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

A web spun by a spider to entrap its prey; a single thread spun by a spider; something resembling a cobweb; anything finespun, flimsy, or insubstantial (Dictionary.com).

M.E. coppeweb, derivative of O.E. -coppe "spider" in atorcoppe "poison spider;" + → web.

Karu "cobweb, web," variants kari, kartané, kartiné, kârtanak, kârtané, kare tan (all in Dehxodâ), (Malâyeri, Hamadâni) kâtena, (Gilaki) kârtang, (Kermâni) kerâš, (Qêyeni) kalaš, (Qomi) kârye, (Tabari) kel, kuli, (Yazdi) kare, from *kar-, *kâr-, *kel- "to weave;" cf. (Ormuri, in Pakistan, Afghanistan) gal-/galôk- "to weave;" PIE base *ker- "to weave; rope."

The entire, large-scale structure of the → Universe in which → galaxy clusters are connected by → cosmic filaments (made up of → dark matter and → baryons) in a spongelike geometry, while the low-density → voids are connected to each other by low-density tunnels. The term cosmic web was coined in 1996 by J. Richard Bond et al. (Nature, 380, 603).

→ cosmic; → web.

A large, infrared space telescope with a mirror 6.55 m in diameter, scheduled for launch in 2018. JWST's instruments will work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range (0.6 to 28 μm). The scheduled instruments are Near IR Camera (NIRCam, field of 2.2 x 4.4 arcmin, wavelength range 0.6-5 μm), Near IR Spectrograph (NIRSpec, 3.5 x 3.5 arcmin, 0.6-5 μm, resolving powers of ~ 100, ~1000, and ~3000), Mid IR Instrument (MIRI, 1.4 x 1.9 arcmin, 5-27 μm, R ~ 3000), and Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS, 2.3 x 2.3 arcmin, 0.6-5 μm, R ~ 100). The successor to the → Hubble Space Telescope will be placed in an orbit about 1.5 million km from the Earth, at the → Lagrangian point L2. The JWST project is a → NASA-led international collaboration with the → European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The scientific goals of JWST can be grouped under four broad topics: first light after the Big Bang; galaxy formation; birth of stars and protoplanetary systems; and planetary systems and the origins of life.

Named in honor of James E. Webb (1906-1992), who headed NASA from 1961 to 1968, overseeing all the manned launches in the Mercury through Gemini programs, until before the first manned Apollo flight; → space; → telescope.

1) A network of fine threads constructed by a spider from fluid secreted by its spinnerets, used to catch its prey.
2) A complex system of interconnected elements (OxfordDictionaries.com)

M.E., from O.E. webb "woven fabric, woven work, tapestry," from (cf. O.Sax. webbi, O.Norse vefr, Du. webbe, O.H.G. weppi, Ger. Gewebe "web"); Skt. ubhnati "he laces together," Per. baftan "to weave," as below; Gk. hyphe, hyphos "web;" PIE *webh- "to weave."

Vap, variant of Mid.Pers. waf-, wap- "to weave;" Baluchi gwapit, gwapt/gwap-, Yazdi vôpt/vôp- "to weave;" Mod.Pers. bâf-/bâftan; Av. ubdaēna- "made from woven material;" Proto-Ir. *uab/f "to weave;" cognate with web, as above.

The → SI unit of → magnetic flux. It is equal to 10⁸ → maxwells.

Named after German physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804-1891).

A physiological relationship stating that to make a sensation increase in arithmetical proportion, the stimulus must increase in geometrical progression. In acoustics, the → bel (B) unit is used to relate the intensity of sound to an intensity level corresponding to the human hearing sensation. Similarly, the division of stars into a scale of → magnitudes is based upon the Weber-Fechner law. Same as Fechner's law.

After Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795-1878), a German physician, was one of the first people to approach the study of the human response to a physical stimulus in a quantitative fashion, and Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887), a German physicist who founded psycho-physics and proposed the mathematical formulation in 1860; → law.