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

The angle under which the radius of the Earth at the place of observation would be seen from a celestial body when it is in the horizon (at the instant of rising or setting). The amount varies with the latitude since the Earth is not exactly spherical, and is greatest at equator.

→ horizontal; → parallax.

The angular distance of an object below the horizon when it appears to lie on the horizon.

→ horizontal; → refraction.

In computer science, a scaling in which the processing power is increased/decreased by adding/removing nodes with similar resources. See also → vertical scaling.

→ horizontal; → scaling.

1a) The bony pointed outgrowth, usually in pairs, on the heads of some animals.
1b) Astro.: Either of the ends of the → crescent Moon.
2) Something resembling a horn.
3) A wind instrument, originally an animal horn used as a wind instrument.
See also: → feedhorn

M.E. horn(e), from O.E. horn "horn of an animal," also "wind instrument" (originally made from animal horns), from P.Gmc. *khurnaz (cf. Ger. Horn, Du. horen), from PIE *ker- "head, horn, top, summit" (cf. Pers. soru "horn," sar "head," Gk. kara "head," karena "head, top," keras "horn;" L. cornu "horn," cerebrum "brain;" Skt. śiras- "head, chief").

1, 2) Mid.Pers šâk; cf. Skt. sakha- "a branch, a limb;" Arm. cax; Lith. šaka; O.S. soxa; PIE *kakhâ "branch."
3) Karnâ "a trumpet-like wind instrument," variant sornâ "a wind instrument," probably related to soru, sorun "horn," sar "head;" Mid.Pers. sar "head," sru "horn;" Av. sarah- "head," srū- "horn, nail;" cognate with E. horn, as above, from PIE *ker- "head, horn."

The Clock. A faint constellation in the southern hemisphere, at about 3h right ascension, 55° south declination. Its brightest star, α Horologii, is of magnitude 3.9. Abbreviation: Hor; Genitive: Horologii.

Horologium "clock," from L., from Gk. horologion, from horolog(os) "timeteller," from horo-, combining form of hora "hour" (→ year) + -log-, stem of legein "to speak, tell" (+ -os adj. suffix) + -ion diminutive suffix.
Originally named Horologium Oscillitorium by Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762) to honour the inventor of the pendulum clock, Christian Huygens (1629-1695).

Sâ'at "clock," from Ar.

A schematic drawing showing the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets at the time of a person's birth for baseless astrological purposes.

From M.Fr. horoscope, from L. horoscopus, from Gk. horoskopos "nativity, horoscope," also "one who casts a horoscope," from hora "hour" + skopos "watching."

Zâyecé "horoscope, thema," from Mid.Pers. zâycag "horoscope," from zâyidan, zâdan, "to give birth, bring forth;" Av. zan- "to bear, give birth to a child, be born," infinitive zazāite, zāta- "born;" cf. Skt. jan- "to produce, create; to be born," janati "begets, bears;" Gk. gignomai "to happen, become, be born;" L. gignere "to beget;" PIE base *gen- "to give birth, beget."

1) A large, solid-hoofed, herbivorous quadruped, Equus caballus, domesticated since prehistoric times.
2) In a → planispheric astrolabe, the small prominence that, inserted into a slit in the pin, prevents the parts of the instrument from coming loose when in use. The part owes its name to the fact that astrolabe-makers would often shape it into a horse's head (online museo galileo, VirtualMuseum).
See also: → horse latitude, → Horsehead Nebula, → horsepower, → horseshoe mounting, → horseshoe orbit.

Horse, O.E. hors, from P.Gmc. *khursa- (cf. M.Du. ors, Du. ros, O.H.G. hros, Ger. Roß "horse"), of unknown origin; → latitude.

Asb "horse," from Mid.Pers. asp; O.Pers. asa- "horse;" Av. aspa- "horse," aspā- "mare," aspaiia- "pertaining to the horse;" cf. Skt. áśva- "horse, steed;" Gk. hippos; L. equus; O.Ir. ech; Goth. aihwa-; O.E. eoh "horse;" PIE base *ekwo- "horse."

The belts of latitude over the oceans, located around 30° north and south of the equator, characterized by predominantly calm or light winds and hot and dry weather.

→ horse; → latitude.
The origin of the term horse latitudes is not clear, despite numerous speculations. A likely explanation appears in Spanish in a natural history text (Historia General y Natural de las Indias by Lopez de Gomara) published in 1535. Therefore, the term derives from El Golfo de las Yeguas, which translates to "The Mares' Sea." The sailors called it this because in the 1500's there was active shipping of horses, particularly brood mares, from Spain to the Canary Islands, and many of the horses died during the transit of this area.

A huge → dark cloud of → interstellar dust that is shaped like a horse's head. It is luminous at its edges because it is in front of the bright → emission nebula IC 434. Its height and width are about 5 and 2.5 → light-years respectively. It is located at a distance of about 1500 light-years in the constellation → Orion. Also known as Barnard 33.

→ horse; → head; → nebula.

A unit that is used to measure the → power of engines and motors.
1) Metric horsepower is equal to the power required to carry a load of 75 kg over a distance of one meter in one second. It is equivalent to 746 → watts.
2) British (US) horsepower is the rate of work when 33,000 foot-pounds of work are done per minute. The horsepower was defined by James Watt (1736-1819), the inventor of the steam engine, to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses. He determined that a horse is typically capable of a power of 550 foot-pounds per second.

→ horse; → power.

Asb-e boxâr "vapor horse," translation of Fr. cheval-vapeur, from asb, → horse, + boxâr, → vapor.

An equatorial mounting in which the upper end of the polar axis frame is made into a horseshoe shape to accommodate the telescope tube.

Horseshoe, from → horse + shoe, from O.E. scoh "shoe," from P.Gmc. *skokhaz (cf. Dan., Swed. sko, O.S. skoh, Du. schoen, O.H.G. scuoh, Ger. Schuh); → mounting.

Barnešând, → mounting; na'l "horseshoe, shoe," loanword from Ar.

A periodic orbit which passes around the → Lagrangian points L4, L3, and L5, but neither of the two primaries. This orbit is shaped like a horseshoe when viewed in a reference frame rotating with the primaries. Such orbits occur in the solar system, for example in the case of the satellites → Janus and → Epimetheus, which share the same orbit around → Saturn. The smaller Epimetheus encompasses both the L4 and L5 points associated with the larger Janus and performs a horseshoe orbit relative to Saturn and Janus. The satellites experience a close approach every 4 years during which their orbits are exchanged. → tadpole orbit.

→ horseshoe mounting; → orbit.

A flexible → pipe for conveying a → liquid.

M.E., O.E. akin to Du. hoos, O.N. hosa, Ger. Hose.

Šilang, probably loan from Russ. шлаиг (shlang) "hose."

One that receives or entertains guests especially in his own home. → host galaxy.

M.E. (h)oste, from O.Fr. hoste "guest, host," from L. hospitem (nom. hospes) "guest, host," lit. "lord of strangers," from hostis "stranger."

Mizbân "host," from Mid.Pers. mezdbân "host," from mêzd "offering, meal," Mod.Pers. miz "guest; offering; meal" + -bân a suffix denoting "keeper, guard," sometimes forming agent nouns or indicating relation (e.g. keštibân "sailor;" bâdbân "a sail;" mehrabân "affectionate;" mizbân "host;" âsiyâbân "a miller;" bâqbân "gardener"). This suffix derives from O.Pers. -pāvan- (as in xšaça.pāvan- "satrap"); Av. -pāna- (as in pəšu.pāna- "keeping the passage, bridge guard"), from Proto-Iranian *pa- "to prtotect, keep," → observe, + suffix *-van-; cf. Skt. -pāna- (as in tanū.pāna- "protection of the body").

A usually faint galaxy in which a remarkable phenomenon, such as a → supernova event, occurs.

→ host; → galaxy.

Having a relatively high temperature. → hot accretion flow, → hot core, → hot corino, → hot dark matter , → hot dust-obscured galaxy, → hot Jupiter, → hot molecular core, → hot pixel, → hot star.

Hot, O.E. hat, "hot; fervent, fierce," from P.Gmc. *haitoz (cf. Du. heet, Ger. heiß "hot," Goth. heito "heat of a fever").

Dâq "hot; brand, marking," from Mid.Pers. dâq, dâk "hot," dažitan "to burn, scorch," dažišn "burning" (Mod.Pers. dežan (دژن) "acid, pugnent"), from Av. dag-, daž- "to burn;" cf. Skt. dah- "to burn;" L. fovere "to warm, heat; " Arm. dažan "violent, wild;" Lith. degu "to burn;" O.E. fefor; E. fever. PIE base *dhegh- "to burn."

A type of → accretion flow by a → compact object such as a → black hole which has a high → virial temperature, is → optically thick, and occurs at lower mass → accretion rates compared with → cold accretion flows. In a hot accretion flow with a very low mass accretion rate, the electron mean free path is very large, and so the accreting → plasma is nearly collisionless. In this type of accretion flow, thermal conduction transports the energy from the inner to the outer regions. As the gas temperature in the outer regions can be increased above the → virial temperature , the gas in the outer regions can escape from the gravitational potential of the central black hole and form outflows, significantly decreasing the mass accretion rate.

→ cold; → accretion; → flow.

Same as → hot molecular core.

→ hot; → core.

A warm, compact → molecular clump found in the inner envelope of a → Class 0 → protostar. Hot corinos are low-mass analogs of → hot molecular cores (HMCs) occurring in → massive star formation sites. With a typical size of ≤ 150 → astronomical units, hot corinos are two orders of magnitude smaller than HMCs. They have densities ≥ 10⁷ cm^-3 and temperatures ≥ 100 K (Ceccarelli, C. 2004, ASP Conf. Ser. 323, 195).

→ hot; corino, from → core + -ino a diminutive suffix in It.

Any form of → dark matter which had a significant velocity dispersion (comparable to the velocity of light), when the Universe first became → matter-dominated.

→ hot; → dark; → matter.