had denounced the Reformation.
1c) (lowercase) One who makes or enters a protests.
2a) (adj.) Belonging or pertaining to Protestants or their religion.
2b) (lowercase) protesting (Dictionary.com).

From Ger. or Fr. protestant, from L. protestantem (nominative protestans), p.p. of protestari, → protest.

Pâxosân agent noun or adj. from pâxosidan, → protest.

The religion of → Protestants.

→ protestant; → -ism.

1) The act of protesting.
2) Formal expression or declaration of objection, dissent, or disapproval (Dictionary.com).

→ protest; → -tion.

A person who publicly demonstrates opposition to something. Also protestor.

→ protest; → -er.

A method, used in → calculus, for determining whether a given → stationary point of a → function is a → local minimum or → local maximum.

→ second; → derivative; → test.

Statistics: A procedure that is used to decide whether to accept or reject the → null hypothesis or to determine whether observed samples differ significantly from expected results. Also called → test of significance and → rule of decision.

→ significance; → test.

A method of making decision between rejecting or not rejecting a → null hypothesis on the basis of a set of observations.

→ statistical; → hypothesis; → test.