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

A nebula resembling a guitar produced by a → neutron star, which is travelling at a speed of 1600 km per sec! The neutron star leaves behind a "wake" in the → interstellar medium, which just happens to look like a guitar (only at this time, and from our point of view in space). The Guitar Nebula is about 6.5 light years away, in the constellation → Cepheus, and occupies about an arc-minute in the sky, corresponding to about 300 years of travel for the neutron star.

Guitar, ultimately from Gk. kithara "cithara," a stringed musical instrument related to the lyre, perhaps from Pers. sehtar "three-stringed," from sé "three" + târ, → string. → nebula.

A deep → inlet of the sea almost surrounded by land, with a narrow mouth; a large deep → bay (OxfordDictionaries.com).

M.E. go(u)lf, from O.Fr. golfe, from It. golfo, from Gk. Gk. kolpos "bay, gulf of the sea," originally "bosom."

Xalij, ultimately from Proto-Ir. *garika-, from *gar- "to soak, moisten" (+ relation suffix -ika-, → -ics; notably the variant Tabari -ij, as in Yušij); cf. Gilaki *xal-, xâlə "stream, brook" (as in the stream names Cam.xâlə, Zât.xâlə, Hašu.xâlə, etc.), Tabari câl in Câlus (name of a river in Mâzandarân); Laki cal.ow "marsh;" Tabari kela, kila "stream;" Baluci kor "river;" Iranian rivers Kor (in the Fârs Province), Kârun and Karxé (both in Xuzestân); in classical Pers. literature kul, kul.âb "pond, reservoir," (prefixed far-) far.qar "a minor stream derived from a more considerable one; the bed of a river when almost dry, the small quantity of water remaining in such a river" (Steingass); âqâridan, âqeštan, farqâridan "to moisten, wet, macerate;" Dari Yazd qeriz "saliva;" Râvar, Bardsir, Kerman geriz "saliva;" Laki xur "swamp;" Tâti xer "cloud;" Bandare Jâski gerâh "moisture;" Ossetic I. qaryn/qard "to permeate, seep through (of liquid);" Shughni (prefixed) ažär- "to soak, wet;" Roshani (prefixed) nižêr-/nižêrd "to soak, wet;" Skt. gal- "to drip;" O.H.G. quellan "to well, to gush;" Ger. Quell, Quelle "source." Note that, according to the classical Pers. dictionary Borhân-e Qâte' compiled in India (17th century), xalij is a Pers. word and not Arabic. Similarly, M.A. Emâm-Shushtari, in his "Dictionary of Persian Words in Arabic," remarks that the Arabic root XLJ is irrelevant to the "gulf" sense.

A trench or ravine worn away by running water in the earth.

Gully, a variant of M.E. golet "water channel," from O.Fr. goulet, dim. of goule "throat, neck," from L. gula; cf. Mod.Pers. galu "throat," geri, geribân "collar," gerivé "low hill," gardan "neck;" Mid.Pers. galôg, griv "throat," gartan "neck," Av. grīvā- "neck;" Skt. gala- "throat, neck," Gk. bora "food;" L. vorare "to devour;" PIE base *g^wer- "to swallow, devour."

Âbkand, literally "dug by water," from âb "water" (Mid.Pers. âb "water;" O. Pers. ap- "water;" Av. ap- "water;" cf. Skt. áp- "water;" Hitt. happa- "water;" PIE āp-, ab- "water, river;" cf. Gk. Apidanos, proper noun, a river in Thessalia; L. amnis "stream, river" (from *abnis); O.Ir. ab "river," O.Prus. ape "stream," Lith. upé "stream;" Latv. upe "brook") + kand, contraction of kandé, p.p. of kandan "to dig" (Mid.Pers. kandan "to dig;" O.Pers. kan- "to dig," akaniya- "it was dug;" Av. kan- "to dig," uskən- "to dig out" (→ ex- for prefix us-); cf. Skt. khan- "to dig," khanati "he digs").

An immense emission nebula about 40° across lying toward the southern constellations → Vela and → Puppis. It contains the → Vela pulsar and the → Vela supernova remnant, and seems to be created by an outburst of ionizing radiation that accompanied a → supernova explosion.

Named after its discoverer, the Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum (1924-1960); → nebula.

The continuum trough observed in the spectra of high redshift quasars (z> 6) at the blue wing of their Lyman-alpha emission line (1216 Å). It is explained by the scattering of the radiation of the quasar by intergalactic neutral hydrogen on the line of sight. Because of the cosmological expansion, the quasar line is redshifted with respect to the continuum trough. The Gunn-Peterson opacity increases rapidly with redshift. It is interpreted as a strong evidence for the reionization of the Universe around z = 6.

After James E. Gunn and Bruce A. Peterson who predicted the effect in 1965; → effect.

The first → gravitational wave event detected in association with an → electromagnetic counterpart. On 2017 August (12h 41m 04s UTC) the gravitational event GW170817 was observed by → Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the → Virgo interferometer. 1.7 seconds later the Earth-orbiting Fermi and INTEGRAL observatories detected a → gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A). The gravitational wave data were used to attribute the event to the → merger of → neutron stars in a → neutron star binary system. The component masses range 1.17-1.60 → solar masses (Abbott et al., 2017, Physical Review Letters 119, 161101). The source was rapidly localized to a region of 31 deg² using data from all three detectors. The analysis of the gravitational wave data suggested a distance of 40 (± 8) Mpc for the event. 45 min after sunset in Chile and 10 hours after the GW trigger, astronomers (Coulter et al. 2017, GCN 21529) located the → electromagnetic counterpart of the gravitational wave event in the → lenticular galaxy (S0) → NGC 4993 offset 10.6 arcseconds north-east from center (corresponding to 2.0 kpc). Follow-up observations revealed an optical-infrared → transient known as → kilonova that lasted a few days, as predicted by models of neutron star merger. Kilonova is powered by the synthesis of large amounts of very heavy elements via rapid neutron capture (the → r-process). The merger ejected 0.03-0.05 → solar masses, including high opacity → lanthanides. Kilonovae are believed to be cradles of production of rare → chemical elements like → gold and → platinum (Pian et al., 2017, Nature doi:10.1038/nature24298).

GW, short for → gravitational wave; 170817 detection date, 2017 August 17.

To move in a circle or spiral, or around a fixed point; to revolve in or as if in a spiral course. Close concepts: → revolve; → rotate; → spin. See also: → gyro-.

From L. gyratus, p.p. of gyrare "to turn around," from L. gyrus "circle," from Gk. gyros "circle, ring;" PIE base *geu- "to bend, curve."

Leridan, from Lori, Laki lerr "revolving, whirling, turning" (lerr dâye "to make rotate, to stir a liquid," lerese "to rotate, turn"), variant xer "circular, round" (xer dâyen "to make turn"), maybe cognate with Gk. gyros "circle, ring," as above; variants in Mod.Pers. lulé "rolled-up, wound-up; tube," lulé kardan "to roll up, wind up;" Hamadâni lul "spiral, twisted;" Kurd. lûl "curly (of hair)," garda-lûl, ~ lûlân "wind that whirls dust."

An open-source (adiabatic/non-adiabatic) pulsation code that calculates the oscillation frequencies of an input stellar model. The code is based on a "Magnus Multiple Shooting" scheme, which is a numerical technique to solve boundary value problems. This is done by subdividing the possible solution space into sub-intervals and solving the pulsation equation in these sub-intervals, assuming continuity conditions. GYRE is integrated into → Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)'s → asteroseismologic module (Townsend & Teitler, 2013, MNRAS 435, 3406).

GYRE, of unknown origin.

A combining form meaning "ring, circle, spiral," used in the formation of compound words: → gyroscope, → gyrofrequency, → gyroradius, → gyrate.

From Gk. gyros "circle, ring;" PIE base *geu- "to bend, curve."

From leridan, → gyrate.

The frequency with which an electron or other charged particle executes spiral gyrations in moving across a magnetic field.

→ gyro-; → frequency.

Same as → Larmor radius.

→ gyro-; → radius.

A device for measuring or maintaining orientation. Consisting of a rotating wheel so mounted that its axis can turn freely in certain or all directions, it is based on the principle of conservation of angular momentum. In physics this is also known as gyroscopic inertia or rigidity in space.

Gyroscope, from gyro-, → gyrate + → -scope.

Lernemâ, from ler, → gyrate, + -nemâ→ -scope; carxešnemâ, from carxeš→ rotation + -nemâ.

Same as → Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff.

→ Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff.

Two prominent → absorption lines, at 3968.5 Å and 3933.7 Å respectively, in the spectra of stars like the → Sun and cooler due to → singly ionized → calcium (Ca II). The strength of H and K lines can be an indication of considerable magnetic activity in the → chromosphere of these stars. The Ca II H and K lines are also common in some kinds of → eruptive variable stars. These lines are not seen in → hot stars, and start to become visible in → A-type stars.

H and K, letters of alphabet, conventionally chosen; → line.

Atomic or → neutral hydrogen.

From H, abbreviation of hydrogen + I "one" in Roman number system, nomenclature convention representing neutral atoms.

A region of neutral (atomic) hydrogen in interstellar space. At least 95 percent of interstellar hydrogen is H I. It emits radio waves that are 21 cm long.

→ H I; → region

Ionized → hydrogen, that is a proton nucleus that has lost its unique electron.

From H, abbreviation of hydrogen + II "two" in Roman number system, nomenclature convention representing singly ionized atoms.

A low-mass and → metal-poor galaxy (1/30-1/3 Zsun), experiencing strong episodes of → star formation, characterized by the presence of bright → emission lines on a faint → blue continuum. The fact that H II galaxies are metal poor and very blue objects seems to suggest that they are young. Nevertheless, several studies show the existence of an → old stellar population underlying the present → star burst in most of these galaxies. This fact indicates that these objects are not young systems forming their first generation of stars. Same as → blue compact dwarf galaxy.
Spectroscopically, H II galaxies are essentially identical to the → giant H II regions found in nearby → irregular and → late-type galaxies. The correlation among structural parameters (→ H-beta → luminosity, → velocity dispersion, → linewidths) and between these parameters and the → chemical composition favors the interpretation of H II galaxies as giant H II regions in distant → dwarf irregular galaxies similar to the ones found nearby. Some examples of H II galaxies are: I Zw 18, SBS 0335-052, II Zw 33, UM 408.

→ H II; → galaxy.

A type of → emission nebulae composed of very hot gas (about 10⁴ K), mainly ionized hydrogen, created by the ultraviolet radiation of → massive stars. H II regions originate when O or early-type stars, born in → giant molecular clouds, start heating up the cold gas, causing it to become → ionized and "glow". The effective temperatures of the → exciting stars are in the range 3 x 10⁴ to 5 x 10⁴ K, and throughout the nebula hydrogen is ionized. Helium is → singly ionized, and other elements are mostly singly or → doubly ionized. Typical densities in the H II region are of the order 10 to 10² cm^-3, ranging as high as 10⁴ cm^-3. Internal motions occur in the gas with velocities of order 10 km s^-1. The spectra of H II regions are mainly composed of strong → H I→ recombination lines and → forbidden lines such as [O III], [O II], [N II]. See also → ionization-bounded H II region; → density-bounded H II region; → compact H II region; → ultracompact H II region.

→ H II; → region

The total number of → Lyman continuum photons emitted by an → H II region. It is usually derived using → radio continuum observations which are less affected by → interstellar extinction. The measured value is often a lower limit because of photon leakage from the H II region and absorption. See also → density-bounded H II region.

→ H II; → region; → luminosity.