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

A band in the → absorption spectrum of → ozone (O₃) extending in the → visible from 400 nm to 700 nm. → Hartley band, → Huggins band.

J. Chappuis, Acad. Sci., Paris, C. R. 91, 985 (1880).

1a) The aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.
1b) One such feature or trait; characteristic.
2) A person represented in a play, film, story, etc; role. See also → personage (Dictionary.com).
3) Computers: One of a set of symbols, such as letters or numbers, that are arranged to express information; the numerical code representing such a character.

M.E. carecter "distinctive mark," from O.Fr. caractère, from L. character, from Gk. kharakter "graving tool, its mark," from kharassein "to engrave," from kharax "pointed stick."

1, 2) Serešt "nature, temperament, constitution; mixed," sereštan "to mix, mingle; knead;" serišom "glue;" Mid.Pers. srištan "to mix, knead;" cf. Av. ham-sriš- "to put together;" Skt. śres- "to cling, stick, be attached;" Proto-Ir. root *sraiš- "to put together, attach" (Cheung 2007).
Sereštâr with -âr, contraction of âvar agent noun of âvardan "to bring; to cause, produce," → format.
3) Daxšé, variants dâq "a brand, a mark burned on the skin of an animal with a hot iron," Gilaki dajé "a brand," Hamadani daj "sign placed on a heap of harvest indicating identity or ownership," Mid.Pers. daxšag "mark, sign, charactersitic; (monthly) signs (of women)", dazidan "to burn, scorch," Av. daxša- "sign, mark, defect," from dag- "to burn," dažaiti "burns," cf. Skt. dah- "to burn," dahati "burns," Gk. tephra "ash," L. favilla "glowing ashes," Lith. dagas "hot season," O.Prus. dagis "summer," P.Gmc. *dagaz, Ger. Tag, E. day; PIE *dheg^wh- "to burn."

1a ) A distinguishing feature or quality.
1b) The integer part of a → common logarithm. For example, log₁₀ (23) = 1.362, where the characteristic is 1 and the → mantissa is 0.362.
2) Pertaining to, constituting, or indicating the character or peculiar quality of a person or thing; typical; distinctive.

→ character; → -istic.

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.