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

The scientific attempt to detect → intelligent extraterrestrial → life by surveying the sky to find the existence of → transmissions, especially → radio waves or → light, from a → civilization on a distant → planet. The SETI Institute, that carries out the project, is a private non-profit center founded in 1984. There are many methods that SETI scientific teams use to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Many of these search billions of radio frequencies that reach Earth from all over the → Universe, looking for an intelligent → radio signal. Other SETI teams search by looking for signals in pulses of light emanating from the stars.

→ search; → extraterrestrial; → intelligence.

The hard shell of a marine mollusk.

→ sea; → shell.

Sadaf, loan from Ar. Kelâcak from Tabari, variant kelâcin, cf. Gilaki guš kuli. The component kel-, kul might be related to PIE *qarq- "to be hard," → crab.

One of the four periods of the year astronomically defined by the position of the Sun with respect to the equator. As a result of the obliquity of the ecliptic, the angular distance between the Sun and the equator varies in the course of the year. This circumstance gives rise to seasons. The current lengths of the astronomical seasons, around the year 2000, are about: spring 92.76 days, summer 93.65 days, autumn 89.84 days, and winter 88.99 days. The seasons are unequal because the Earth's orbit is slightly elliptical and the Sun is not exactly at the center of the orbit. Moreover, the Earth moves faster when it is close to the Sun than when it is farther away, so the seasons that occur when the Earth is close to the Sun pass more quickly.

M.E. sesoun, seson, from O.Fr. seison "a sowing, planting," from L. sationem (nominative satio) "a sowing," from p.p. stem of serere "to scatter seed over land."

Fasl, from Ar. faSl "cutting, dividing; section."

1) Geometry: A straight line that intersects a curve in two or more points.
2) Trigonometry: For an → acute angle of a → right triangle, the function defined as the ratio of the → hypotenuse to the adjacent side. For any angle, the function defined as the ratio of the → radius vector to the → abscissa. Abbreviation sec.

From L. secant-, stem of secans, pr.p. of secare "to cut," → section.

1) Sekanjân, agent noun from sekanjidan "to shave, cut, scape," cognate with šekastan "to break," → section.
2) Sekânt, loan from Fr.

A pioneering work in → spectral classification conducted in the 1860s. Secchi divided stars into four main groups based on the visual observation of spectra. Class I: The white and bluish stars with a continuous spectrum crossed by hydrogen bands, the metallic bands being absent or weak. Examples, → Sirius, → Vega. Class II: Yellow stars, with spectra in which the hydrogen bands were less prominent and the metallic lines more strong. Examples, Sun, → Capella. Class III: Red or orange stars, showing bands or flutings. Examples, → Antares, → Betelgeuse. Class IV: Red stars, showing bands similar to Class III, but with the sharp edge of the flutings toward the other end of the spectrum. Secchi's scheme was superseded by the photographic → Harvard classification system.

Pietro Angelo Secchi (1818-1878), Italian astronomer and Jesuit priest; → classification.

1) Next after the first in place, time, or value.
2) The unit of time in the → International System of Units; symbol s. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the cesium frequency Δν_Cs, the unperturbed → ground state  → hyperfine transition  → frequency of the → cesium-133 atom, to be 9 192 631 770 when expressed in the unit → hertz (Hz), which is equal to s^-1.

M.E., from O.Fr. second, from L. secundus "following, next in order," from root of sequi "to follow;" PIE base *sek^w- "to follow;" cf. Pers. az from; Mid.Pers. hac "from;" Av. hac-, hax- "to follow," hacaiti "follows" (O.Pers. hacā "from;" Av. hacā "from, out of;" Skt. sácā "with"); Skt. sácate "accompanies, follows;" Gk. hepesthai "to follow;" Lith. seku "to follow."

1) Dovom, dovomin "ordinal number of do, two" (Mid.Pers. do; Av. dva-; cf. Skt. dvi-; Gk. duo; L. duo; (Fr. deux; E. two; Ger. zwei).
2) Sâniyé, from Ar. sâniyat (feminine) "second."

Math: In calculus, limiting an equation to its → second derivative, for example: e^x≅ 1 + x + x²/2. Also called linear approximation. → first approximation.

→ second; → approximation.

An early evolutionary period in the process of star formation which succeeds the → first collapse. When the mass of the → first core has increased by about a factor 2 and the radius has decreased by a similar factor, the central temperature of the core reaches about 2000 K. At this point the → molecular hydrogen begins to dissociate into atoms. This reduces the → adiabatic index (γ) below the critical value 4/3, with the result that the material at the center of the core becomes unstable and begins to collapse. Most of the gravitational energy generated by this collapse goes into the → dissociation of H₂ molecules, so that the temperature rises only slowly with increasing density. In this second collapse phase, as in the first, the density distribution in the collapsing region becomes more and more sharply peaked at center, and the time scale becomes shorter and shorter with increasing central density. The central collapse of the core continues until the hydrogen molecules are nearly all dissociated and γ again rises above 4/3. The central pressure then rises rapidly and once again becomes sufficient to decelerate and stop the collapse at the center. A small core in the → hydrostatic equilibrium then arises, bounded by a shock front in which the surrounding infalling material is suddenly stopped. The initial mass and radius of the second core are about 3 x 10³⁰ g (1.5 x 10^-3M_sun) and 9 x 10¹⁰ cm (1.3 R_sun) respectively, and the central density and temperature are about 2 x 10^-2 g cm^-3 and 2 x 10⁴ K, respectively. The second core will evolve into a → young stellar object (R. B. Larson, 1969, MNRAS 145, 271).

→ second; → collapse.

The beginning of the total phase of a solar eclipse when the leading edge of the Moon touches the eastern edge of the Sun completely obscuring the Sun.

→ second; → contact.

A hydrostatic object predicted to result from the → second collapse of a → molecular cloud in an early stage of star formation.

→ second; → core.

In → calculus, the → derivative of a → first derivative. It is usually written as f''(x), d²y/d²x, or y''.

→ second; → derivative.

A method, used in → calculus, for determining whether a given → stationary point of a → function is a → local minimum or → local maximum.

→ second; → derivative; → test.

A → dredge-up process that occurs after core helium burning, in which the convective envelope penetrates much more deeply, pushing hydrogen burning shell into close proximity with the helium burning shell (→ first dredge-up). This arrangement is unstable and leads to burning pulses. The reason is that the hydrogen shell burns out until there is enough helium for the helium combustion to occur and all the helium is rapidly burnt. Afterward the hydrogen shell again burns outward and the process repeats.

→ second; → dredge-up.

A star whose formation is induced by an older star itself formed previously in the same region. See also → stimulated star formation, → sequential star formation, → triggered star formation.

→ second; → generation; → star.

The surface area of a black hole's horizon can never decrease.

→ second; → law; → black hole; → mechanics.

1) Heat cannot be transferred from a colder to a hotter body without some other effect, i.e. without → work being done. Expressed in terms of → entropy: the entropy of an → isolated system tends toward a maximum and its available energy tends toward a minimum.
2) In language of → statistical physics, an isolated physical system will tend toward an equilibrium → macrostate with as large a total → entropy as possible, because then the number of → microstates is the largest. See also → Kelvin's postulate, → Clausius's postulate.

→ second; → law; → thermodynamics.

In quantum mechanics, the quantization of the field that replaces potential in Newtonian mechanics, whereby the field variables become operators from which the creation (of particle) operators and destruction operators can be constructed.

→ second; → quantization.

An n extension of → first-order logic that quantifies not only → variables that range over → individuals, but also quantifies over → relations.

→ second; → order; → predicate; → logic.

1) Derived or derivative; not primary or original.
2) Belonging or pertaining to a second order, division, stage, period, rank, grade, etc.
3) → secondary body.
See also:
→ secondary atmosphere, → secondary calibrator, → secondary cell, → secondary cosmic rays, → secondary crater, → secondary eclipse, → secondary electrons, → secondary emission, → secondary mirror, → secondary star.

From → second + -ary a suffix occurring on adjectives (elementary; honorary; stationary) and nouns denoting objects, especially receptacles or places (library; rosary; glossary).

Dovomân, from dovom, → second.

An atmosphere of a planet that forms after primordial gases had been lost or had failed to accumulate. A secondary atmosphere develops from internal volcanic outgassing, or by accumulation of material from comet impacts. It is characteristic of terrestrial planets, such as Earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. → primordial atmosphere.

→ secondary; → atmosphere.