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

Of a pulsar, a normalized period of rotation assumed to be a good approximation to pulsar's true age.

→ characteristic; → age.

Graph representing an optical film's response to the amount of light falling on it.

→ characteristic; → curve.

Physics: An analytical relationship between a set of physical variables that determines the state of a physical system.
Math.: The equation which is solved to find a matrix's eigenvalues, also called the characteristic polynomial.

→ characteristic; → equation.

A typical or most likely mass for the formation of an astronomical object. In current star formation models, it is of order of a few tenths of a → solar mass.

→ characteristic; → mass.

The quantity kT in the → Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution law, where k is → Boltzmann's constant and T the gas temperature. See also → thermal energy.

→ characteristic; → thermal; → energy

1) The act of describing the character or qualities of someone or something.
2) The artistic representation (as in fiction or drama) of human character or motives (Merriam-Webster.com).

→ characterize; → -tion.

1) To mark or distinguish as a characteristic; be a characteristic of.
2) To describe the character or individual quality of.
3) To attribute character to (Dictionary.com).

→ character; → -ize.

A black amorphous substance produced by heating wood or other natural organic matter in the absence of air. It is used as a fuel.

M.E. charcole, maybe from cherre "char" + cole, → coal.

Zoqâl "live coal, charcoal," variant sokâr; Sogd. askâr; Pashto skor-; Khotanese skara, probably ultimately from Proto-Ir. *uz-gar-, from *uz- "out," → ex-, + *gar "to heat, kindle fire, cook;" cf. Tabari kalə "furnace," kəlen "ash;" Laki koira; Kurd. kulan, kulandan "to cook;" related to garm "warm;" cf. Skt. ghar- "to burn," PIE root *gwher- "to warm, be warm," → warm.

→ electric charge.

Charge from O.Fr. chargier "load, burden," from L.L. carricare "to load a wagon, cart," from L. carrus "wagon."

Bâr "charge, weight," from Mid.Pers. bâr, from O.Pers./Av. base bar- "to bear, carry," Mod.Pers. bordan "to carry," L. brutus "heavy, dull, stupid, brutish," Skt. bhara- "burden, load," bharati "he carries," Gk. baros "weight," Mod.Pers. gerân "heavy," Skt. guru, L. gravis; PIE *gwere- "heavy," *bher- "carry, give birth."

The heavy saturation of CCD pixels whereby electrons spill over up and down the column; also called blooming.

→ chrge; bleeding, from Bleed, from O.E. bledan, from P.Gmc. *blothjan "emit blood" (cf. Ger. bluten), from *blotham "blood", PIE root bhel- "to bloom, thirve".

Sarriz "overflow", from sar "head" (Mid.Pers. sar, Av. sarah- "head," Skt. siras- "head," Gk. kara "head," keras "horn," Mod.Pers. sarun "horn," L. cerebrum "brain;" PIE *ker- "head, horn") + riz present stem of rixtan "to pour; to flow; to cast" (Mid.Pers. rēxtan and rēcitan "to flow," Av. raēk- "to leave, set free; to yield, transfer," infinitive *ricyā, Mod.Pers; rig in morderig "heritage" (literally, "left by the dead"), Skt. rinakti "he leaves," riti- "stream; motion, course," L. rivus "stream, brook," Old Church Slavic rēka "river," Rus. reka "river," Goth. rinnan "run, flow," rinno "brook," O.E. ridh "stream;" PIE base *rei- "to flow; to run").

A mobile particle carrying an electric charge. In semiconductors, a mobile electron or hole. Also called carrier.

→ charge; → carrier.

In particle physics, an operation that changes a particle to its antiparticle in equations describing subatomic particles or, equivalently, reverses its charge and magnetic moment.

→ charge; → conjugation.

The → electric charge per unit volume in space, or per unit area on a surface, or per unit length of a line. They are respectively called volume- (ρ), surface- (σ), or line (λ) charge density.

→ charge; → density.

The way a number of → electric charges are arranged in space with respect to the point of observation.

→ charge; → distribution.

A collisional process in which an → ion collides with a neutral → atom or → molecule and captures one of its electrons. One of the most important charge-exchange processes occurring in the → interstellar medium is: O⁺ + H → H⁺ + O + 0.020 eV.

→ charge; → exchange.

The → electric charge carried by an object is independent of the → velocity of the object with respect to the → observer. In other words, the charge is the same in any → frame of reference.

→ charge; → invariance.

Same as → charge conjugation and → C-symmetry.

→ charge; → symmetry.

Defects or impurities in a CCD structure which prevent charges in certain pixels from being transferred to the next pixel.

→ charge; trap, from O.E. træppe "snare, trap," from P.Gmc. *trap-.

Talé "trap," Mid.Pers. talag "trap, snare."

A solid-state detector that stores the electrons, produced by incident photons, in potential wells at the surface of a semiconductor. The packages of charge are moved about the surface by being transferred to similar adjacent potential wells. The wells are controlled by the manipulation of voltage applied to surface electrodes.

→ charge; coupled adj. from → couple; → device.

A charge-transfer device that passes along stored charges positioned at predetermined locations; it is used as an image sensor in which the image points are accessed by reference to their horizontal and vertical coordinates.

→ charge; → injection; → device.