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

1) The point that is equidistant from all the points on a circle or sphere.
2a) To place in or on a center.
2b) Telescope: To move a telescope in order to place the object of interest on the center of the field. → center of attraction, → center of gravity, → center of inertia, → center of mass, → center wavelength, → anticenter, → apocenter, → barycenter, → optical center, → pericenter.

M.E. centre, from O.Fr. centre, from L. centrum "center," originally fixed point of the two points of a compass, from Gk. kentron "sharp point, goad," from kentein "stitch," from PIE *kent- "to prick."

Markaz "center," from Ar.; kayân, Mod.Pers. "the point made by the compasses, that is the center of a circle" [Dehxodâ]; markazidan, infinitive from markaz, → center, + -idan infinitive suffix.

A point toward which a force on a body is always directed.

→ center; → attraction.

A fixed point in a body through which the resultant force of gravitational attraction acts. Same as → center of mass, → center of inertia, → centroid.

→ center; → gravity.

Gerânigâh, from gerâni→ gravity + -gâh "place."

Same as → center of gravity, → center of mass, → centroid.

→ center; → inertia.

Same as → center of gravity, → center of inertia, → centroid, and → barycenter.

→ center; → mass.

Center of a filter passband measured at 50% of peak transmittance.

→ center; → wavelength.

Prefix denoting one-hundredth of, in metric units; e.g. centimeter, 0.01 of meter.

Fr., from L. centi,- "hundred," from centum "hundred," Gk. hekaton, Av. satem-, Mod.Pers. sad, Skt. satam-, P.Gmc. *hunda- "hundred," Goth. hund, O.H.G. hunt, O.Ir. cet, Bret. kant, PIE *kmtom "hundred."

Sânti-, from Fr., → above paragraph.

A unit of length in the → metric system, equal to one-hundredth of a meter, which is the current unit of length in the → International System of Units (SI).

→ centi-; → meter.

One of the three obscured → Galactic center clusters, which contains the supermassive black hole → Sgr A*. The first stars observed in the Central cluster were evolved → massive stars showing strong He I emission lines (2.058 microns) in the near infrared K band. Subsequently more than 80 massive stars were detected including various types of → Wolf-Rayet stars, as well as → O-type and → B-type → supergiants and → dwarfs (see, e.g. Martins et al. 2007, A&A 468, 233).

→ central; → cluster.

An eclipse during which the axis of the lunar shadow cone intersects the Earth's surface (in the case of solar eclipses) or the axis of the terrestrial shadow cone intersects the Moon's surface (in the case of lunar eclipses). The total and annular solar eclipses are usually central. They can also be not central; then, they are visible only from places situated at high latitudes (M.S.: SDE).

A → force that is always directed toward a fixed point and whose → magnitude depends only on the distance from that point. Mathematically, F is a central force if and only if: F = f(r)r₁ = f(r)r/r, where r₁ = r/r is a unit → vector in the direction of r. If f(r) < 0 the force is said to be → attractive toward the source. If f(r) > 0 the force is said to be → repulsive from the source. In other words, a central force is one whose → potential, V(r), depends only on the → distance from the source. → Gravitational force and → electrostatic force are central, with V(r)∝ 1/r.

→ central; → force.

A statement about the characteristics of the sampling distribution of means of → random samples from a given → statistical population. For any set of independent, identically distributed random variables, X₁, X₂,..., X_n, with a → mean μ and → variance σ², the distribution of the means is equal to the mean of the population from which the samples were drawn. Moreover, if the original population has a → normal distribution, the sampling distribution of means will also be normal. If the original population is not normally distributed, the sampling distribution of means will increasingly approximate a normal distribution as sample size increases.

→ central; → limit; → theorem.

A vast, turbulent region encircling the → Milky Way's nucleus that contains a large fraction of the → Galaxy's dense → molecular clouds and → star formation regions. Spanning -1 to +1.5 degrees of → Sgr A*, the CMZ is about 400 pc × 100 pc in size and contains at least 10⁷→ solar masses of → giant molecular clouds, approximately 10% of the Galaxy's molecular gas. The gas in the CMZ is at higher temperature than typical giant molecular clouds and has high velocity dispersion reflecting the → turbulent nature of the gas in the area. Despite these extensive molecular reserves, the → star formation rate within the CMZ is actually lower than expected based on the analysis of nearby → star-forming regions in the quiescent → Galactic disk. A common assumption is that this is a result of the extreme conditions within the CMZ, where the density, pressure, temperature, → velocity dispersion and → radiation field are all significantly greater than elsewhere in the Milky Way (Clark et al. 2018, The Messenger 173, 22 and references therein).

→ central; → molecular; → zone.

The uplift of the central parts of the → crater floor due to the impacting force of a large → meteorite. The shock wave entering the Earth will first move in as a compressional wave (P-wave), but after passage of the compressional wave an expansion wave (rarefaction wave) will move back toward the surface. This will cause the floor of the crater to be uplifted and may also cause the rock around the rim of the crater to bent upward.

→ central; → peak.

The primary component of a → computer that processes instructions. It runs the → operating system and → applications, constantly receiving input from the user or active → software programs. The CPU has two typical components: 1) Control Unit, which extracts instructions from memory and decodes and executes them. 2) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), which handles arithmetic and logical operations.

→ central; → processing; → unit.

Same as → central peak.

→ central; → up; → lift.

→ central; → uplift.

1) In an interference filter, the wavelength of peak transmission.
2) In a spectrograph, the wavelength corresponding to the middle of the range covered by the grating or grism.

Central, adj. from → center; → wavelength.

Acting or moving in a direction away from the axis of rotation or the center of a circle along which a body is moving.

From Mod.L., coined 1687 by Sir Isaac Newton from L. centri-, combining form of centrum, → center, + fugere "to run away, flee."

Markaz-goriz, from markaz, → center, + goriz "running away," from gorixtan, gorizidan "to run away," Mid.Pers. virextan, proto-Iranian *vi-raik, from vi- "apart, asunder" + *raik, Av. raek- "to leave, set free, let off," Mid./Mod.Pers. reg/rig (in mordé-rig "inheritance," Skt. ric- "to leave," rinakti "gives up, evacuates," Gk. leipein "to leave," L. linquere "to leave," from PIE *linkw-, from *leikw- "to leave behind" (cf. Goth. leihvan, O.E. lænan "to lend;" O.H.G. lihan "to borrow;" O.N. lan "loan").

Of a point rotating in a circle round a central point, the outward acceleration away from the rotation axis. It corresponds to → centrifugal force. The centrifugal acceleration is given by ω x ω x r, or v²/r, where ω is → angular velocity, r the distance to the rotating axis, and v the → tangential velocity. The centrifugal and → centripetal accelerations are equal and opposite.

→ centrifugal; → acceleration.

A force in a rotating reference frame directed outward from the axis of rotation.

→ centrifugal; → force.