An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. Generally, any process suppressing the secondary maxima of a diffraction pattern, such as the faint rings around the Airy disk of an optical image. This allows the telescope to resolve finer details.
   
2. Over a telescope aperture, the use of a screen that progressively cuts down, from the center to the edge of the aperture, the amount of light transmitted, in order to reduce diffraction.
   
3. A mathematical treatment carried out on data received from an interferometer before the Fourier transformation is calculated to obtain the spectrum.

Etymology (EN): Apodization from v. apodize, → a- “negation prefix” + pod from Gk. podos “foot” (compare with Pers. pâ, see below)

• -tion “noun forming suffix;” literally “removing feet,” i.e. suppressing the secondary maxima at the side of the Airy spot.

Etymology (PE): Pâzodâyi “removing feet,” from pâ “foot,” Mid.Pers. pâd, pây , Av. pad-, Skt. pat, Gk. pos, gen. podos, L. pes, gen. pedis, PIE *pod-/*ped-. Zodâyi, n. from zodudan “to polish, clean,” Mid.Pers. uzdâtan,
Av. uzdâ-, from uz-, → ex-, + dâ- “make, create.”