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

The orbital motion or rotation of a solar system body in a clockwise direction (East to West) when viewed from the north pole of the ecliptic. It is a motion opposed to the → direct motion of the great majority of solar system bodies.

→ retrograde; → motion.

the act or work of revising. a process of revising. a revised form or version, as of a book.

Verbal noun of → revise.

The act of revoking; annulment.

Verbal noun of → revoke.

The movement of a celestial body which is in orbit around another. It is often measured as the → orbital period.

Verbal noun of → revolve.

Relating to a constraint or system that contains time explicitly. For example, a pendulum with an extensible string of length l rheonomous, the condition of constraint is: x² + y² = l²(t), where l(t) is the length of the string at time t.

From Gk. rheo-, from rheos "a flowing, stream, current," → rheology, + -nomous, → -nomy.

Same as → energy cascade

Named after L. F. Richardson (1922), Weather Prediction by Numerical Process (Cambridge Univ. Press); → cascade.

A condition for the onset of → instability in multilayer fluids which compares the balance between the restoring force of → buoyancy and the destabilizing effect of the → shear.

Named after the British meteorologist Lewis Fry Richardson (1881-1953), who first arrived in 1920 to the dimensionless ratio now called → Richardson number. The first formal proof of the criterion, however, came four decades later for → incompressible flows (Miles, J. W. 1961, J. Fluid Mech., 10, 496; Howard, L. N., 1961, J. Fluid Mech., 10, 509). Its extension to → compressible flows was demonstrated subsequently (Chimonas 1970, J. Fluid Mech., 43, 833); → criterion.

A dimensionless number which is used according to the → Richardson criterion to describe the condition for the → stability of a flow in the presence of vertical density stratification. If the → shear flow is characterized by linear variation of velocity and density, with velocities and densities ranging from U₁ to U₂ and ρ₁ to ρ₂ (ρ₂>ρ₁), respectively, over a depth H, then the Richardson number is expressed as: Ri = (ρ₂ - ρ₁) gH / ρ₀ (U₁ - U₂)². If Ri < 0.25, somewhere in the flow turbulence is likely to occur. For Ri > 0.25 the flow is stable.

→ Richardson criterion; → number.

A coordinate in the → equatorial system measured from the → vernal equinox eastward to the point where the object → hour circle intersects the → celestial equator. Right ascension (symbol α) is expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds. See also: → declination.

→ right; ascension, M.E. ascencioun, from O.Fr., from L. ascendere "to climb up," from → ad- "to" + scandere "to climb."

Râst, → right; afrâz present stem of afrâzidan, afrâštan "to raise, exalt, extole," from Mid.Pers. abrâstan, abrâz- "to lift, raise," from ab-, from O.Pers./Av. abiy-/aiwi- "to, upon, against;" cf. Skt. abhi-, Gk. amphi- + râst "straight, direct, true;" from O.Pers. rāsta- "straight, true," rās- "to be right, straight, true;" Av. rāz- "to direct, put in line, set," razan- "order;" cf. Skt. raj- "to direct, stretch," rjuyant- "walking straight;" Gk. orektos "stretched out;" L. regere "to lead straight, guide, rule," p.p. rectus "right, straight;" Ger. recht; E. right; PIE base *reg- "move in a straight line," hence, "to direct, rule."

A → selection rule obeyed by → discrete transitions. Among them are: rigorous selection rules for → electric dipole transitions (→ permitted) requiring: 1) ΔJ must be 0 or ± 1 with J = 0 ↔ 0 forbidden. 2) ΔM_J = 0, ± 1. 3) → Parity change, i.e. even ↔ odd.

→ rigorous; → selection; → rule.

Of → Saturn, the angle measured with respect to the sub-observer point (a line connecting the observer to Saturn) in the direction of the orbital motion.

→ ring; → longitude.

An empirical rule discovered before the advent of quantum mechanics which states that it is possible to find pairs of spectral lines, which have the property that the sum of their wavenumbers is also an observed spectral line.

Named after Walther Ritz (1878-1909), a Swiss theoretical physicist; → combination; → principle.

The mathematical description of the interval (→ space-time separation) between → events ("points" in space-time) in a → homogeneous and → isotropic → Universe. It results from an exact solution of → Einstein's field equations of → general relativity. Under the assumptions, the Robertson-Walker interval is expressed by:
ds² = c²dt² - R²(t) [dr²/(1 - kr²) + r²dθ² + r²sin²θ dθ²)].
Same as Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric. Compare → Minkowski metric.

Named after Howard Percy Robertson (1903-1961), American mathematician and physicist, and Arthur Geoffrey Walker (1909-2001), British mathematician and physicist, for their contributions to physics and physical cosmology; → metric.

The study of celestial bodies in the wavelengths that are almost completely absorbed by the atmosphere, by using a rocket to carry instruments above 250 km to measure the searched for phenomena.

→ rocket; → astronomy.

A rocket launched from a balloon at a pre-determined height and fired by a ground-controlled radio relay when some particular event, e.g. a solar flare, occurs.

From rocket + balloon.

From roket + bâlon, → ballon astronomy.

The motion of a body about its axis.

Verbal noun of → rotate.

The imaginary line around which an object rotates. Same as → rotational axis and → axis of rotation.

→ rotation; → axis.

A plot of the variation in → orbital velocity of stars and → interstellar matter with distance from the center of a → galaxy. A "flat" rotation curve indicates that the mass of the galaxy increases linearly with distance from its center. See also: farsi→ Keplerian rotation curve

Rotation; → curve.

The → kinetic energy of rotational motion of an object. It is expressed by E_R = (1/2)Iω², where I is the → moment of inertia and ω → angular velocity (2π/P).

→ rotation; → energy.

1) The number of rotations per unit time of a rotating object.
2) The number of → stellar rotations per unit time. The reciprocal of the → rotation period. This parameter usually refers to the equator of the star, because stars do not rotate as solid bodies.

→ rotation; → frequency.