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

An → ice crystal forming snow in a → cloud.

→ snow; → crystal.

In a → protoplanetary disk, the limit between the regions where water is gaseous and the region where it is cold enough for water to become ice. The core accretion theory predicts that → giant planets form just outside the snow line where they can accrete enough rock and ice to generate a core. Subsequently the core grows into a gas giant like → Jupiter or → Saturn via the → accretion of hydrogen and helium. The snow line location depends on the → luminosity of the central star. For solar system it is about 5 AU, the position of Jupiter. Also known as ice line.

→ snow; → line.

Marz, → frontier; yax, → ice.

A mass of snow packed into a ball or rolled together, as for throwing.

→ snow; → ball.

Any of several episodes in the history of the Earth where our planet was entirely covered by glacial ice from pole to pole. There are at least three such episodes. The first one, called the Huronian glaciation, extended from 2.4 billion years ago to 2.1 billion years (lasting about 300 million years). In the last billion years, the Earth has experienced two more global glaciations: the Sturtian glaciation, which began 720 million years ago and, following a brief interglacial episode, the Marinoan glaciation, which ended 635 million years ago. During such episodes the global mean temperature would be about -50°C because most of the Sun's radiation would be reflected back to space by the icy surface. The average equatorial temperature would be about -20°C, roughly similar to present Antarctica. Without the moderating effect of the oceans, temperature fluctuations associated with the day-night and seasonal cycles would be greatly enhanced. Because of its solid surface, the climate on a snowball earth would have much in common with present Mars (http://www.snowballearth.org).

The term snowball Earth was coined in 1989 by Joe Kirschvink, a biomagnetist and paleomagnetist at the Caifornia Institute of Technology in Pasadena, USA; → earth.

A mound or bank of snow deposited as sloping surfaces and peaks, often behind obstacles and irregularities, due to eddies in the wind field.

→ snow; → drift.

Barf-rând "snowdrift, drfited snow" from barf, → snow, + rând "driving, drfit; drifted," from rândan "to push, drive, cause to go," causative of raftan "to go, walk, proceed" (present tense stem row-, Mid.Pers. raftan, raw-, Proto-Iranian *rab/f- "to go; to attack"); barf-e bâd âvard "snow brought by wind," from barf + bâd→ wind + âvard, short for âvardé "brought," p.p. of âvardan "to bring; to cause, produce" (Mid.Pers. âwurtan, âvaritan; Av. ābar- "to bring; to possess," from prefix ā- + Av./O.Pers. bar- "to bear, carry," bareθre "to bear (infinitive)," bareθri "a female that bears (children), a mother;" Mod.Pers. bordan "to carry;" Skt. bharati "he carries;" Gk. pherein; L. fero "to carry").

An agglomeration of many → ice crystals that falls as a unit from a cloud. Snowflakes possess a six-fold symmetry that ultimately derives from the six-fold symmetry of the ice crystal lattice. Typical snowflakes fall at a rate of 1-2 m s^-1. The shape of snowflakes is influenced by the → temperature and → humidity of the atmosphere. Snowflakes form in the atmosphere when cold water droplets freeze onto dust particles. Depending on the temperature and humidity of the air where the snowflakes form, the resulting ice crystals will grow into a myriad of different shapes. Snowflakes formed in temperatures below -22 °C consist primarily of simple crystal plates and columns whereas snowflakes with extensive branching patterns are formed in warmer temperatures. Snowflakes are not frozen raindrops. Sometimes raindrops do freeze as they fall, but this is called → sleet. Sleet particles do not have any of the elaborate and symmetrical patterning found in snow crystals.

From → snow + flake, from M.E. akin to O.E. flac- in flacox "flying" (said of arrows), O.N. flakka "to wander," M.Du. vlac "flat, level," M.H.G. vlach, Ger. Flocke "flake."

Golic "snowflake" in dialectal Lori and Laki (originally *geli-ka), variants Laki gal "seed (of millet)," gella "grape berry," Torbat-Heydariyei gella "grape berry," golla "ball, reel," Kurd. kuli, kilole "snowflake," Malâyeri gulu "bead," Qâyeni golle "bead," Qasrâni gella, golla "bead," Tabari gəlilə "bead," Gilaki gudé "ball, bowl, tumour," literary Pers. golulé, goruk "ball;" cf. Skt. guda- "ball, mouthful, lump, tumour;" Pali gula- "ball;" Gk. gloutos "rump;" L. glomus "ball," globus "globe;" Ger. Kugel; E. clot; PIE base *gel- "to make into a ball;" barf, → snow; dâné, → grain.

A piece of equipment mounted on the front of a vehicle for clearing away snow from roads, railroad tracks, etc.

→ snow + plow, → Plough.

Barfrub, from barf, → snow, + rub, rubidan "to sweep," → scan.

The third phase in the evolution of a → supernova remnant (SNR) occurring after the → Sedov-Taylor phase when the mass of the swept-up material becomes much larger than the amount of the ejected material. The SNR is surrounded by a cool → shell of accumulated material that is being pushed from behind, similar to what occurs for a snowplow. During this phase, → radiative cooling becomes important and the total energy is no longer conserved. Also called the → radiative phase.

→ snowplow; → phase.

A ring-like structure of swept-up → gas and → dust around a → supernova remnant. See also: → free expansion phase, → Sedov-Taylor phase, → snowplow phase.

→ supernova remnant (SNR); → shell.

A method allowing for a simplified solution to the → radiative transfer equation at frequencies of spectral lines in media moving with a high velocity gradient. This method assumes that the macroscopic velocity gradients are more important than local random variations of thermal line width: dv/dr > v_th/l, where dv/dr is the velocity gradient, v_th is the thermal broadening of the line, and l the length scale. The Sobolev approximation is only valid if the conditions of the gas do not change over the → Sobolev length. Under the Sobolev approximation, each point in the medium is isolated from other points, and the → radiative transfer problem becomes a local one and therefore much easier to solve.

Named after the Russian astronomer Viktor Viktorovich Sobolev, Moving Envelopes of Stars [in Russian], Leningr. Gos. Univ., Leningrad (1947) [translated by S. Gaposchkin, Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass. (1960)]; → approximation.

In the → Sobolev approximation, the length over which the conditions of the gas do not change and the approximation is valid. It is expressed by: l_s = v_th/(dv/dr), where v_th is the thermal line width and (dv/dr) the velocity gradient. In other words, the length over which the profile function of a line is shifted through a distance equal to its own width by the macroscopic velocity gradients that exist in the moving medium.

→ Sobolev approximation; → length.

Of or pertaining to human society.

→ society; → -al.

A continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position (Dictionary.com).

→ socialize; → -tion.

To make social; make fit for life in companionship with others (Dictionary.com).

→ social; → -ize.

Of or pertaining to social groups, their activities, or to social relations.

From societ-, from → society, + → -al.

Hazâni, from hazân-, from hazâné, → society, + -i, → -al.

An organized group of persons associated together for scientific, cultural, or other purposes; e.g. a physical society. See also:
→ associate, → association, → dissociate, → dissociation, → social, → socialization, → socialize, → societal.

M.E., from O.Fr. societe, from L. societatem (nominative societas), from socius "companion," → associate.

Hazâné, from Av. hacenay- "getting together, association," from verb hac-, hax- "to associate, follow, accompany" (haxay-, hašy-, haš- "friend"), hacaiti "follows;" hacā "from, out of;" O.Pers. hacā "from" (Mid.Pers. hac "from;" Mod.Pers. az "from"); PIE base *sek^w- "to follow;" cf. Skt. sac- "to be associated or united with," sácate "accompanies, follows," sácā "with;" Gk. hepesthai "to follow;" L. sequi "to follow."

The science or study of the origin, development, organization, and functioning of human society; the science of the fundamental laws of social relations, institutions, etc. (Dictionary.com).

→ society; → -logy.

Of or pertaining to Socrates or his philosophy, followers, etc., → Socratic irony, → Socratic method.

Socrates (469?-399 B.C.), Athenian philosopher.

A means by which the pretended ignorance of a skillful questioner leads the person answering to expose his own ignorance (Collins).

→ Socratic; → irony.

The use of questions, as employed by Socrates, to develop a latent idea, as in the mind of a pupil, or to elicit admissions, as from an opponent, tending to establish a proposition (Dictionary.com).

→ Socratic; → method.