Einstein cross

Einstein cross (plural Einstein crosses)

From Einstein (“Albert Einstein”) + cross. From the shape of a cross, of four points at roughly square angles around a central object, caused by distortions in the path of light's travel due to Einsteinian relativity (Albert Einstein's general relativity) creating four points out of a single light source behind the off-center central object. (An on-center central object results in an Einstein ring.).

gloss

(astronomy, physics) A gravitational lens configuration resulting in four duplicated images of the back ground image around the central gravitationally lensing object, in a cross configuration.

Einstein Cross

the first discovered gravitationally-lensed quasar in this configuration


Einstein Cross

gravitational lensing
gravitational lensing

(astronomy) A quadruply replicated image of a quasar, in the configuration of a cross, surrounding a central foreground galaxy which caused the replication through gravitational lensing.


elephant trunk

However, the behaviour of the molecular emission in elephant trunks and cometary globules clearly indicated the presence of neighbouring massive stars […]

2012, Charles J. Lada, N.D. Kylafis, The Physics of Star Formation and Early Stellar Evolution, page 314:

(astronomy) An extended pillar-like mass of interstellar gas and dust found near a massive star.


Hill sphere

Defined by the American astronomer George William Hill.

(astronomy) The region in which a given astronomical body dominates the attraction of satellites.


instellation

(astronomy) A generalization of insolation to stars other than the sun.


Laniakea

Translingual: Laniakea

From Hawaiian lani (“heaven”) + ākea (“spacious, immeasurable”).

compound

(astronomy) A supercluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way.


radioloud

a radioloud neutron star


gravitational keyhole

en-noun

gravitational keyhole (plural gravitational keyholes)

(astronomy) A tiny region of space where a planet's gravity would alter the orbit of a passing asteroid such that the asteroid would collide with that planet on a given future orbital pass.


ultra-diffuse

en-adj

ultra-diffuse (comparative more ultra-diffuse, superlative most ultra-diffuse)

more ultra-diffuse (comparative)
most ultra-diffuse (superlative)

In the next sections we study the properties of galaxies that satisfy our criteria to be ultra diffuse, and consider the contribution from galaxies in the fore- and background using the CFHTLS fields.

2016, Van der Burg, Muzzin & Hoekstra, ‘The abundance and spatial distribution of ultra-diffuse galaxies in nearby galaxy clusters’, Astronomy & Astrophysics

The galaxy, called NGC1052-DF2, is about 65 million light years away. It is almost as big as the Milky Way but is “ultra-diffuse,” meaning it contains just a vanishing fraction of the stars found in our galaxy—only 1 percent, in this case.

2018 March 28, Rebecca Boyle, Scientific American:

(astronomy) Specifically, designating a type of galaxy with a very low proportion of visible stars compared to the Milky Way, and hence a very low luminosity.


A&A

1. Aoki, W., Tsuji, T., and Ohnaka, K. A&A, 333, L19, 1998.
2. Aoki, W., Tsuji, T., and Ohnaka, K. A&A, 350, 945, 1999.
[…]
4. Bachiller, R., Forveille, T., Huggins, P. J., and Cox, P. A&A, 324, 1123, 1997.

2004, Harm J. Habing, Hans Olofsson, editors, Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars, Springer, →ISBN, page &pg=PA402&dq=%22A%26A%22 402:

Astronomy and Astrophysics
w:Astronomy and Astrophysics

(astronomy, astrophysics) Initialism of Astronomy and Astrophysics: a scientific journal founded in 1969, covering theoretical, observational, and instrumental astronomy and astrophysics.


Barlow lens

Named after British mathematician and physicist Peter Barlow (1776–1862).

(optics, astronomy) A diverging lens which, used in series with other optics in an optical system, increases the effective focal length of an optical system as perceived by all components that are after it in the system.

Barlow lens
Peter Barlow (mathematician)


AURA

w:Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy

(astronomy) Acronym of Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.


CGB

(uncountable, astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics) Abbreviation of cosmic gravitational-wave background.


Dorothy Crater

Named after the fictional character Dorothy Gale, from L. Frank Baum's Oz.

(geology, astronomy) An impact feature on Charon, the moon or binary companion of the dwarf planet Pluto.


Nasreddin Crater

Named after the folk character from Middle Eastern folktales. The folk character is modelled on the satirical sufi Nasreddin Hodja.

(geology, astronomy) A crater (impact feature) on Charon, the moon or binary companion of the dwarf planet Pluto.


Nemo Crater

From Nemo + crater. Named after the fictional character Captain Nemo, created by Jules Verne, most famously featured in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870).

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
en:Captain Nemo
en:Jules Verne


Pirx Crater

From Pirx + crater. Named after the fictional character Pilot Pirx (Pirx the Pilot), created by Stanislaw Lem.


Sadko Crater

From Sadko + crater. Named after the mythic character Sadko (Садко (Sadko)) from a Russian epic poem (a bylina (были́на (bylína)), who journeys to the bottom of the sea.

gloss

были́на (bylína)


Revati Crater

From Revati + crater. Named after the mythological character Revati, from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata (महाभारतम् (mahābhāratam)).


light hour

(astronomy, physics) A unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one hour


pseudocoronal

(astronomy, mathematics, organic chemistry) Relating to a pseudocorona


stripped-envelope supernova

en-noun

stripped-envelope supernova (plural stripped-envelope supernovae)

(astronomy) A supernova whose spectrum lacks, or is highly deficient in, hydrogen lines, and where the star has already blown away its outer hydrogen envelope, having exposed the lower enveloping helium layer, prior to the explosion.


classical planet

classical planet (plural classical planets)

(astrology, astronomy) The seven non-fixed astronomical objects in the sky, as opposed to the fixed stars.


month of consecution

month of consecution (plural months of consecution)

(astronomy) A month as reckoned from one conjunction of the moon with the sun to another.


diffraction limit

diffraction limit (plural diffraction limits)

For telescopes with circular apertures, the size of the smallest feature in an image that is diffraction limited is the size of the Airy disk. As one decreases the size of the aperture in a lens, diffraction increases. At small apertures, such as f/22, most modern lenses are limited only by diffraction.

(astronomy, telescopy) The minimum angular separation of two sources that can be distinguished by a telescope (depending on the wavelength of the light being observed and the diameter of the telescope).


FELT

(astronomy) Acronym of fast-evolving luminous transient. (a type of supernova)


fast-evolving luminous transient

fast-evolving luminous transient (plural fast-evolving luminous transients)

fast-evolving luminous transients (plural)

(astronomy) A type of weak supernova whose luminous shell cools quickly and within days goes dark


aberration of light

(astronomy) A phenomenon that produces an apparent motion of celestial objects about their true positions, dependent on the velocity of the observer.


graduction

(astronomy) The division of circular arcs into degrees, minutes, etc.


solar maculation

The idea that solar maculation depends in some way upon the position of the planets occurred to Galileo in 1612.

1885, Agnes M. Clerke, chapter 2, in A Popular History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century, Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, page 208:


Bernoulli

(astronomy) 2034 Bernoulli, a main belt asteroid.

(astronomy) An impact crater located in the northeast part of the Moon.


red nugget galaxy

red nugget galaxy (plural red nugget galaxies)

From red + nugget + galaxy.
From the highly red colouration of the galaxies, and high density and compactness, like a dense gold nugget.

(astronomy) A type of passive, massive and compact elliptical galaxy, that has been little changed over many billions of years, having little internal activity, little to no interaction with other galaxies, little to no new star formation in billions of years. The galaxies typically are many times more massive, and many times smaller, than our Milky Way Galaxy. The redness grows as stars age, which as a population, become redder with time.


RAAN

(astronomy) Initialism of right ascension of the ascending node.


Great Attractor

(astronomy) A region of gravitational attraction in intergalactic space and the apparent central gravitational point of the Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies.


PPD

PPD (countable and uncountable, plural PPDs)

Coordinate term: CPD

protoplanetary disc
protoplanetary disc#English

(astronomy, countable) proplyd; Abbreviation of protoplanetary disc.


Valetudo

(astronomy) One of the moons of the planet Jupiter.


quasi-satellite

(astronomy) An object in a specific type of coorbital configuration (1:1 orbital resonance) with a planet, causing it to stay close to the planet over many orbital periods, despite not being a true satellite.


counterarm

On the far side of the larger galaxy a counterarm sometimes sprouts out.

1978, Simon Mitton, Exploring the Galaxies, →ISBN, page 103:

The deformations are triggered after the passage to perigalacticon: the two spiral arms generated are not symmetric and are distinguished by a bridge linking the two galaxies and a counterarm at the opposite side.

2004, Francoise Combes, Patrick Boissé, Alain Mazure, Galaxies and Cosmology, →ISBN, page 187:

The very long straight tail of one is interpreted as a counterarm of one galaxy seen edge-on with the counterarm of the other galaxy seen closer to face-on as more obviously arched.

2012, F.D. Kahn, Investigating the Universe, →ISBN:

(astronomy) A galactic arm on the far side of a galaxy that is colliding with another galaxy.


moonmoon

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-moonmoon.wav

Sarah Laskow at Atlas Obscura explains that moonmoon is catching on because there’s something pleasing about “recursive places,” like islands within islands, volcanoes within volcanoes and rivers running through a sea.

2018 October 11, Jason Daley, “If a Moon Has a Moon, Is Its Moon Called a Moonmoon?”, in Smithsonian:

(astronomy, Internet slang) A moon that orbits a larger moon.


phase angle

(astronomy) Angle between incident light and reflected light.


radiomorphology

(astronomy) The morphology of radio stars (and similar radio sources)


head

my very easy method just speeds up naming planets

my very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins#English

(astronomy) Synonym of my very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins


ringshine

The spacecraft photographed the planet's sunlit crescent, the ring shadows falling on the planet, and Saturn's dark hemisphere illuminated by "ringshine."

1980, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Voyager 1 encounters Saturn, page 33:

One, the ``dragon storm, is shown in Figure 5.28 (see color section), while another example, on Saturn's night side, but illuminated by ``ringshine (i.e., light reflected from Saturn's rings) is shown in Figure 5.29.

2009, Patrick Irwin, Giant Planets of Our Solar System, →ISBN, page 197:

Elephant juddered briefly, making the insertion burn, and then they were racing around the dark side of Saturn, faintly illuminated by the ghost light of ringshine.

2009, Paul McAuley, Gardens of the Sun, →ISBN:

(astronomy) Sunlight that is reflected from the ring around a planet (such as the one around Saturn), visible on the night side of the planet.


Ismene

(astronomy) The main belt asteroid 190 Ismene.


Furud

(astronomy) Zeta Canis Majoris, a binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major.


Ultima Thule

From ultima Thule (“furthest place; a place beyond the known world”).
The object was first observed in 2014 and announced later that year as a potential target for NASA's New Horizons probe. In March 2018, after inviting suggestions from the public, NASA selected Ultima Thule as its nickname. Once it was determined that the body was a bilobate contact binary, the New Horizons team began calling the larger lobe Ultima and the smaller Thule.

With substantial public input, the team has chosen “Ultima Thule” (pronounced ultima thoo-lee”) for the Kuiper Belt object the New Horizons spacecraft will explore on Jan. 1, 2019.

2018 March 13, “New Horizons Chooses Nickname for ‘Ultimate’ Flyby Target”, in NASA:

Since NASA’s New Horizons mission left its rendezvous with the dwarf planet Pluto in late 2015, it has been preparing for another close encounter, with cold classical Kuiper belt object (CCKBO) 2014 MU₆₉, also known as Ultima Thule

2018 September 24, Paul Wood, “Preparing to meet Ultima Thule”, in Nature Astronomy:

Flyby images of (486958) Arrokoth (Ultima Thule, 2014 MU₆₉) show a comparatively bright "necklace" in the neck, or cleft between its two lobes, in contrast to its generally low albedo.

2020 May 8, J. I. Katz, S. Wang, “Arrokoth's Necklace”, in arXiv:

trans-Neptunian object
trans-Neptunian object

(astronomy, informal) Synonym of Arrokoth (“trans-Neptunian object (486958) 2014 MU69”)

Ultima

the larger lobe of the Ultima Thule contact binary

Thule

the smaller lobe of the Ultima Thule contact binary


TOI

en-noun

TOI (countable and uncountable, plural TOIs)

Coordinate term: KOI

(astronomy) Abbreviation of TESS object of interest.


tertiary planet

tertiary planet (plural tertiary planets)

(archaic, astronomy) A planet of the third-degree/third-order. The planet of a planet (secondary planet) of a planet (primary planet). An object (moonmoon) which orbits an object (moon) which orbits an object (planet) which orbits a star.


ELAN

enormous Lyman-alpha nebula
enormous Lyman-alpha nebula#English

(astronomy) Acronym of enormous Lyman-alpha nebula.


enormous Lyman-alpha nebula

enormous Lyman-alpha nebula (plural enormous Lyman-alpha nebulas)

From enormous + Lyman alpha + nebula.
From being a nebula with Lyman-alpha emissions that is larger than galaxies.

(astronomy) A large gas cloud (nebula) larger than galaxies, found in intergalactic space, which radiates with an emission spectrum containing 2.47 THz lines (Lyman-alpha lines).


periodic inequality

periodic inequality (plural periodic inequalities)

(astronomy) A disturbance in the motion of a planet due to its position in its orbit relative to another planet.


rayburst

(astronomy) A burst of high-energy radiation (such as gamma rays)


great conjunction

great conjunction (plural great conjunctions)

(astronomy) A conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn.


grand conjunction

grand conjunction (plural grand conjunctions)

(astronomy) A conjunction where several planets or stars are found together.


Alpherat

(astronomy) Alternative spelling of Alpheratz.


hour circle

(astronomy) The great circle through an object whose location is to be determined and the two celestial poles.


Marchab

(astronomy) Alternative spelling of Markab.


Homam

[Homam seems to have been first given to this in the Palermo Catalogue, from Sa'd al Humām, the Lucky Star of the Hero, in which Ulug Beg included ξ; other lists have Homan. But Hyde said that the original was Al Hammām, the Whisperer.]

1899, Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-Names and Their Meanings, New York: G. E. Stechert, page 327:

(astronomy) A slowly pulsating third-magnitude blue-white main-sequence star in the northern constellation of Pegasus.


phantom energy

Coined by physicist Robert R. Caldwell in 1998, in reference to the Star Wars movie "The Phantom Menace", in his paper "A Phantom Menace? Cosmological consequences of a dark energy component with super-negative equation of state" referring to the phantom energy menace that would lead to the Big Rip.

tooltip

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace

(cosmology, astrophysics, astronomy, physics) A category of dark energy, where dark energy is not fixed in amount nor in density, and continuously increases over time.

Big Rip

destruction of the Universe caused by ever increasing dark energy (ie. phantom energy)

cosmological constant

a category of dark energy, where dark energy is constant in density


AdS

(physics, mathematics, cosmology) Initialism of anti de Sitter.


PNN

PNNs (plural)
PNNe (plural)
PNNi (plural)

planetary nebula nucleus
planetary nebula nucleus#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of planetary nebula nucleus.


planetary nebula nucleus

en-noun

planetary nebula nucleus (plural planetary nebula nuclei)

(astronomy) The remnant hot luminous core of the stellar progenitor of the planetary nebula, which ionizes the surrounding planetary nebula.


cis-Neptunian

From cis- + Neptunian; compare trans-Neptunian.

Within the orbit of Neptune, cis-Neptunian bodies include the terrestrial and large gaseous planets, along with a variety of minor bodies: planetary moons, asteroids, and comets.

2018, Michael Perryman, The Exoplanet Handbook, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 684:

(astronomy) Relating to an astronomical body found within the orbit of Neptune.


coronal rain

From corona + rain.
From being asterospheric coronal meteorological precipitation which occur in a star's corona.

(astronomy) Cooled globs of condensed plasma that falls back onto a star's surface, after having been superheated and lofted into the corona.


error box

(astronomy) A notional box bounding some region of space in which a celestial object is known to exist; its size depends on how accurately the true location is known.


phasecal

(radio astronomy, attributive) A system that injects a frequency comb signal in order to disambiguate phase in multiple basebands downconverted from the input signal.


Jovial

/ˈd͡ʒəʊ.vɪ.əl/

(astronomy, obsolete) Pertaining to the planet Jupiter; Jovian.


main belt

Coordinate term: Kuiper belt

Dr. Witt suspected a highly eccentric orbit, enabling this asteroid to travel outside the main belt. He found that the majority of the asteroid's orbit was within that of Mars and named it Eros.

2002, Edward C. Blair, Asteroids: Overview, Abstracts, and Bibliography, Nova Publishers, →ISBN, page 15:

Such collisions may be the mechanism that sends fragments across the asteroid belt toward Earth and the terrestrial planets. If they survive passage through the main belt they may eventually establish elliptical orbits among the inner planets.

2008, O. Richard Norton, Lawrence Chitwood, Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 28:

asteroid belt

(astronomy) Synonym of asteroid belt; the main asteroid belt in the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.


neros

From Ancient Greek νῆρος (nêros), from Akkadian 𒐞 (nēr).

(astronomy, archaic, rare) One sixth of a saros, or about three years.


Bortle scale

Named after John E. Bortle, who created the scale.

(astronomy) A nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky's brightness of a particular location.


quasi-planet

I am not so sure that in order to make a comet a quasi-planet, and as such to deck it out in the attributes of other planets, it is sufficient for Sarsi or his teacher to regard it as one and so name it. If heir opinions and their voices have the power of calling into existence the things they name, then I beg them to do me the favor of naming a lot of the old hardware I have about my house, "gold." But, names aside, what attribute induced them to regard the comet as a quasi-planet for a time?

1957, [1623], Stillman Drake, Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, page 253:

Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, has a dense N₂–CH₄ atmosphere rich in organic compounds. ... This quasi planet appears as a natural laboratory to study chemical evolution toward organic systems in a planetary environment

1992, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, volume 45, page 257:

the tidal theory assumes that the Earth was first a gas, then a liquid, and that the quasi-planet finally cooled enough to develop a solid crust.

2004, The New Book of Popular Science: Earth sciences, energy, environmental sciences, Grolier, page 11:

the hotel exterior is ringed by a giant neon solar system. Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and that goofy little outer quasi-planet, Pluto, shine luminescent red, blue, green, pink, white, and yellow.

2007, Carole Douglas, Cat in a Quicksilver Caper, page 46:

Pluto is the same guy in Roman myths. That's why the dark, distant quasi planet in our solar system bears his name.

2011, William Lazarus, Mark Sullivan, Comparative Religion For Dummies, Penguin, published 2013, page 287:

what might Pluto sound like? ... we will have to wait a little longer until scientists can do the same with the littlest quasi-planet in our solar system, or the biggest rock in the Kuiper belt, however you choose to define it.

2015 July 15, Tom Service, “Sounds of the solar system: probing Pluto's predicted score”, in The Guardian:

(astronomy) a body comparable to a planet, but not a planet, such as a dwarf planet or a planetary-mass moon


fill-out

Тheoretical amplitudes of primary minima Аmₛ (transits) versus the mass-ratio for different inclinations and fill-outs.

1972, Acta Astronomica - Volumes 22-23, page 108:

The stars TZ Boo and Y Sex do not have their fill-outs well determined.

(astronomy) The amount by which a star in a binary system extends beyond its Roche lobe.


sossos

From Ancient Greek σῶσσος (sôssos), from Akkadian 𒋗𒅆 (šu-ši /šūš/, “a unit of sixty”).

der

(astronomy, archaic, rare) One tenth of a neros and one sixtieth of a saros – about 110 days.


kly

(astronomy) Abbreviation of kilolightyear.


ploonet

Blend of planet + moon.
Coined in 2019 by the research team of Mario Sucerquia, Jaime A Alvarado-Montes, Jorge I Zuluaga, Nicolás Cuello, Cristian Giuppone (see quotations below).

This paper explores the scenario where large regular exomoons escape after tidal interchange of angular momentum with its parent planet, becoming small planets by themselves. We name this hypothetical type of object a ploonet.

2019, Mario Sucerquia, Jaime A Alvarado-Montes, Jorge I Zuluaga, Nicolás Cuello, Cristian Giuppone, “Ploonets: formation, evolution, and detectability of tidally detached exomoons”, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, volume 489, number 2, page 2313:

The researchers, who used simulations to explain the same, found that the simulated Ploonets were quite short-lived, crashing into the star or their parent planet in 0.5-1 million years.

2020, Varsha M, “Ploonets: Runaway Moons”, in Waves, archived from the original on 2020-06-06, page 2:

For now, such leftover debris fields may be the best chance for astronomers to infer the existence of ploonets. After all, even if astronomers detect a runaway ploonet orbiting its host star, it would be hard to distinguish it from normal planets.

2021 April, Randall Hyman, “The galaxy's marvelous rogues and misfits”, in Astronomy, page 22:

(astronomy, sciences, neologism) A theoretical planetary body that formed as a moon orbiting a planet, but which has become tidally detached, so that it enters orbit about its star, separated from its parent planet.

brown subdwarf

a planetary mass object which forms in the manner of a star

sub-brown dwarf

a planetary mass object which is not part of a star system, wandering interstellar space without a star

rogue planet

a planet that has been ejected from its star system, to wander interstellar space without a star

dwarf planet

a planetary mass object whose orbit about a star is strewn with comparable or larger mass objects

moonlet

a small moon, shepherding ring debris to keep a planetary ring in shape, as part of the ring


red geyser

From red + geyser.
Coined in 2016 by the research team at the SDSS-MaNGA Survey; from being a red galaxy with a galactic nucleus fountaining in its center.

active galactic nucleus
active galactic nucleus

(astronomy) A galaxy which has stopped star formation due to the energetic winds spewing forth from the active galactic nucleus, heating and disrupting gas accumulation and collapse to form new stars, resulting in a population of aging reddening stars.


submillimeter galaxy

en-noun

submillimeter galaxy (plural submillimeter galaxies)

From submillimeter + galaxy.
From being a high-redshift galaxy whose emissions are primarily submillimetre-wave radiation (terahertz-radiation (T-wave/T-ray); electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than infrared and shorter than microwave/radiowave).

(astronomy) A type of starburst galaxy that primarily emits radiation in the sub-mm/T-hertz range. Due to the extreme dustiness of the galaxy, they are visible mostly in infrared emissions at their redshift, which are subsequently redshifted into the submm/THz range by Hubble expansion.

compact elliptical galaxy

the type of galaxy that submillimeter galaxies evolve into, at lower redshifts (z)


light equation

(astronomy) The time which light takes to traverse the mean distance of the Earth from the Sun.


Northern Ladle

(astronomy, especially Asia) A bright circumpolar asterism of the northern sky, said to resemble a ladle. It is part of the constellation Ursa Major and includes the stars Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Dubhe, Merak, and Phecda.


Drinking Gourd

(astronomy, obsolete, especially US) A bright circumpolar asterism of the northern sky. It is part of the constellation Ursa Major and includes the stars Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Dubhe, Merak, and Phecda.


CGM

CGM (countable and uncountable, plural CGMs)

circumgalactic medium
circumgalactic medium#English

(countable, astronomy) Initialism of circumgalactic medium.


circumgalactic medium

circumgalactic medium (countable and uncountable, plural circumgalactic mediums or circumgalactic media)

circumgalactic mediums (plural)
circumgalactic media (plural)

interstellar medium
interstellar medium#English

(astronomy, plasma physics) The gas and plasma in the region surrounding a galaxy, beyond the galactic disc or ovoid, or interstellar medium (ISM), but within the galaxy's virial radius.


Lacaille

en-proper-noun

Lacaille (countable and uncountable, plural Lacailles)

(uncountable, astrocartography) The star catalogue compiled by Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille


Eta Carinae

(astronomy) A stellar system in the constellation of Carina.


Apohele asteroid

en-noun

Apohele asteroid (plural Apohele asteroids)

From Hawaiian apohele (“orbit”) + asteroid.

(astronomy) An asteroid whose orbit lies completely within the orbit of the Earth.


red clump

Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

(astronomy) A group of red giants that cluster together on a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, usually in reference to those around 5000 Kelvin and absolute magnitude +0.5.


posigrade

en-adj

posigrade (comparative more posigrade, superlative most posigrade)

more posigrade (comparative)
most posigrade (superlative)

(astronomy, astronautics) Synonym of prograde.


Massalia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Μασσαλία (Massalía).


Big Freeze

heat death of the universe
heat death of the universe#English

(cosmology) Synonym of heat death of the universe.


cluster variable

en-noun

cluster variable (plural cluster variables)

This period, which is exceptionally long for a cluster variable, satisfies the observations fairly well except in a few cases.

1902, Solon Irving Bailey, A Discussion of Variable Stars in the Cluster [omega] Centauri:

It is a good example of a cluster variable having a large range of variations, a short period, and extremely rapid increase and decrease in light.

1913, Solon Irving Bailey, Variable Stars in the Cluster Messier 3, page 160:

Nearly all of the variable stars found in the other globular clusters had the same characteristics as those found in Omega Centauri. It was five years before a cluster variable was found outside of a globular cluster.

There are some thirty classical Cepheids, and a few irregular variables, in the globular clusters among the stars brighter than the typical cluster variable.

(astronomy) an RR Lyrae variable; a type of variable star commonly (but not exclusively) found in globular clusters


FBOT

fast blue optical transient
fast blue optical transient#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of fast blue optical transient.


fast blue optical transient

fast blue optical transient (plural fast blue optical transients)

(astronomy) a very short duration bright flash in the visible spectrum; thought to be caused by a type of supernova


ULX

ultra-luminous X-ray
ultra-luminous X-ray#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of ultra-luminous X-ray. (the individual X-rays are not ultraluminous)


ULX

ultraluminous X-ray pulsar
ultraluminous X-ray pulsar#English

(astronomy) Ellipsis of ultraluminous X-ray pulsar (“ULX pulsar”).

ultraluminous X-ray source
ultraluminous X-ray source#English

(astronomy) Ellipsis of ultraluminous X-ray source (“ULX source”).


NULX

ultra-luminous X-ray source
ultra-luminous X-ray source#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of number of ultra-luminous X-ray sources. a count of ULX sources within a galaxy


NBH

(astronomy, physics) Abbreviation of non-black hole. (any theoretical alternative to black holes)

non-black hole

(astronomy) Initialism of number of black holes. a count of black holes withing a given region (such as a galaxy)


StMBH

stellar-mass black hole
w:stellar-mass black hole

(astronomy) Abbreviation of stellar-mass black hole.


SBH

stellar black hole
stellar black hole#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of stellar black hole (“collapsar”).

supermassive black hole
supermassive black hole#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of supermassive black hole.


MBH

massive black hole
massive black hole#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of massive black hole (“supercollapsar”).


Vanth

From Etruscan [script needed] (vanθ). The moon was named after the goddess in an online voting in 2009, the name Vanth was first suggested by American writer Sonya Taaffe.

(astronomy) The single known natural satellite of the plutino and likely dwarf planet Orcus.


CPD

CPD (countable and uncountable, plural CPDs)

Coordinate term: PPD

circumplanetary disk
circumplanetary disk#English

(astronomy, countable) Abbreviation of circumplanetary disk.


Encke

en-proper-noun

Encke (countable and uncountable, plural Enckes)

(astronomy) Johann Franz Encke, a German astronomer, who discovered the Encke Gap in the Rings of Saturn.


great comet

When the next great comet will appear no one can say. In the interim, however, there will be plenty of lesser objects to observe.

1999, Neil Bone, Observing Meteors, Comets, Supernovae and other Transient Phenomena, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN:

(astronomy) A period of cometary activity when the comet becomes exceptionally bright.

Great Comet of 2007

Comet McNaught passage of 2007; first great comet of 21st century

Great Comet of 1996

Comet Hyakutake passage of 1996; first great comet in two decades

Great Comet of 1976

Comet West passage of 1976; brightest comet in half-a-century

1910 Halley's Comet

Halley's Comet passage of 1910; second great comet of 1910


masering

(astronomy) The generation of microwaves by the maser method.


Lacc

(astronomy) Abbreviation of accretion luminosity.


BOAT

(astronomy, informal) Acronym of brightest of all time (“the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded in the universe”).


Eskimo Nebula

From looking like the fur-lined hood of an Inuit (“Eskimo”) animal skin parka, while being worn.

Milky Way Galaxy
Milky Way Galaxy#English

(astronomy) A planetary nebula in Gemini, Milky Way Galaxy


Siamese Twins

From being a pair of galaxies that are similar in appearance and appearing conjoined, analogous to a pair of Siamese twins.

(astronomy) A galaxy pair in Virgo, Virgo Cluster


Lyman-alpha forest

(astronomy) A series of absorption lines in the spectra of distant galaxies and quasars, arising from the Lyman-alpha electron transition of the neutral hydrogen atom.


Megrez

(astronomy) Delta Ursae Majoris, a star in the constellation of Ursa Major and part of the Plough.


Fermi bubble

First observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.

supermassive black hole
supermassive black hole

(astronomy) A region of the galaxy, rich in gamma rays, thought to be caused by the central supermassive black hole.


frEGG

These results support our hypothesis that frEGGs are density concentrations originating in giant molecular clouds, that, when subject to the compression by the strong winds and ionization from massive stars in these MSFRs, become active star-forming cores.

2014, Raghvendra Sahai, Mark R. Morris, Mark J Claussen, Shocked and Scorched - Free-Floating Evaporating Gas Globules and Star Formation:

(astronomy) A free-floating evaporating gaseous globule; a relatively concentrated mass of gas in a star-forming region


hyperflare

Such hyperflares may be the result of phase transitions from neutron matter to hyperon or strange-quark matter in hyperstars.

2005, Arnon Dar, Hyperstars - Main Origin of Short Gamma Ray Bursts?, page 8:

We report an analysis of archival RXTE data from the 2004 December hyperflare from SGR 1806-20.

2006, Tod E. Strohmeyer, Anna L. Watts, The 2004 Hyperflare from SGR 1806-20: Further Evidence for Global Torsional Vibrations, page 1:

For hyperflare events occurring at the time of advanced detector operation, the observable GW energetics at 100 Hz would be close to to 10⁻³⁶J, leading to stringent constraints on the magnetar model.

2014, Advanced Interferometers and the Search for Gravitational Waves: Lectures from the First VESF School on Advanced Detectors for Gravitational Waves, Springer International Publishing, →ISBN, page 41:

This seems very plausible, as statistical and energetic considerations allow one to explain basic properties of FRBs with transformation of a tiny fraction (~10⁻⁵) of the magnetar hyperflare (~10⁻⁴⁴ -10⁻⁴⁶ erg) into a short radio burst.

2019, Particle Physics At The Silver Jubilee of Lomonosov Conferences - Proceedings of The Eighteenth Lomonosov Conference On Elementary Particle Physics, World Scientific Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 294:

(astronomy, very rare) An extraordinarily powerful, massive flare, usually produced by a magnetar.


Pup

Capitalization of pup. From pups being small dogs. From being a small star next to the Dog Star.

Alpha Canis Majoris
Alpha Canis Majoris#English

(astronomy, informal) A white dwarf star, the secondary star in the binary star system Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris.


hypergalaxy

This system we call the Hypergalaxy or second-order Galaxy.

1965, Kirill Fedorovich Ogorodnikov, Dynamics of Stellar Systems, Pergamon Press, page 91:

The term hypergalaxies is applied to galaxies plus their massive coronas and all objects moving in the coronas.

1978, J. Einasto, The Large Scale Structure of the Universe; Proceedings of the Symposium, Tallin, Estonian SSR, September 12-16, 1977, page 51:

A typical hypergalaxy is approximately three to five times more massive than its central galaxy.

1987, L. E. Gurevich, A. D. Chernin, The Magic of Galaxies and Stars, Mir Publishers Moscow, page 175:

(astronomy, rare) A system that consists of an enormous galaxy accompanied by multiple, smaller satellite galaxies, often elliptical, such as the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy.


Sea of Storms

Blend of sea + Ocean of Storms. Variation of Ocean of Storms; replacement of the rare "Ocean" with the common "Sea", where many features on the Moon are called 'seas' (the maria), and only this one feature is called 'ocean'.

Mare Procellarum
Mare Procellarum#Translingual

Oceanus Procellarum
Oceanus Procellarum#Translingual

(planetology) Mare Procellarum: Synonym of Ocean of Storms (“Oceanus Procellarum”); A basin in Nearside, Moon, Earth, Solar System


Ocean of Storms

Calque of Latin Oceanus Procellarum (literally “Ocean of Storms”), from Latin oceanus (“ocean”) + procella (“storm”). Coined by Italian Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli, by labelling a map created by Italian Jesuit optician Francesco Maria Grimaldi, and then published in 1651 in the Almagestum Novum.

calque

(planetology) A basin in Nearside, Moon, Earth, Solar System

en:Francesco Maria Grimaldi
en:Giovanni Battista Riccioli
en:Ocean of Storms


Sea of Tranquility

Calque of Latin Mare Tranquilitātis (spelled with one L), from Latin mare (“sea”)+tranquilitātis (“tranquility”). Coined by Italian Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli, by labelling a map created by Italian Jesuit optician Francesco Maria Grimaldi, and then published in 1651 in the Almagestum Novum.

(planetology) A basin in Nearside, Moon, Earth, Solar System; location of the first manned moon landing, in 1969.

en:Almagestum Novum
en:Francesco Maria Grimaldi
en:Giovanni Battista Riccioli
en:Sea of Tranquility (disambiguation)


green pea galaxy

en-noun

green pea galaxy (plural green pea galaxies)

From the resemblance to the vegetable. From being a galaxy having a greenish tinge, and being small and round like a pea.

active galactic nucleus
active galactic nucleus#English

(astronomy) A type of galaxy, found in the local universe, that are active, undergoing high rates of star formation, which provides a green tinge, and are compact, visually appearing akin to peas. These active galaxies have strong oxygen emission lines and no active galactic nucleus (“AGN”), similar to small galaxies in the distant early universe, but unlike those in the nearby contemporary universe.


green pea

green pea galaxy
green pea galaxy#English

(astronomy) Ellipsis of green pea galaxy.


KOI

Coordinate term: TOI

(astronomy) Abbreviation of Kepler/K1/K2 object of interest.


light sector

Blend of light + dark sector. From not being part of the dark sector.

(astrophysics, cosmology, astronomy, physics) The known universe; the part of the universe that is not part of the dark sector; the segment of the universe that is explained by the known laws of physics, and whose components (particles) are predicted by it. The portion of the universe that is not dark matter nor dark energy.

The fraction of the universe that interacts with electromagnetism (ie. light).


clockstar

(astronomy) A bright star with precisely known right ascension, used for determining the error of clocks used to time meridian transits


coaltitude

(astronomy) The complement of an altitude


Puckian

(astronomy) Of or relating to the Neptunian moon named for Puck.


Uranicentric

(astronomy) Revolving around the planet Uranus; appearing as viewed from Uranus.


achronical

(astronomy) Alternative form of achronic


macrolensing

(astronomy) The refraction / focusing of light by the gravitational field of a galaxy or cluster, as opposed to that caused by a single star


Rigelian

(astronomy) Of or relating to the star Rigel in the constellation Orion.


Ruchbah

(astronomy) A subgiant, visible as a third-magnitude eclipsing binary blue-white star marking the knee of the figure in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, a part of the constellation's prominent W asterism.


wedgelet

* wedge + -let.
* (image processing): Introduced in David L. Donoho's 1999 paper "Wedgelets: nearly minimax estimation of edges".

If so, each wedgelet in the magnetotail should contain an asymmetric pair of FACs, as illustrated in Figure 19.9b (adapted from Liu et al. [2015]).

2018, Andreas Keiling, Octav Marghitu, Michael Wheatland ·, Electric Currents in Geospace and Beyond, page 332:

substorm current wedge
substorm current wedge

(astronomy) One of a set of wedge-like structures (barometric ridges) that compose a substorm current wedge.


retrogradant

(obsolete, astronomy, astrology) retrograde


Draugr

From draugr, the supernatural entity. From orbiting a neutron star, a "dead" star, a star that no longer contains a fusion core, but which is radiating away its stored energy.

(planets) A planet in Lich star system, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo constellation; One of the pair of planets that were the first exoplanets which were discovered. A planet in orbit of the pulsar Lich (PSR B1257+12)


Mly

(astronomy) Abbreviation of megalight-year.


carbon detonation

carbon detonation (countable and uncountable, plural carbon detonations)

(astronomy, nuclear physics) The explosive ignition of thermonuclear fusion within a carbon-oxygen white dwarf star that occurs when its mass exceeds approximately 1.4 times that of the Sun (due to accretion of material or merger with another star), producing a supernova which completely destroys the star.


circumsaturnian

While strong evidence supports an exogenous source of impacting particles creating the albedo changes centered on the apex of the leading hemisphere of Iapetus (Buratti and Mosher 1995), the origin of these particles is still unknown. The spectral data do not provide supporting evidence for either a circumsaturnian or a^([sic]) interplanetary origin of the particles.

2000 July, Kandy S. Jarvis, Faith Vilas, Stephen M. Larson, Michael J. Gaffey, “Are Hyperion and Phoebe Linked to Iapetus?”, in Icarus, volume 146, number 1, →DOI, page 131:

(astronomy) That surrounds or circles the planet Saturn.


POE

plasma oscillation event
plasma oscillation event#English

(plasma physics, astronomy, space weather) Initialism of plasma oscillation event.

plasma physics; space weather; plasma physics; space weather


Planck relic

(physics, cosmology, astronomy, astrophysics, quantum mechanics, relativity theory) A black hole with an event horizon on the order of a Planck length (~ 10⁻³⁵ metres), and a mass on the order of a Planck mass (~ 20 micrograms).

quantum mechanics; relativity theory; quantum mechanics; relativity theory


Virginid

(astronomy) Any meteor of a group of meteor showers emanating mostly from the constellation Virgo between February and May.


Hickson compact group

(astronomy) A collection of galaxies designated as published by Paul Hickson in 1982.


Ryugu

Named for Ryūgū-jō, the castle of a Dragon in Japanese folklore.

(astronomy) An asteroid; properly 162173 Ryugu


Gaia-Enceladus

(astronomy, galactic archaeology) A former galaxy, which merged into the Milky Way Galaxy around ten billion years ago, the remnants of which now form the Gaia Sausage population within the Milky Way Galaxy.


Gaia Sausage

From Gaia + sausage. From being discovered by the Gaia Mission, a European Space Agency space telescope that maps the stars of the Milky Way, and forming a sausage-shaped plot in velocity-space.

(astronomy) A stellar population within the Milky Way Galaxy that forms a sausage-shaped plot in velocity-space, which is thought to originate from a galaxy merger ten billion years ago, with the Gaia-Enceladus galaxy, composing mostly Milky Way halo stars.


Capricornid

(astronomy) Any of a shower of meteorites originating from the constellation Capricornus.


Cassiopeid

(astronomy) Any of a shower of meteorites originating from the constellation Cassiopeia.


starbeam

(astronomy, very rare) An intense and visible ray of starlight; a ray or rays emitted from the star.


superprominence

Since high densities and low temperatures favor condensation the major condensation takes place in the superprominence regions.

1977, Joseph A. Burns, Planetary Satellites, University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 483:

2003, Bernard Schutz, Gravity from the Ground Up: An Introductory Guide to Gravity and General Relativity (Chapter 8, Page 85: Gravity in the Sun: Keeping the Heat On)https://www.gravityfromthegroundup.org/pdf/photonsunburn.pdf
It shows a superprominence, the large loop of hot gas streaming out of the Sun.

in 1972 Alfvén and a colleague, Gustaf Arrhenius, developed a detailed model of solar system formation which uses the filaments "superprominences", they called them -- to transfer the angular momentum.

2010, Eric Lerner, The Big Bang Never Happened, A Startling Refutation of the Dominant Theory of the Origin of the Universe, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 209:

(astronomy, very rare) An exceedingly powerful, enormous solar prominence.


hypermassiveness

hypermassiveness (usually uncountable, plural hypermassivenesses)

(astronomy, rare) The property or state of being hypermassive.


habitable epoch

cosmic microwave background
cosmic microwave background#English

(cosmology, astrobiology, astronomy) An era of a Big Bang based universe with the physical laws of our Universe, where the cosmic microwave background is energetic enough to heat water into a liquid state, making all bodies beyond the inner limit of the habitable zone possible in hosting liquid water regardless of the amount of insolation provided by the local star.


precosmogonic

(cosmology) occurring or existing before the creation of the universe


Georgian star

Translation of Georgium Sidus, Herschel's proposed name for the planet.

Leave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing, / Jove's silver guards, and Saturn's dusky ring; / Leave the fair beams, which issuing from afar / Play with new lustres round the Georgian star […].

1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 54:

These Conjunctions are well worth the Attention of the Curious, and all those who may wish to have a View of the Georgian Star, by the Help of their Telescopes, as they afford a good Opportunity of finding it.

(astronomy, now rare, historical) Georgium Sidus, the planet Uranus.


JCMT

(astronomy) Initialism of James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.


hyperbolide

It is shown, in conclusion, that with the Cassegrain telescope the best definition is obtainable when the form of the primary mirror is a paraboloide, and that of the secondary a hyperbolide; that deviations from these forms in the two surfaces when acting in combination, will generally tend to compensate each other, and will be entirely neutralized when the amount of error in the convex mirror is double that of the concave mirror.

1898, ANZAAS (Association), Report of the Seventh Meeting of the Astralasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Held at Sydney, 1898, The Association, page 267:

2013 April 1, Richard Miles, "2013 February 15: the day of the asteroids!," at thefreelibrary.com
This 'hyperbolide' may have been the most energetic such event known since that 1908 explosion, the latter having devastated more than two thousand square kilometres of Siberian forest.

2004 May 4, "Could a nuke make Yellowstone Caldera erupt?), " at ask.metafilter.com
When I was a geology student in Bozeman there was a good deal of talk about setting off the Yellowstone hotspot by pumping beer (undergrads!) into the substrate resulting in an increase in pore pressure and a corresponding increase in seismic activity. Good times. Also, Alt and Hyndeman, IIRC, at UM--Missoula did some work on hyperbolide impact volcanism or terrestrial maria.


Marfik

(astronomy) Lambda Ophiuchi, a triple star system in the equatorial constellation of Ophiuchus.


HR diagram

Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.


diurnal motion

(astronomy) The apparent westward rotation of the celestial sphere, along with the apparent westward revolution of celestial objects, around the celestial poles due to prograde (eastward) rotation of planet Earth relative to the seemingly fixed stars – completed once each sidereal day (about 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds).


near-Earth comet

near-Earth comet (plural near-Earth comets)

(astronomy) a comet having a period of revolution shorter than 200 years and a perihelion distance smaller than 1.3 au


blanet

2020 August 7th, Anton Petrov, Massive Blanets - Black Hole Planets - Could Be All Over the Place, YouTube:

(astronomy) A planet that orbits a black hole.


Bunda

(astronomy) Xi Aquarii A, one of the stars in the binary star system Xi Aquarii.


Acrab

(astronomy, historical) Beta Scorpii, a multiple star system in the southern zodiac constellation of Scorpius.

(astronomy) The β Scorpii Aa component of this star system.


Cujam

(astronomy, historical) Omega Herculis, a binary star system in the northern constellation of Hercules.

(astronomy) Omega Herculis A, one of the two components of this system.


Nausikaa

(astronomy) 192 Nausikaa, a large main belt asteroid.


hycean

With densities between those of rocky super-Earths and more extended mini-Neptunes, Hycean planets can be optimal candidates in the search for exoplanetary habitability and may be abundant in the exoplanet population.

2021 August, Nikku Madhusudhan, Anjali A. A. Piette, Savvas Constantinou, “Habitability and Biosignatures of Hycean Worlds”, in Astrophysical Journal:

It's thought that the new classification could accelerate the search for life outside our Solar System for one simple reason: planets that fulfil the criteria to be "Hycean" already dominate the known exoplanet population, which is approaching 4,500.

2021 August 25, Jamie Carter, “Is Alien Life Hiding In Plain Sight? New Class Of 'Hycean' Planet Is Where We Should Look, Say Scientists”, in Forbes:

And learning more about Hycean planets could help scientists find biosignatures, or signs of life, outside of our solar system in the near future.

These hydrogen-rich ocean worlds, or hycean worlds, may be habitable.

2021 September 2, Joshua Colwell, Adrienne Dove, James Cooney, “Hycean Worlds and Nudging Asteroids”, in Walkabout the Galaxy:

TOI-2136b is a sub-Neptune transiting a nearby and bright star (J=10.8) and is a potential hycean planet, making it an excellent target for atmospheric studies to understand the formation, evolution, and habitability of the small planets.

2022 February 21, K KawauchiF MurgasE PalleN NaritaA Fukuiet al., “Validation and atmospheric exploration of the sub-Neptune TOI-2136b around a nearby M3 dwarf”, in arXiv.org, →DOI:

While LTT 1445 Ab is not in the traditional habitable zone of its star (Winters et al. 2019), it is considered as a candidate Hycean world where a liquid ocean may exist underneath a H₂-dominated atmosphere.

2022 September 26, Caprice Phillips, Ji Wang, Billy Edwards, Romy Rodriguez Martinez, Anusha Pai Asnodkar, B. Scott Gaudi, “Is LTT 1445 Ab a Hycean World or a cold Haber World? Exploring the Potential of Twinkle to Unveil Its Nature”, in arXiv, →DOI:

(astronomy, planetology, of a planet, neologism) Having a water-based ocean that covers the entire planet, and an atmosphere rich in hydrogen.


superquintessence

The second is ascribed to the Magnalia, the third is out of its own specifics. Indeed, the superquintessence sustains the quintessence itself as well as the other four.

1910, Hermetic medicine and hermetic philosophy, Pacific Section, American Association of Petroleum Geologist, page 340:

The wormhole is modeled by a thin sphercial shell accreting the superquintessence fluid, --- two different models are presented.

2005, Mathematical Reviews, Part 1000, American Mathematical Society, page 11639:

It has not been entirely ruled out that the acceleration (discovered in 1998) in the expansion of the universe could be due in part to cosmic exotic matter (called "superquintessence"). Such matter could support cosmic wormholes.

2011 June 16, “If wormholes existed, what would happen if you tried to push one end through the other?”, in reddit.com:

(rare, physics, cosmology) Phantom energy, cosmic exotic matter, and a likely explanation for dark energy itself, which can violate all energy conditions; a substance that both transcends and sustains the very quintessence itself, as well as the four elements.


The Accident

(astronomy, informal) A brown dwarf in interstellar space in the Milky Way galaxy; thought to be the oldest brown dwarf yet discovered, and having the fastest brown dwarf galactic orbital velocity yet discovered, at the time of its discovery in 2021.


superquintessential

For instance, if we adopt models of dark energy as potential energy of some, as yet undiscovered, scalar field, we cannot obtain superquintessential values w < −1, unless we consider phantom fields or non–minimal coupling terms.

2011 November 16, Ester Piedipalumbo, Paolo Scudellaro, “A Matter–Dominated Cosmological Model with Variable G and Λ and Its Confrontation with Observational Data”, in arxiv.org:

The dark energy equation of state w parameter as a function of t , for the potential in Eq. (3.60) for A = 1, λ = 1, and σ = 1: it turns out that such a scalar field can be interpreted as a superquintessential field.

2012 July 21, Giampiero Esposito, Claudio Ruban, “On Quintessential Cosmological Models and Exponential Potentials”, in researchgate.net:

The superquintessential septuplets.

2021 July 27, “Daily Miku #154”, in reddit.com, archived from the original on 2021-08-31:

(rare, physics, cosmology) Of or relating to superquintessence.


supercomet

The “planetesimals” of the Chamberlin and Moulton hypothesis would (if we ascribe their origin to the constant formation of atoms in solar space by the various unions of electrons, protons and neutrons, instead of the one-time tidal disruption of the sun) supply the materials upon with a long-interval supercomet could feed and develop into a planetoid or, with increasing growth, into a planet.

1942, Clarence Augustus Chant, The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Volume 36, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, page 167:

In Napier's Scenario, major impacts occur in the dying days of the supercomet when most of its ice has gone, at which point the rest of it disintegrates into "cometary asteroids".

1997, Robert G. Clouse, New Scientist, Volume 155, Issues 2089-2097, New Science Publications, →ISBN, page 26:

Low to one side, partly eclipsed by the curve of Earth's dark side, stretched the awesome spectacle of Athena's braided tail streaming in the solar wind as the supercomet fell toward the Sun.

1999, James P. Hogan, Cradle of Saturn, Baen, page 22:


Weywot

(astronomy) The moon of the dwarf planet Quaoar.


megaconstellation

(astrocartography) A very large asterism

A very large constellation
A very large asterism


Hiisi

(astronomy) One of the components of the binary planetoid Lempo


Paha

(astronomy) The moon of the binary planetoid Lempo–Hiisi.


zenocentric

en-adj

zenocentric (comparative more zenocentric, superlative most zenocentric)

more zenocentric (comparative)
most zenocentric (superlative)

a zenocentric coordinate system

a zenocentric orbit

(astronomy) Having Jupiter at the center.


Alfirk

(astronomy) Beta Cephei Aa, the second component of the binary pair within Beta Cephei, a triple star system in the constellation of Cepheus.


ascending node

(astronomy) The point in an orbit at which a body passes the ecliptic plane going north.


descending node

en-noun

descending node (plural descending nodes)

(astronomy) The point in an orbit at which a body passes the ecliptic plane going south.


Porrima

(astronomy) Gamma Virginis, a star in the constellation Virgo.


ecliptic plane

(astronomy) The ecliptic, the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, or by extension the orbital planes of other celestial bodies.


equatorial plane

equatorial plane (plural equatorial planes)

(astronomy) The plane that passes through the Earth's equator, or by extension the equators of other celestial bodies.


invariable plane

invariable plane (plural invariable planes)

(astronomy) The orbital plane passing through a planetary system's barycenter (center of mass) perpendicular to its angular momentum vector.


jovicline

From Jove + -cline. From Latin Jovi (“Jupiter”) (Iove, Iuppiter) + clino (“incline”) (gradient). Coined in reference to thermocline and halocline.

(planetology, radio astronomy, astrometeorology) The separation between two different depth layers of the planet Jupiter, where the microwave emission characteristics of the bands (light stripes) and belts (dark stripes) are reversed. Bands have low levels of microwave emissions compared to belts at the surface, while below the jovicline, they have higher emissions comparatively.


Edgeworth-Kuiper object

Edgeworth-Kuiper object (plural Edgeworth-Kuiper objects)

Kuiper belt object
Kuiper belt object#English

(astronomy) Synonym of Kuiper belt object


IRAS

(astronomy, NASA) Initialism of Infrared Astronomical Satellite (the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths.)


Reionization

Ages of the Universe
Ages of the Universe#English

(cosmology) The epoch of reionization of the Universe, where matter decoupled from energy, and space became transparent to radiation. One of the Ages of the Universe. The cosmic era when ultraviolet radiation of the first (Population III) stars and quasars ionized neutral hydrogen, ending the Cosmic Dark Age(s).


Recombination

From recombination.
The name is slightly inaccurate and is given for historical reasons: in fact the electrons and atomic nuclei were combining for the first time.

Cosmic Microwave Background
Cosmic Microwave Background#English

(cosmology) The epoch of recombination of the Universe, where atomic matter formed from free particles, combining protons with electrons. One of the Ages of the Universe. The cosmic era when neutral hydrogen formed out of the cosmic soup of protons and electrons in plasma, that condensed out of the energy of the Big Bang. This era produces the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).


yellow dwarf

yellow dwarf (plural yellow dwarfs or yellow dwarves)

yellow dwarfs (plural)
yellow dwarves (plural)

(astronomy) A main-sequence star, luminosity class V, of spectral type G.


orbital element

orbital element (plural orbital elements)

(astronomy) One of the parameters needed to uniquely specify a particular orbit.


VLTI

(astronomy) Initialism of Very Large Telescope Interferometer.


ISIM

Integrated Science Instrument Module
w:Integrated Science Instrument Module

(astronomy) Initialism of Integrated Science Instrument Module, a component of the James Webb Space Telescope


Hubble volume

(cosmology) the spherical region of the observable universe surrounding an observer beyond which objects recede from that observer at a rate greater than the speed of light due to the expansion of the Universe.


supersun

This doubtless explains why we find no evidence of the existence of supersuns of tremendous mass.

1925, W. Scott Lewis, In the Depths of Space, Theosophical Press, page 41:

This rising supersun, an Inner voice seemed to be saying, really was a symbol of the dawn of a new day on earth — the coming of an era in which any sizable war had become Impossible, because no aggressor could from now on ever dare to start an aggressive war without the certainty of absolute and swift annihilation.

1957, United States, Congress, Congressional Record, Washington, The Congress, page 6091:

The author tells of the discoveries of the great pioneers—Henri Becquerel, the Curies, Einstein—and of the explorations into the unknown by Rutherford, Planck, Fermi, Bohr, and many others, that culminated in the “great green supersun” rising over the New Mexico desert in 1945.

1960, The Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals 1960-01: Volume 44 Issue 252, Sage Publications, Inc.:

At that great moment in history, ranking with the moment in the long ago when man first put fire to work for him and started on his march to civilization, the vast energy locked within the hearts of the atoms of matter was released for the first time in a burst of flame such as had never before been seen on this planet, illuminating earth and sky for a brief span that seemed eternal with the light of many supersuns.

2002, Anthony Lewis, Written into History: Pulitzer Prize Reporting of the Twentieth Century from the New York Times, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, page 218:

Those lucky enough to experience sun hours during the day (that is, practically the entire earth population except a few tribes living well inside the Arctic Polar Circle) will witness a larger sun than usual, officially dubbed by myself "supersun", in analogy with the same-effect "supermoon".

2017 December 30, RedGolpe, “The Supersun on January 3 (x-post /r/space)”, in reddit.com:

(astronomy, rare) A full or giant sun (solar star).


scattered disc object

scattered disc object (plural scattered disc objects)

Short-period comets (those with periods up to 200 years) are thought to be scattered disc objects perturbed from their orbits towards the inner solar system by the gravitational pull of Neptune.

Scattered disc objects typically have highly eccentric orbits which can be inclined up to 40° relative to the orbital plane of the inner solar system.

This conclusion means that the first scattered disc object, 1996 TL₆₆, was not unique, it was just the harbinger of a much larger population of objects waiting to be discovered. More scattered disc objects have since been found but it may be some time before this population can be mapped in detail.

2001, John Davies, Beyond Pluto, Cambridge University Press, page 111:

Two of the first scattered disc objects (SDO) to be recognised are 1995 TL8 (at 53 AU from the Sun) and 1996 TL66 (at 83 AU).[…]One of the major scattered disc objects is Eris (2003 UB313, previously known as Xena).

2009, John Wilkinson, Probing the New Solar System, CSIRO Publishing, page 270:

2006[…]The International Astronomical Union reclassifies Pluto as a dwarf planet, together with the scattered disc object Eris and the asteroid Ceres.

2010, David Leverington, “Milestones in the Development of Astrophysics and Planetary Science”, in Stephen B. Johnson, editor, Space Exploration and Humanity: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, page 17:

trans-Neptunian object
trans-Neptunian object

(astronomy) Any trans-Neptunian object whose orbit is wholly within the scattered disc.


apolunar

(astronomy) Of or relating to the apolune.


Lemaître's law

After Georges Lemaître, who published on the topic before Hubble.


Hubble diagram

(astronomy) A diagram, used to illustrate the Hubble law, in which the velocity of an object (assumed to be approximately proportional to its redshift) is plotted with respect to its distance from the observer.


aposelenium

From apo- + seleno- + -ium, Latin form of -ion.

Hence, the Earth gravity allows the decrease of the particle energy from zero to a negative value and its capture by the moon to an elliptical orbit, e.g., with a periselenium of ~2,000 km and a high aposelenium of ~70,000h km.

2004, Science and Technology Series, volume 108, American Astronautical Society, page 162:

(astronomy) The point of a body's elliptical orbit about the moon's centre of mass where the distance between the body and the centre of mass is at its maximum.


lumpiverse

lumpiverse (countable and uncountable, plural lumpiverses)

(cosmology) The universe considered to be lumpy (not the same everywhere)


OVV

optically visually violent
optically visually violent#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of optically visually violent.


Grumium

(astronomy) Xi Draconis A, a component of the binary star Xi Draconis in the northern circumpolar constellation of Draco.


clear the neighborhood

en-verb

clear the neighborhood (third-person singular simple present clears the neighborhood, present participle clearing the neighborhood, simple past and past participle cleared the neighborhood)

clears the neighborhood (present singular third-person)
clearing the neighborhood (participle present)
cleared the neighborhood (participle past)
cleared the neighborhood (past)

Clearing the neighborhood is one of three necessary criteria for a celestial body to be considered a planet in the Solar System, according to the definition adopted in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.

(astronomy, of a celestial body) To become gravitationally dominant, such that there are no other bodies of comparable size within its orbit, other than its natural satellites or those otherwise under its gravitational influence.


Wazn

(astronomy) Beta Columbae, the second-brightest star in the southern constellation of Columba.


path of totality

en-noun

path of totality (plural paths of totality)

Over a wider region either side of the path of totality, a partial eclipse is seen.

1993, Jacqueline Mitton, The Penguin Dictionary of Astronomy, 2nd edition (paperback), Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 127:

Keep the filter on the camera for all the exposures unless you’re in the path of totality.

1994, Joel Harris, Richard Talcott, Chasing the Shadow, Kalmbach Books, →ISBN, page 79:

The path of totality can extend for many thousands of miles, and the duration of totality in any one place can be as long as about seven minutes.

1999, Peter Coles, Einstein and the Total Eclipse, Totem Books, →ISBN, page 11:

(astronomy) The path traced on the Earth's surface by the moon's shadow (more precisely, the umbra) during a total eclipse of the sun.


gigalightyear

(astronomy) A unit of a billion light years.


megalight-year

(astronomy, physics) A unit of a million lightyears.


kilolightyear

(astronomy, physics) A unit of a thousand light years.


light millennium

light millennium (plural light millenniums)

(astronomy, physics) A unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one millennium.


light week

(astronomy, physics) A unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one week.


light century

(astronomy, physics) A unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one century.


light eon

(astronomy, physics) A unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one eon.


light decade

(astronomy, physics) A unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one decade.


Kly

(astronomy) Abbreviation of kilolight-year.


Atalante

(astronomy) 36 Atalante, a main belt asteroid.


ocean world

(astronomy) An astronomical body containing a significant amount of liquid water, not necessarily on the surface.


nonagenary

From Latin nōnāgēnārius (“containing 90”) either directly or via Middle French nonagénaire, from Latin nōnāgēnī (“90 each”) + -ārius (“-ary”), from nōnāgintā (“nine tens, 90”).

As for Mars, as he is neerer to the Sunne, so feeleth he the Sunne beames by a quadrant aspect, to wit, ninetie degrees: wherupon that motion tooke the name, called the first and second Nonagenarie, from both risings.

1601, Pliny, translated by Philemon Holland, The Historie of the World, volume I, page 10:

(astronomy, astrology, obsolete) Synonym of square or quadrature: a rising at a 90 degree angle to the position of another heavenly body, particularly the sun.


ring rain

(astronomy) A shower of material leaving Saturn's rings and entering its atmosphere.


Psychean

(astronomy) Of or relating to the asteroid (16) Psyche.


bright giant

(astronomy) A star that straddles the boundary between being a giant star and a supergiant.


Pherkad

From Arabic فرقد (farqad, “calf”), from aḫfa al farkadayn ("the dim one of the two calves") in reference to Pherkad and Kochab, previously dual North Stars. Formally approved by the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Star Names on 21 August 2016.

(astronomy) γ Ursae Minoris, a star in the constellation Ursa Minor, formerly a dual North Star with Kochab from about 1000 BC to about AD 300.

International Astronomical Union
Pherkad


chthonian planet

chthonian planet (plural chthonian planets)

(astronomy) A hypothetical type of planet resulting from the atmosphere and outer layers of a gas giant being stripped away, leaving the rocky, metallic core.


compact star

(astronomy) A type of celestial body that collectively refers to white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes and exotic stars.


exotic star

(astronomy) A hypothetical type of star composed of exotic matter.


Cursa

(astronomy) Beta Eridani, the second-brightest star in the constellation of Eridanus.


cryolava

cryolava (countable and uncountable, plural cryolavas)

(planetology, geology, volcanology) Ice-volcanic melt which has erupted from a cryovolcano.


micronova

micronova (plural micronovae or micronovas)

Coined by the Suspicious0bservers citizen science team, led by Ben Davidson. From micro- + nova.

coin

The pressure eventually overcomes the outer shell, erupting in a micronova.

2021, Ben Davidson, The Next End of the World: The Rebirth of Catastrophism, Chapter 5.1, p.42:

(astronomy) A stellar outburst about one millionth the strength of a classical nova.


PHC

Coordinate term: PHA

(astronomy, ecology, geology) Abbreviation of potentially hazardous comet.


Acamar

(astronomy) θ¹ Eridani, one of the two components of the binary system Theta Eridani in the constellation of Eridanus.


Ascella

(astronomy) Zeta Sagittarii A, a component of the triple star system Zeta Sagittarii.


Atik

(astronomy) The primary component of the binary portion of the triple star system Omicron Persei.


Azelfafage

Either:
* From Arabic الذَّيْل الدَّجَاجَة (aḏ-ḏayl ad-dajāja, “the tail of the hen”). Cygnus is known in Arabic as الدَّجَاجَة (ad-dajāja, “the hen”).
* From Arabic الظِّلْف الْفَرَس (aẓ-ẓilf al-faras, “the hoof of the horse”), in reference to Pegasus, or to another “Stallion” constellation known to medieval Arabs. In the modern conception of constellations, Pegasus does not extend this far, but its hooves do border another part of Cygnus.

der

الذَّيْل الدَّجَاجَة

الظِّلْف الْفَرَس

(astronomy) The first component of Pi¹ Cygni, a binary star in the northern constellation of Cygnus.


selenium eye

(astronomy, historical) A device consisting of a closeable ball of blackened wood surrounding a glass lens that focuses light onto a selenium cell attached to a galvanometer; used by astronomers to measure the light variations of a heavenly body.


starrise

en-noun

starrise (countable and uncountable, plural starrises)

From star + rise, by analogy with sunrise and moonrise.

(astronomy) The time of day or night when a given star appears above the horizon.


starset

From star + set, by analogy with sunset and moonset.

(astronomy) The time of day or night when a given star disappears below the horizon.


LMT

(astronomy) Initialism of Large Millimeter Telescope.


ALMA

(astronomy) Abbreviation of Atacama Large Millimeter Array (a telescope in Chile)


dark star

(astronomy, physics) An extremely bright and massive hypothetical astrophysical object whose illumination is powered by annihilation of dark-matter particles and anti-particles (or by self-annihilation if they are Majorana particles).

(obsolete, astronomy, physics) A black hole: star so massive that its escape velocity is above the speed of light, making the star dark, as no light can escape.


Platonic month

Sumerian civilization lasted for an entire Platonic month from 4000 to 2000 B.C.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 207:

(astronomy, astrology) One twelfth of a Great Year, corresponding to one of the zodiacal ages (roughly 2000 years).


GBG

green bean galaxy
green bean galaxy#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of green bean galaxy.


Mirak

(astronomy) Epsilon Boötis, a binary star in the northern constellation of Boötes.


Mesarthim

(astronomy) γ² Arietis, a component of the star Gamma Arietis.


apobaryon

(astronomy) The furthest point of an astronomical object in an elliptical orbit to the center of mass of the system.


Geminid

(astronomy) Any meteor of a prolific meteor shower caused by the object 3200 Phaethon, and appearing to come from the radiant in the constellation of Gemini.


MACS

clusters of galaxies
clusters of galaxies#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of MAssive Cluster Survey. A survey for a statistically complete sample of distant (0.7>z>0.3) very X-ray luminous massive clusters of galaxies (“galaxy clusters”), culled from the ROSAT Bright Source Catalogue of X-ray sources


SMACS

(astronomy, galaxies) Abbreviation of Southern MAssive Cluster Survey. A survey and catalogue of galaxy clusters (“clusters of galaxies”)


CCKBO

Coordinate term: HCKBO

cold classical Kuiper belt object
w:Classical Kuiper belt object

(astronomy) Initialism of cold classical Kuiper belt object.


HCKBO

Coordinate term: CCKBO

hot classical Kuiper belt object
w:Classical Kuiper belt object

(astronomy) Initialism of hot classical Kuiper belt object.


CKBO

classical Kuiper belt object
w:Classical Kuiper belt object

(astronomy) Initialism of classical Kuiper belt object.


Big Bounce

(cosmology) The Big Bang when conceived by certain cosmological models as having followed the collapse of a previous universe.


Big Brake

(cosmology, uncommon) A hypothetical future singularity in which the expansion of the universe decelerates at an infinite rate.


methanosphere

(planetology) The methane-based analogue of an H₂O water-based hydrosphere; a methane hydrosphere.


mergeburst

This suggests that it was a mergeburst of a K-type main sequence star and a lower mass companion. The distance estimate is uncertain and the peak luminosity is ≈ −6mag. It is plausible that other Galactic events also have similar[…]

2012 01, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Bridging the Gap: Elusive Explosions in the Local Universe, Universal-Publishers, →ISBN, page 129:

One idea, put forward by Tylenda and Noam Soker of the Israeli Institute of Technology, is that the explosion was a 'mergeburst', formed by the collision and merger of two stars. Computer simulations of such an event neatly describe[…]

2012 September 20, Giles Sparrow, The Universe: In 100 Key Discoveries, Quercus Publishing, →ISBN:

At the time it was suggested that this was yet another example of a mergeburst – an object undergoing an outburst following a collision or merger event. However, spectra taken subsequently show a very hot, UV bright object[…]

2013 September 5, David S. Stevenson, Extreme Explosions: Supernovae, Hypernovae, Magnetars, and Other Unusual Cosmic Blasts, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 338:

One hypothesis is that this was a mergeburst: the scream of two stars colliding. But it could also have been a rarely seen thermonuclear flare-up near the end of a giant star's life – or maybe a star swallowing giant planets.

2018 August 7, New Scientist, A Journey Through The Universe:: A traveler's guide from the center of the sun to the edge of the unknown, Nicholas Brealey, →ISBN:

(physics, astronomy) An outburst of energy following a merger of two stars.


jovilabe

(astronomy, historical) A scientific instrument used to determine the orbital periods of Jupiter's moons and to compute the times of their eclipses.


OSIRIS-REx

(astronomy, NASA) Initialism of Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission)


Aglaja

(astronomy) 47 Aglaja, a main belt asteroid.


rocky planet

Within the Solar System, the rocky planets are the four inner planets closest to the Sun.

terrestrial planet
terrestrial planet#English

(astronomy) Synonym of terrestrial planet

स्थलीय ग्रह

planet composed of primarily of metal or rock


Sabik

Eta Ophiuchi, a binary star in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

WDS J17104-1544A, one of the two components of this system.


Sadalsuud

(astronomy) Beta Aquarii, a star in the constellation of Aquarius.


Sadalmelik

(astronomy) Alpha Aquarii, a star in the constellation of Aquarius.


Sadachbia

Gamma Aquarii, a suspected binary star system in the constellation of Aquarius.

γ Aqr Aa, the primary component of this star system.


axis mundi

(astronomy) The axis of Earth between the celestial poles, important in ancient geocentric coordinate systems.


Nekkar

(astronomy) Beta Boötis, a star in the northern constellation of Boötes.


Nusakan

Beta Coronae Borealis, a binary star in the constellation of Corona Borealis.

Beta Coronae Borealis A, the first component of this system.


Sualocin

Alpha Delphini, a multiple star system in the constellation of Delphinus.

Alpha Delphini Aa, the first subcomponent of Alpha Delphini A, a triple star that is part of Alpha Delphini.


Lyncid

(astronomy) Any meteor of a meteor shower appearing to originate in the constellation of Lynx.


Chrysalis

(astronomy) A former moon in Saturn, Solar System. A hypothetical former moon of Saturn, whose gravitational influence is proposed as the source of Saturn's inclination and near-resonance with Uranus, and whose destruction by gravitational disruption is proposed as the source of Saturn's rings.

en:Chrysalis (moon)
en:chrysalis (disambiguation)


LMST

(astronomy, navigation) Initialism of Local Mean Sidereal Time.


GMST

(astronomy, navigation) Initialism of Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time.


oblique ascension

(astronomy, uncommon) An arc of the equator, which is intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator which rises together with a star, forming an oblique sphere.


eidouranion

Neologism based on Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos, “that which is seen”) + οὐρανός (ouranós, “the firmament”) + -ιον (-ion, parasynthetic compound suffix).

der

(astronomy, historical) A kind of orrery that combined mechanical movement with a method of back projection.


Eridanid

(astronomy) A meteor in a meteor shower appearing to originate from Eridanus.


Craterid

(astronomy) Any meteor of a meteor shower that appears to originate from the constellation of Crater.


Subra

The multiple star system Omicron Leonis.

Omicron Leonis Aa, one of the components of the binary pair Omicron Leonis A that makes up part of this system.


Didymos

From Ancient Greek δίδυμος (dídumos) Literally, “twin”, named for being a double asteroid.

(astronomy) The small binary Near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos. Its tiny moon is Dimorphos


Librid

(astronomy) Any meteor of a meteor shower appearing to originate in the constellation of Libra.


apoareon

(planetology) Alternative form of apoareion


periareon

(planetology) Alternative form of periareion


yottaparsec

(astronomy) An astronomical unit of distance equal to 10²⁴ parsecs.


field star

(astronomy) A star that does not belong to a star cluster


intermercurial

(astronomy) Between Mercury and the Sun.


Roche lobe

A further interesting situation (although not one of much relevance for this book) comes about if both stars for some reason fill their Roche lobes simultaneously.

2002, Juhan Frank, Andrew King, Derek Raine, Accretion Power in Astrophysics, page 54:

Generally, mass transfer by Roche lobe overflow is required to power LMXRB's, since low mass stars never exhibit strong stellar winds.

2012, C. de Loore, C. Doom, Structure and Evolution of Single and Binary Stars, page 386:

If only one component accurately fills its Roche lobe the system is semi-detached. If neither fills its Roche lobe, it is detached.

2013, Josef Kallrath, Eugene F. Milone, Eclipsing Binary Stars: Modeling and Analysis, page 85:

(astronomy) The teardrop-shaped region around a star in a binary system within which orbiting material is gravitationally bound to that star.


black hole star

en-noun

black hole star (plural black hole stars)

From black hole + star. From being a radiant spherical celestial object containing a black hole.

(astronomy, cosmology) A theoretical early universe object, with the outer layers of a star and a black hole for a stellar core. Theorized to be born of an ultramassive pre-stellar nebula collapse to an ultramassive protostar, and later birthing an intermediate mass black hole when the star's life ends.


TZO

Thorne-Zytkow object
Thorne-Zytkow object#English

(astronomy) Abbreviation of Thorne-Zytkow object.


micromoon

What you might notice tonight is that the moon will be brighter — about 30 percent brighter than a micromoon.

2019 March 20, Brian Resnick, “Wednesday's "supermoon," explained in one chart”, in Vox, archived from the original on 2022-12-06:

On Friday the 13th, a harvest micromoon will grace the night sky across the United States.

2019 September 9, Jenna Amatulli, “Rare 'Micromoon' Is Gracing Us With Its Presence On Friday The 13th”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 2022-11-08:

For a micromoon and Friday the 13th full moon to occur together is extraordinarily rare. The last time it happened was in 1832 and it won't happen again for more than 500 years according to Tony Rice, a meteorologist and engineer at NASA.

2019 September 13, Matthew Cappucci, “For the first time in 13 years, a full moon rises this Friday the 13th”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 2020-10-29:

Most of the eclipse will be dominated by the shadow moving across the moon, with a brief period where it will appear as a blood micromoon in our night sky.

2021 November 18, Eva Corlett, quoting Rob Davison, “'Blood micromoon': New Zealand to enjoy partial lunar eclipse not seen for 800 years”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2022-11-29:

(astronomy) A full moon which appears unusually small due to coinciding with the Moon's apogee (the point in the Moon's orbit at which is it farthest away from Earth).


strange star

(astronomy) A hypothetical quark star made of strange matter.


dwarf nova

(astronomy) A cataclysmic variable star consisting of a close binary star system in which one of the components is a white dwarf that accretes matter from its companion.


frozen star

frozen+star
* (stellar black hole, black hole alternative): From relativity predicting the passage of time slowing to a stop as the star collapses through its event horizon, "freezing" time and the star.
* (Population 0 star): From the existence of frozen volatiles, such as water ice, existing in the atmosphere and on the surface of such a star

sense

(astronomy) A proposed theoretical type of Population 0 star, which could exist in the far future, with a very high metallicity allowing for stars with very low mass, resulting in a nuclear fusion cored star with a surface temperature close to the triple-point of water.


Sparkler

From sparkler, from its sparkling appearance, and sparkles surround the central object.

SMACS J0723.3–7327
SMACS J0723.3–7327#English

(astronomy, informal) A galaxy in Volans constellation; in the areal region of in SMACS J0723.3–7327 (SMACS 0723) At the time of discovery in 2022, containing some of the earliest known massive star clusters, globulars.


Mebsuta

(astronomy) Epsilon Geminorum, a star in the constellation of Gemini.


Meissa

(astronomy) Lambda Orionis, a star in the constellation of Orion.


Copernican principle

Named after Nicolaus Copernicus by Austrian-British cosmologist Hermann Bondi in reference to his model of Copernican heliocentrism.

(cosmology) A principle which states that the location of humanity has no special significance (in constrast to traditional views that the Earth or Sun are located in the center of the Universe).

Copernican heliocentrism
Copernican principle
Hermann Bondi
Nicolaus Copernicus


Copernican time principle

An extension of the Copernican principle (“a principle which states that the location of humanity has no special significance”).

(cosmology) A principle which states that the current time has no special significance.


Miaplacidus

(astronomy) Beta Carinae, a star in the southern constellation of Carina.


Microscopid

(astronomy) A meteor in a meteor shower appearing to originate from the constellation Microscopium.


Muphrid

Eta Boötis, a binary star in the constellation of Boötes.

Eta Boötis Aa, one of the constituents of this star.


Syrma

Iota Virginis, a binary star in the constellation of Virgo.

Iota Virginis A, one of the two components of this star.


Earthish

en-adj

Earthish (comparative more Earthish, superlative most Earthish)

more Earthish (comparative)
most Earthish (superlative)

I love it when planets are found around red dwarfs. They are by far the most common kind of star in the Universe, they tend to make smaller, Earthish-sized planets, and they tend to make a lot of them.

2022 September 9, Phil Plait, “Two super-Earths found around a tiny red dwarf star — with one in the habitable zone”, in Syfy, archived from the original on 2022-11-29:

(astronomy) Resembling the Earth; Earthlike.


pBzK

(astronomy, for galaxies) Initialism of passive BzK. (BzK are photometric bands)


Sagittary

(astronomy) Obsolete form of Sagittarius.


satellitory

(astronomy, archaic, rare) Relating to a satellite.


Schedar

From Arabic صَدْر (ṣadr, “breast, chest”), in reference to its position within Cassiopeia.

celestial navigation
celestial navigation

(astronomy) A red giant, visible as a second-magnitude orange star marking the breast of the figure in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, a part of the constellation's prominent W asterism, used for celestial navigation.


Scorpiid

(astronomy) A meteor appearing to originate from Scorpius.


Sheratan

(astronomy) Beta Arietis, a star system and the second-brightest star in the constellation of Aries, marking the ram's second horn.


synchronous rotation

en-noun

synchronous rotation (plural synchronous rotations)

(astronomy) The situation in which an astronomical body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner.


Pegasid

(astronomy) A meteor in a meteor shower appearing to originate from the constellation of Pegasus.


pyrocentric

en-adj

pyrocentric (comparative more pyrocentric, superlative most pyrocentric)

more pyrocentric (comparative)
most pyrocentric (superlative)

To Pythagoras himself has been frequently ascribed the idea of a pyrocentric Kosmos—with worlds revolving round a central sun—according to the Copernican, or, to speak more accurately, the Newtonian scheme.

1874, Bernard H. Becker, Scientific London, page 302:

Apollyon, who, as god of the sun, has a certain stake in the matter, teaches the Prior the truth of what the Greeks, Pythagoras' disciples, knew many years before— the nature of the heliocentric (or pyrocentric) planetary system.

1967, Gerald Cornelius Monsman, Pater's Portraits: Mythic Pattern in the Fiction of Walter Pater, pages 187–188:

All the same, some 2000 years later Copernicus would refer to Philolaus' pyrocentric world model for support of the idea that the Earth is a circularly moving planet.

2007, Helge S. Kragh, Conceptions of Cosmos: From Myths to the Accelerating Universe: A History of Cosmology, page 16:

(astronomy, history) Of or relating to the Pythagorean astronomical system, which posited that the Earth, Moon, Sun, and planets orbit an invisible "Central Fire".


head

my very educated mother just served us nine pizzas

my very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins#English

(dated astronomy mnemonic) Synonym of my very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins


antilunar

(astronomy) opposite to the moon (from the Earth)


cythero-

From Ancient Greek Κύθηρα (Kúthēra, “Cythera”).


cytherocentric

en-adj

cytherocentric (comparative more cytherocentric, superlative most cytherocentric)

more cytherocentric (comparative)
most cytherocentric (superlative)

a cytherocentric coordinate system

a cytherocentric orbit


galactic center

en-noun

galactic center (plural galactic centers)

However, the triggering mechanism for starbursts and the mechanism of the high mass supply rate of gas into a galactic center are still unclear.

2012, Herwig Dejonghe, Harm J. Habing, Galactic Bulges:

(astronomy) The central region of a galaxy.


Tarazed

(astronomy) Gamma Aquilae, a star in the constellation of Aquila.


hermeocentric

en-adj

hermeocentric (comparative more hermeocentric, superlative most hermeocentric)

more hermeocentric (comparative)
most hermeocentric (superlative)

a hermeocentric coordinate system

a hermeocentric orbit

(astronomy) Having the planet Mercury at the center.


cronocentric

cronocentric (comparative more cronocentric, superlative most cronocentric)

more cronocentric (comparative)
most cronocentric (superlative)

a cronocentric coordinate system

a cronocentric orbit

(astronomy) Having the planet Saturn at the center.


uranocentric

uranocentric (comparative more uranocentric, superlative most uranocentric)

more uranocentric (comparative)
most uranocentric (superlative)

a uranocentric coordinate system

a uranocentric orbit

(astronomy) Having the planet Uranus at the center.


poseidocentric

poseidocentric (comparative more poseidocentric, superlative most poseidocentric)

more poseidocentric (comparative)
most poseidocentric (superlative)

an poseidocentric coordinate system

an poseidocentric orbit

(astronomy) Having the planet Neptune at the center.


hadeocentric

hadeocentric (comparative more hadeocentric, superlative most hadeocentric)

more hadeocentric (comparative)
most hadeocentric (superlative)

a hadeocentric coordinate system

a hadeocentric orbit

(astronomy) Having the dwarf planet Pluto at the center.

hadéocentrique

having the dwarf planet Pluto at the center


astrocentric

an astrocentric coordinate system

an astrocentric orbit

The astrocentric orbit of a planet.

2010, Carole A. Haswell, Transiting Exoplanets, page 31:

Satisfaction of the Dynamical Conditions Consider a right-handed astrocentric coordinate system K such that its x - y-plane is the orbital plane and that the positive x-axis points toward the periastron [...]

2012, Zdenek Kopal, Jürgen H. Rahe, Astrometric Binaries:

The plot is in the Astrocentric coordinate system at which the star is located at the origin of the coordinate system.

2016, Carolus J. Schrijver, Frances Bagenal, Jan J. Sojka, Heliophysics:

(astronomy) Having a star at the center.


DAGN

(astronomy) Acronym of dual active galactic nuclei. A type of merging galaxy of two source galaxies that excites both galactic cores


dAGN

dual active galactic nuclei
dual active galactic nuclei#English

(astronomy) Alternative form of DAGN Acronym of dual active galactic nuclei.


XBONG

Coordinate term: AGN

(astronomy) Acronym of X-ray bright optically normal galaxy.


red spiral galaxy

en-noun

red spiral galaxy (plural red spiral galaxies)

(astronomy) A relatively rare type of galaxy (accounting for less than 2% of galaxies locally), a type of spiral galaxy which have a red-coloured presentation, and are found to be passive galaxies, galaxies which have ceased to form new stars, lacking young blue stars while rich in old red stars.


green bean galaxy

green bean galaxy (plural green bean galaxies)

Blend of bean + green pea galaxy. From being similar in appearance to green pea galaxies but larger, as with beans and peas.

(astronomy) A type of galaxy with a green tinge. They are thought to be caused by an ionization wave from a nearby quasar whose beam blasted through the galaxy, causing the glow.


Tabby's Star

From Tabetha, from the discovery by Tabetha S. Boyajian and her team, of the unusual variability in brightness of this star.

Milky Way Galaxy
Milky Way Galaxy#English

(astronomy) A star in Cygnus constellation, Milky Way Galaxy. A star that dramatically dimmed in an odd non-repeating pattern, that was suspected to be due to a partial Dyson swarm, indicating a extraterrestrial megastructure construct and thus a sign of intelligent aliens.


WTF Star

From WTF + star, because of its surprising light curve.

(astronomy, slang) Synonym of Tabby's Star: A star in Cygnus constellation, Milky Way Galaxy


Boyajian's Star

Boyajian+star. From the discovery by Tabetha S. Boyajian and her team, of the unusual variability in brightness of this star.

(astronomy) Synonym of Tabby's Star: A star in Cygnus Constellation, Milky Way galaxy


Local Void

(astronomy, cosmology) A region of space with very low density, which our galaxy cluster, the Local Group, sticks into like a headland, and of which the Local Sheet, which the Local Group is attached to, forms one wall.


Local Hole

Hole referring to a low-density region of the universe; local since it encloses the Earth.

(astronomy, cosmology) A supervoid around 2 billion light years across that encloses much of the local Laniakea supercluster.


Gorgoneion

From Ancient Greek γοργόνειον (gorgóneion), neuter of γοργόνειος (gorgóneios, “pertaining to a gorgon”).
The moon was named after the pendant, because of its association with the Greek goddess Athena (and thus with her Roman equivalent, Minerva).

(astronomy) The smaller and closer-orbiting of the two moons of the main-belt asteroid 93 Minerva.


Zhongguo

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 中國 /中国 (Zhōngguó).


changesite

From Chang'e + -s- + -ite. Named after Chinese goddess Chang'e (the moon goddess). Named for the Chang'e program, the Chinese lunar landers which discovered the minerals. From Mandarin Cháng'é (“ㄔㄤˊ ㄜˊ”) (Ch‘ang²-ê²), from Chinese 嫦娥 (Cháng'é).

(astronomy, geology, Moon) Any of several minerals discovered by the Chang'e series of lunar landers and Yutu series of lunar rovers


changesite-(Y)

changesite+Y. From being discovered by the Chang'e 5 Chinese lunar lander mission. Named after Chinese goddess Chang'e (moon goddess).

(astronomy, geology, Moon) A mineral formed by (Ca₈Y)□Fe₂⁺(PO₄)₇ forming colorless columnar transparent crystals, found on the Moon.


O star

Vreux: I would like to ask Ann Underhill why, if there is another star by chance in the line of sight to SMC WR stars, it's an O star rather than, say, an A type?

2012, P. S. Conti, C. de Loore, Mass Loss and Evolution of O-Type Stars, page 60:


Rasalgethi

(astronomy) Alpha Herculis A, a component of Alpha Herculis, a multiple star system in the constellation of Hercules.


SNU

Coordinate term: TNU

solar neutrino unit
solar neutrino unit#English

(astronomy, physics) Initialism of solar neutrino unit.


Dioretsa

(astronomy) the asteroid (20461) Dioretsa.


Nemausa

Patron god and namesake of Nîmes in the Roman era.

(astronomy) 51 Nemausa, a main belt asteroid.


Kalypso

(astronomy) 53 Kalypso, a main belt asteroid.


ICRF

(astronomy) Initialism of International Celestial Reference Frame (the current standard celestial reference system adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).)


declination circle

declination circle (plural declination circles)

(astronomy) The circle that consists of all points of a given declination (angle between equatorial plane and a line connecting a specified point with the center of the earth) with radius equal to the distance of the specified point to the center of the earth.


EAON

(astronomy) Initialism of European Asteroidal Occultation Network.


Recent

As classifier for a geological epoch coinciding with human presence (“Recent era”) introduced by Charles Lyell in 1833.

(obsolete, geology, astronomy) Of the Holocene, particularly pre-21st century.


Keplerian telescope

Keplerian telescope (plural Keplerian telescopes)

(astronomy) An improvement on the Galilean telescope, having a convex lens as the eyepiece instead of Galileo's concave one.


Hassaleh

(astronomy) Iota Aurigae, a star in the northern constellation of Auriga.


Sinus Meridiani

These pictures reveal, in the bright region west of the Sinus Meridiani, a totally unexpected Marscape of confused terrain that is like nothing man has seen on Earth, moon, or Mars before.

1969 November, Arthur Fisher, “Science Newsfront: Last-minute news and notes to keep you up-to-date”, in Popular Science, volume 195, number 5, page 22:

(astronomy) An albedo feature on Mars stretching east-west just south of the planet's equator.


Marsscape

(astronomy, science fiction) A view of an area of Mars; a Martian landscape.


Alpha Orionis

Thus, to take an example, a concert in Boston can be copresent with a soccer match in Sydney, but not with a soccer match on, say, Alpha Orionis: the present as it is defined relative to the soccer match extends some ninety light minutes into space, and so includes Sydney, but not Alpha Orionis, which is several hundred light years away.

2007, Yuval Dolev, Time and Realism: Metaphysical and Antimetaphysical Perspectives, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 198:


Cybelean

(astronomy) Of or relating to the asteroid (65) Cybele.


Besselian element

Besselian element (plural Besselian elements)

(astronomy, chiefly in the plural) Any of a set of values used to calculate and predict the local circumstances of occultations for an observer on Earth, mostly often for solar eclipses.


TDE

TDE (countable and uncountable, plural TDEs)

tidal disruption event
w:tidal disruption event

supermassive black hole
supermassive black hole#English

(astronomy, countable) Initialism of tidal disruption event (astronomical phenomenon near a supermassive black hole).


circummartian

Soter (1971) first suggested that two tiny martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, should act as sources of dust for the circummartian space. The proposed mechanism of dust ejection from the satellite surfaces is their continuous hypervelocity bombardment by interplanetary micrometeoroids.

2006 August, Alexander V. Krivov, Artem G. Feofilov, Valeri V. Dikarev, “Search for the putative dust belts of Mars: The late 2007 opportunity”, in Planetary and Space Science, volume 54, numbers 9–10, →DOI, page 871:

(astronomy) That surrounds or circles the planet Mars.


circumjovian

The differential migration of the newly formed Galilean satellites due to interactions with a circumjovian disk can lead to the primordial formation of the Laplace relation n₁ − 3n₂ + 2n₃ = 0, where the nᵢ are the mean orbital angular velocities of Io, Europa, and Ganymede, respectively.

2002 October 18, S. J. Peale, Man Hoi Lee, “A Primordial Origin of the Laplace Relation Among the Galilean Satellites”, in Science, volume 298, number 5593, →DOI, page 593:

(astronomy) That surrounds or circles the planet Jupiter.


trans-Martian

Then, less than a year before the discovery of Neptune, a fifth trans-Martian object and the twelfth planet, Astraea, had been found.

2009 [2007], David A. Weintraub, Is Pluto a Planet?: A Historical Journey through the Solar System, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 115:

(astronomy) Lying beyond the orbit of the planet Mars.


Leavitt law

Discovered in 1908 by Henrietta Swan Leavitt.

(astronomy) The relationship of direct proportionality between the luminosity of pulsating variable stars and their pulsation periods.


fuzzy dark matter

From the lack of definition (fuzziness) due to the wave-like nature of fuzzy dark matter, unlike the particle-like of hot dark matter and cold dark matter.

de Broglie wavelength
de Broglie wavelength#English

(physics, cosmology, astronomy) A type of dark matter with very low particle mass, with concomitant very large de Broglie wavelength (such as wavelength on the order of kiloparsecs), resulting in a population of overlapping waves, and concentrations of this dark matter modeled as fields and interference patterns, over astronomical and cosmological distances.


final parsec problem

supermassive black hole
supermassive black hole

(astronomy) The problem of whether two supermassive black holes in a merged galaxy would remain in orbit or eventually merge, and if so, how.