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

Optics: If the intensity in an interference fringe pattern has the maximum and minimum values I_max and I_min, the visibility is defined by the relation ν = (I_max - I_min) / (I_max + I_min), where 0 ≤ ν ≤ 1. In terms of the intensities of the two interfering waves: ν = 2(I₁ . I₂)^1/2 / (I₁ + I₂).

→ fringe; → visibility

A tailless amphibian with a short squat body, moist smooth skin, a large head, and very long hind legs for leaping.

Qurbâqe "frog," prefixed bâq, variants Tabari, Aftari vak, Tabari vag, Lori, Laki qorvâ, korvâx, Kurd. baq, Zâzâ baqa; Mid.Pers. vazak, vak; Av. vazaγa- "frog."

1) The part or side of anything that faces forward. → ionization front.
2) Meteo.: A narrow zone of transition between air masses of contrasting density, that is, air masses of different temperature or different water vapor concentration or both.
3) The side of the → planispheric astrolabe that displays the → limb of the → mater, the → tympanum, the → rete, and, in some models, the → rule. By setting the front, i.e., by rotating the rete around the mater, one can depict the appearance of the heavens as determined by observation in order to obtain a time value from the instrument. Alternatively, by configuring the rete for a given day, one can perform several astronomical computations such as the rising, culmination, and setting of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars (online museo galileo, VirtualMuseum).

From O.Fr. front "forehead, brow," from L. frontem "forehead," perhaps lit. "that which projects," from PIE *bhront-, from base *bhren- "to project, stand out."

Pišân, from pišâni "front, forehead," from piš "before; in front," from Mid.Pers. pêš "before, earlier;" O.Pers. paišiya "before; in the presence of" + -ân suffix of place and time.
Ru "face," → surface.

A device containing a radio-frequency amplifier and associated cryogenic systems, routers, and converters (mixers), whose input is the voltage from a receptor and whose output is an intermediate-frequency signal. → back-end.

→ front + end, from O.E. ende, from P.Gmc. *andja, originally "the opposite side," from PIE *antjo "end, boundary," from base *anta-/*anti- "opposite, in front of, before."

Piš-tah, from piš, → front, + tah "end;" Mid.Pers. tah "bottom." The origin of this term is not clear. It may be related to Gk. tenagos "bottom, swamp," Latvian tigas "depth;" PIE *tenegos "water bottom."

A border between two countries.
A line of division between different or opposed things.
The farthermost limits of knowledge or achievement in a particular subject.

From O.Fr. fronter, from front "forehead, brow," → front.

Marz, from Mid.Pers. marz "boundary;" Av. marəza- "border, district," marəz- "to rub, wipe;" Mod.Pers. parmâs "contact, touching" (→ contact), mâl-, mâlidan "to rub;" PIE base *merg- "boundary, border;" cf. L. margo "edge" (Fr. marge "margin"); P.Gmc. *marko; Ger. Mark; E. mark, margin.

An observing project using the → Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the → Spitzer Space Telescope to obtain deep images for cosmological studies. The Frontier Fields combines the power of HST and Spitzer with the natural gravitational telescopes of massive high-magnification clusters of galaxies to produce the deepest observations of clusters and their lensed galaxies ever obtained. Six clusters (Abell 2744, MACSJ0416.1-2403, MACSJ0717.5+3745, MACSJ1149.5+2223, Abell S1063, and Abell 370) were selected based on their lensing strength, sky darkness, Galactic extinction, parallel field suitability, accessibility to ground-based facilities, HST, Spitzer and JWST observability, and preexisting ancillary data. (Lotz et al., 2016, arxiv/1605.06567 and references therein).

→ frontier; → field.

Ice crystals that are formed by deposition of water vapor on a relatively cold surface.
The condition that exists when the temperature of the earth's surface and earthbound objects fall below freezing.

O.E. forst, frost "a freezing, becoming frozen, extreme cold," from P.Gmc. *frusta- (cf. O.H.G. frost, Du. vorst), related to freosan "to freeze."

Bašmé, from bašm "hoar-frost; dew," variants bažm, bašk, pašak "frost; dew," may be related to (štiyâni, Qomi dialects) bašand, vašand, vašan "rain" (vašan-sâl "rainy year"), (Lori, Laki) vašt "rain shower," (Gurâni) wašt, wišani "rain" (Tâti Karingâni) vurasten "to rain;" Av. -varšta- "rain," aiwi-varšta- "rained upon;" Skt. vars- "to rain," varsá- "rain;" M.Irish frass "rain shower, torrent;" Gk. eérse "dew," oureo "to urinate."

A → dimensionless number that gives the ratio of local acceleration to gravitational acceleration in the vertical.

Named after William Froude (1810-1879), English engineer.

1) Turned into or covered with ice. → frozen water.
2) Attached or → fixed so as to be immovable. → frozen magnetic field line.

Past participle of → freeze.

A → magnetic field line in a → fluid when the motion of the fluid carries the magnetic field along with it.

Frozen, p.p. of → freeze; → magnetic; → line.

Turned into or covered with → ice. See also: → water ice.

Past participle of → freeze.

A member of a class of → pre-main sequence stars that experience dramatic changes in magnitude and → spectral type. During an outburst the luminosity of such an object can increase by several orders of magnitude on short time-scales (few months to few years). The phenomenon is explained by abrupt mass transfer from an → accretion disk to a young, low mass → T Tauri star (accretion rates 10^-4 to 10^-3 solar masses per year). → EX Lupi; → Z CMa.

F and U, alphabet letters; Orionis, → Orion; → object.

Completely filled; containing all that can be held; complete; entire; maximum.

O.E. full "completely, full," from P.Gmc. *fullaz (cf. O.Fris. ful, O.N. fullr, O.H.G. fol, Ger. voll), akin to Pers. por, as below.

Por "full;" Mid.Pers. purr "full;" O.Pers. paru- "much, many;" Av. parav-, pauru-, pouru-, from par- "to fill;" PIE base *pelu- "full," from *pel- "to be full;" cf. Skt. puru- "much, abundant;" Gk. polus "many," plethos "great number, multitude;" O.E. full.

Same as → apogee full Moon.

→ full; → micro-; → Moon.

1) The moon at → opposition, when it appears as a round disk to an observer on the Earth because the illuminated side is toward him.
2) The phase when the → age of the moon, measured from → new moon, is 14.5 days.

→ full; → moon.

Pormâh, from Mid.Pers. purrmâh, from Av. pərənô.manha- "full moon" (cf. Skt. pūrná-mās-); → full; → moon.

Same as → perigee full Moon.

→ full; → super-; → Moon.

The full width of a → profile (spectral line or a cross-cut in an image component) at half-maximum intensity.

→ full; → width; → half; → maximum.

Pahnâ, → width; nim, → half; bišiné, → maximum.

A mathematical rule between two sets which assigns to each element of the first exactly one element of the second, as the expression y = ax^b.

From M.Fr. fonction, from O.Fr. function, from L. functio (gen. functionis) "performance, execution," from functus, p.p. of fungor "to perform, execute."

Karyâ, from Av. kairya- "function;" cf. Mod.Pers. Laki karyâ "done," Awromâni kiriyây, kiria "to be done," from kar- "to do" (Mod.Pers. kar-, kardan "to do, to make;" Mid.Pers. kardan; O.Pers./Av. kar- "to do, make, build;" Av. kərənaoiti "he makes;" cf. Skt. kr- "to do, to make," krnoti "he makes, he does," karoti "he makes, he does," karma "act, deed;" PIE base k^wer- "to do, to make") + -ya suffix of verbal adjectives and nouns (e.g. išya- "desirable," jivya- "living, fresh," haiθya- "true," maidya- "middle," dadya- "grain"); cf. Skt. kāryá- "work, duty, performance."

1) Math.: Of, relating to, or affecting a function.
2) A → function that associates a → real number or → complex number to a function or a → set of functions. A functional can be considered as a function of a set of several infinite and continuous → variables.

→ function; → -al.

1) Being an original or primary source.
2) A basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the groundwork of a system.

L.L. fundamentalis "of the foundation," from L. fundamentum "foundation," from fundare "to found."

Bonyâdin, adj. of bonyâd "foundation, basis," from *bondâd (Mid.Pers. bune dâtak "foundation, basis"), from bon "basis; root; foundation; bottom" (Mid.Pers. bun "root; foundation; beginning," Av. būna- "base, depth," cf. Skt. bundha-, budhná- "base, bottom," Pali bunda- "root of tree") + dâd "given," from dâdan "to give" (Mid.Pers. dâdan "to give," O.Pers./Av. dā- "to give, grant, yield," dadāiti "he gives;" Skt. dadáti "he gives," Gk. didomi "I give," tithenai "to put, set, place;" L. dare "to give, offer;" Rus. delat "to do;" O.H.G. tuon, Ger. tun, O.E. don "to do").