The Universal Book of Astronomy: From the Andromeda Galaxy to the Zone of Avoidance

The Universal Book

of Astronomy

This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞

Copyright © 2004 by David Darling. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Darling, David J.

     The universal book of astronomy from the Andromeda Galaxy to the zone of avoidance / David Darling.

p.   cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

     ISBN 0-471-26569-1

 1. Astronomy—Dictionaries. I. Title.

     QB14. D37 2003

     520'.3–dc21

2003013941

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Introduction

The universe has sprung many remarkable surprises on us in the past few years. Scores of planets have been detected around other stars. Vast amounts of ice and evidence for recent liquid water have been found on Mars. Brown dwarfs, medium-sized black holes, giant Centaurs, ultra-luminous clusters, microquasars, and magnetars have been added to an already extraordinary cosmic menagerie. Dark energy has joined dark matter as a likely chief ingredient of the universe, which, against all expectations, seems to be gathering pace in its headlong outward rush. We have seen the surface of the Sun, the center of our galaxy, and the environs of dying stars in unprecedented, awe-inspiring detail. We have begun to make out the great filaments of galaxy clusters and the gaping voids that are the largest of cosmic structures.

     We are lucky to find ourselves in a world of such wonders at a time when they are being revealed by powerful new instruments—the enhanced Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and others. Yet the breakthroughs are coming so thick and fast that it is hard, even for professional astronomers let alone the interested layperson, to keep track of them. This book is intended as a comprehensive, user-friendly guide to the cosmos of the early twenty-first century. By including the latest results and conjectures alongside well-established theory and facts, and by extensive cross-referencing, it offers a way for everyone, from the nonspecialist to the seasoned researcher, to gain a better grasp of the modern universe. And grasp it we should because we are all part of this astonishing creation—our very bodies fashioned of atoms that were made inside giant stars long ago. Bring only your imagination and the courage needed to gaze up and out across 15 billion light-years!

How to Use This Book

Entries range from short definitions to lengthy articles on topics of major importance or unusual interest, and are extensively cross-referenced. They are arranged alphabetically according to the first word of the entry name. So, for example, BL Herculis star precedes black dwarf. Terms that appear in bold type have their own entries. Metric units are used throughout, unless it is more appropriate, for historical reasons, to do otherwise. See the Units section that follows for conversion factors. Star charts are included at the back of the book to show the position of bright stars and other celestial objects. Readers are invited to visit the author's web site at www.daviddarling.info for breaking news in astronomy and related subjects.

Exponential Notation

In the interest of brevity, exponential notation is used in this book to represent large and small numbers. For example, 300,000,000 is written as 3 × 10⁸, the power of 10 indicating how many places the decimal point has been moved to the left from the original number (or, more simply, the number of zeroes). Small numbers have negative exponents, indicating how many places the point has been shifted to the left. For example, 0.000049 is written as 4.9 × 10−5.

Units

Distance

1 kilometer (km) = 0.62 miles

1 meter (m) = 3.28 feet (ft) = 39.37 inches (in.)

1 centimeter (cm) = 0.39 in.

1 m = 1,000 millimeters (mm) = 10⁶ micrometers (microns, or μm)

1 angstrom (Å) = 0.1 nanometer (nm) = 10−10 m

1 astronomical unit (AU) = 1.50 × 10⁸ km (the mean Earth-Sun distance)

1 light-year = 63,240 AU = 9.46 × 10¹² km

1 parsec (pc) = 3.2616 light-years = 206,260 AU = 3.0857 × 10¹³ km

Angle

1 degree (°) = 60 arcminutes (') = 3,600 arcseconds (")

1 arcsecond = 1,000 milliarcsec = 10⁶ microarcsec

Speed

1 km/s = 2,240 mph

Mass

1 kilogram (kg) = 2.21 pounds (lb)

1 metric ton = 1,000 kg = 2,205 lb = 0.98 long ton

Msun = 1.989 × 10³⁰ kg = 1,047 MJupiter = 332,958 MEarth

Note: In this book, tons refer to metric tons.

Force

1 newton (N) = 0.22 pounds-force (lbf) = 0.102

kilograms-force (kgf)

Pressure

1 bar = 0.987 atmosphere = 101,300 pascals = 14.5

lb/square inch = 100,000 N/m²

Energy

1 joule (J) = 9.48 × 10−4 British thermal unit (Btu)

1 electron-volt (eV) = 1.60 × 10−19 J

1 GeV = 10³ MeV = 10⁶ keV = 10⁹ eV

Note: Electron-volts are convenient units for measuring the energies of particles and electromagnetic radiation. In the case of electromagnetic radiation, it is customary to measure longer-wavelength types in terms of their wavelength (in units of cm, μm, Å, etc.) and shorter-wavelength types, especially X rays and gamma-rays, in terms of their energy (in units of keV, MeV, etc.). The wavelength associated with electromagnetic waves of energy 1 keV is 0.124 nm.

Temperature

C = 5/9 (F − 32)

F = 9/5 C + 32

0K = −273.16°C

1K increase = 1°C increase

A

A star

A star of spectral type A, white in color, with a spectrum dominated by the Balmer series of hydrogen. Lines of heavy elements, such as iron, are noticeable at the cooler end of the range. Main sequence A stars have surface temperatures of 7,500 to 9,900 K, luminosities of 7 to 80 Lsun, and masses of 1.5 to 3 Msun; familiar examples include Sirius, Vega, and Altair. A-type supergiants, such as Deneb, may be as hot as 11,000 K and have masses up to 20 Msun and luminosities of more than 35,000 Lsun. Among A-type peculiar stars are Ae stars, Am stars, and Ap stars. Also, two of the main kinds of pulsating variables, RR Lyrae stars and Delta Scuti stars, have surface temperatures in the A-star range.

Aaronson, Marc (1950–1987)

A talented young American astronomer who was killed in a tragic accident in the dome of the 4-m Mayall Telescope on Kitt Peak. Due to a malfunction of the emergency stop, Aaronson became trapped in the catwalk door of the rotating telescope dome when the outer stepladder closed it. Minor planet (3277) Aaronson is named in his honor.

Abell cluster

A rich cluster of galaxies identified in the Abell Catalog of Rich Clusters of Galaxies, which was the first comprehensive catalog of clusters of galaxies and, in its extended form, is still the largest. The Abell Catalog was first published in 1958 by the American astronomer George Abell (1927–1983), a graduate student at the time, and contained 2,712 clusters of galaxies north of declination −27° identified by Abell from his analysis of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey photographs. To be included in the Catalog a galaxy cluster had to have at least 50 members in the magnitude range m3 to m3 + 2, where m3 is the magnitude of the third brightest cluster member, within a radius of about 1.5 megaparsecs (just under 5 million light-years). Abell classified such clusters as regular and irregular, and ranked them on 6-point scales according to both their richness (population density) and distance (1 to 6, for closest to farthest). The Catalog proved of seminal importance to extragalactic astronomy, leading to a better understanding of the nature and properties of clusters of galaxies, and the identification of superclusters and large-scale structure. Following the latest (1989) revisions and extensions to include rich clusters in the southern hemisphere, Abell's Catalog now consists of the Northern Abell Catalog (clusters A1 through A2712), the Southern Abell Catalog (A2713 through A4076), and the Supplementary Southern Abell Catalog (A4077 through A5250). Among the best-known Abell clusters are the Perseus Cluster (A426) and the Coma Cluster (A1656).

aberration, optical

A flaw in the imaging properties of a lens, mirror, or optical system. There are six main types: astigmatism, chromatic aberration (a problem restricted to lenses), coma (see coma, optical), distortion, field curvature, and spherical aberration.

aberration of starlight

The difference between the observed position of a star and its true direction; this is a combined result of the observer's motion across the path of the incoming starlight and the finite speed of light. There are three components: annual aberration (up to 20.47") caused by Earth's revolution around the Sun, diurnal aberration (up to 0.3") caused by Earth's axial rotation, and the very small secular aberration caused by the motion of the solar system through space.

Abell cluster Abell 496 is a rich cluster of galaxies that lies about 500 million light-years away and has a mass (including dark matter) about 1,000 times greater than that of the Milky Way Galaxy. This photo shows a region some 4.5 million light-years across. European Southern Observatory

ablation

Loss of material from the surface of a meteoroid as it is heated by friction on passing through an atmosphere.

absolute magnitude

(1) The apparent magnitude of a star or other celestial object if located at a distance of 10 parsecs (32.616 light-years), assuming there is no absorbing material between the object and the observer. Absolute magnitude is often derived from the visual magnitude but may be specified for other wavelengths (see photometry) or for all wavelengths, when it is called the absolute bolometric magnitude. (2) In the case of comets and asteroids, absolute magnitude is defined differently as the apparent magnitude the object would have if it were one astronomical unit from both the Sun and Earth and at a phase angle of 0° (i.e., fully illuminated by the Sun).

absorption

The drop in intensity of light, or of any other form of electromagnetic radiation, as it passes through a medium, such as Earth's atmosphere, the outer layers of a star, or dust in interstellar space. It is due to the transfer of energy by photons (particles of light) to atoms, ions, or molecules. Absorption at a specific wavelength results in absorption lines; otherwise it is known as continuous absorption. Absorption in Earth's atmosphere is one of the causes of atmospheric extinction; between the stars it occurs as interstellar extinction.

absorption line

A dark line in a continuous spectrum caused by absorption of light at a specific wavelength. In a star's spectrum, such lines are due to absorption of light by cooler gases in the outer layers of the star's atmosphere and they reveal the kind of atoms, ions, or molecules present; the Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum are the best known example. Absorption by molecules results in a band spectrum.

absorption spectrum

A spectrum of absorption lines or bands, produced when light from a hot source, itself producing a continuous spectrum, passes through a cooler gas.

acapulcoite

A primitive (little altered since its formation) achondrite belonging to a small group named after the only witnessed fall of this type, the Acapulco meteorite that fell in Mexico in 1976. Acapulcoites are made mostly of finegrained olivine, orthopyroxene, plagioclase feldspar, nickel-iron metal, and the iron sulfide troilite, and are transitional between primordial chondritic matter and more differentiated rocks. Their mineral composition is between that of E and H chondrites, but they have an oxygen isotope pattern that sets them apart from all other known chondrite groups. Importantly, some acapulcoites contain a few relict chondrules, and one specimen, from Tissemoumine, Morocco, named NWA 725, shows an abundance of distinct chondrules. These distinct chondrules confirm that acapulcoites are very primitive and that they form a missing link between chondrites and achondrites. They are thought to have come from the same parent body as the closely related lodranites, which show signs of slightly more melting.

Acasta Formation

The oldest known outcrop of rock on Earth. It occurs about 350 km north of Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territories and consists of gneiss (a type of coarsegrained metamorphic rock) that dates back just under 4 billion years, to around the beginning of the period of late heavy bombardment.

acceleration due to gravity (g)

The acceleration with which a body falls freely in a gravitational field; also known as the acceleration of free fall. At Earth's surface, g varies with latitude around a mean value of 9.807 m/s² in part because our planet is not a perfect sphere.

accretion

The process by which particles stick together to form larger bodies; for example, dust in the solar nebula accreted to form chondrules, and planetesimals accreted to form planets.

accretion disk

A spinning ring of gas and dust that may form around any of a variety of stars or of other massive objects. Accretion disks have been observed, or theorized to exist, in association with protostars, T Tauri stars and other very young stars; Vega-type stars; and many interacting binary systems, including U Geminorum stars, novae, symbiotic stars, and W Serpentis stars, in which the secondary component is losing matter to the primary. Accretion disks are also believed to occur commonly around black holes, including stellar black holes in close binary systems and supermassive black holes at the centers of some galaxies. In the latter case, accretion disks are thought to place a crucial role in the active galactic nucleus phenomenon.

Achernar (Alpha Eridani, α Eri)

The ninth brightest star in the sky but one that is not well known to northern observers as it can only be seen at latitudes below 32°N. Its Arabic name means river's end and refers to its location at the southernmost point of Eridanus. Achernar's high spin velocity of at least 225 km/s has led to it becoming a Be star. Observations by the Very Large Telescope, published in 2003, reveal that it is extraordinarily flattened, with an equatorial radius 50% larger than its polar radius. Achernar also shows small, regular light variations of a type that make it a Lambda Eridani star.

Achilles (minor planet 588)

The first of the Trojan asteroids to be found, in 1906 by Max Wolf. Its discovery, at Jupiter's fourth Lagrangian point (L4), preceding the planet in its orbit, confirmed Joseph-Louis Lagrange's theory that two-body systems have points where a third object of negligible mass can reside in stable equilibrium. Diameter 116 km; spectral class C; semimajor axis 5.175 AU; perihelion 4.40 AU; aphelion 5.95 AU; inclination 10.3°; period 11.77 years.

achondrite

The rarer of the two main types of stony meteorite, accounting for about 9% of all meteorite falls. Achondrites are made of rock that has crystallized from a molten state. They contain mostly one or more of the minerals plagio-clase feldspar, pyroxene, and olivine, and generally, but not always, lack the small rounded inclusions known as chondrules that are typical of chondrites. Most achondrites are chemically similar to basalts and are thought to be the product of melting on large asteroids, moons, and planets. Soon after these bodies formed, they were heated from within and partially melted. Although this process is still active on Earth, it ended about 4.4 billion years ago on asteroids, 2.9 billion years ago on the Moon, and perhaps 1 billion years ago on Mars. Heating the primordial mixture of stony minerals, metals, and sulfides (of which chondrites are made) produced liquids, the densest of which sank to become planetary or asteroidal cores. Lighter stony minerals rose and solidified to become basaltic rocks, fragments of which were subsequently broken off by impacts and hurled into space. More than 200 of these evolved achondrites have been found, covering a wide range of compositions and origins. The so-called HED group includes the howardites, eucrites, and diogenites, which appear to share the same parent body, believed to be the asteroid Vesta. Other evolved achondrites that seem to have come from partially differentiated asteroids other than Vesta have been mostly assigned to two distinct groups known as the angrites and the aubrites. Although the majority of achondrites are of asteroidal origin, some are known to have come from the highland regions of the Moon's farside (see lunar meteorites) and from Mars (see Mars meteorites). NWA011, a meteorite found in the Sahara in 1999, is suspected of having originated on Mercury. As well as the evolved achondrites, there is an entire group of primitive achondrites whose members all seem to have derived from small chondritic parent bodies that only partially melted and differentiated through accretion processes or from impact events, and then rapidly cooled. Primitive achondrites vary widely in composition and fall into the following main subgroups: acapulcoites, lodranites, brachinites, winonaites, and ureilites.

achromatic lens

A lens with two or three closely spaced, often cemented, elements designed to produce images largely free from false color. It has at least one element of flint glass and another of crown glass—the dispersion of the latter compensating for the chromatic aberration of the former. While achromatic lenses bring two primary colors (red and blue) into focus at the same point, they leave some uncorrected chromatic aberration at wavelengths in between. This variation is negligible for most purposes, and a single focal-length value is applied to the entire visible spectrum.

A-class asteroid

A rare asteroid class whose members are extremely red and have a fairly high albedo of 0.13 to 0.35. Strong absorption in the near-infrared is taken to indicate the presence of olivine. Examples include the asteroids (246) Asporina (diameter 70 km) and (446) Aeternotas (diameter 52 km).

Acrux (Alpha Crucis, α Cru)

The twelfth brightest star in the sky, the southernmost first magnitude star, and the brightest and southernmost star in Crux. Acrux is a multiple system. A moderate telescope shows two similar B stars separated by 4: α¹, a B subgiant (visual magnitude 1.33, luminosity 25,000 Lsun, surface temperature 28,000 K), and α², a B dwarf (visual magnitude 1.73, luminosity 16,000 Lsun, temperature 26,000 K). α² is a 13-Msun single star but α¹ is a spectroscopic binary whose 14- and 10-Msun components are separated by about 1 AU and complete an orbit every 76 days. α¹ and α², with a minimum separation of 430 AU, take at least 1,500 years to circle around each other. Another B subgiant lies 90 away from the triplet but, despite its similar velocity through space, is probably a more distant star that happens to lie along the same line of sight.

ACT Catalog

A catalog, compiled by the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO), to provide accurate proper motions for the majority of stars in the Tycho Catalogue. Since the Tycho Catalogue is based on data collected by the Hipparcos satellite over a relatively short period, it gives only rough values of proper motions. The USNO solved this problem by combining Tycho positions with those of the Astrographic Catalogue that date from around 1900. The results of this long baseline for computations are proper motions for 988,758 stars, covering the entire sky, that are about an order of magnitude more accurate than those published in the Tycho Catalogue.

active galactic nucleus

See article.

active galaxy

Any galaxy with an active galactic nucleus.

active optics

A computer-controlled system that compensates for the distortion of a telescope's mirrors caused by gravity, and thus allows a thinner mirror and a lighter support structure to be used. It works by monitoring the image of a guide star and sending appropriate signals to actuators behind the mirror, which in turn control moveable supports to correct the mirror's shape and alignment.

active region

A localized volume of the Sun's outer atmosphere where powerful magnetic fields, emerging from subsurface layers, give rise to various short-lived features. These features may include sunspots and faculae in the photosphere; plages, fibrils, and filaments in the chromosphere; and coronal condensations in the corona. Solar flares are also associated with active regions.

active Sun

The condition of the Sun characterized by unusually large numbers and size of spots, flares, and prominences. It is especially associated with maxima of the solar cycle.

Adams, John Couch (1819–1892)

An English mathematician and astronomer, born in Lidcot, Cornwall, the son of a tenant farmer, who predicted the existence of Neptune. While a student at Cambridge he wrote this note (found only after his death) dated July 3, 1841:

Formed a design at the beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus, which are as yet unaccounted for, in order to find whether they may be attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it; and, if possible, thence to determine the elements of its orbit approximately, which would lead probably to its discovery.

Having graduated brilliantly (with more than double the marks of his nearest competitor), he focused his attention on the problem of the trans-Uranian planet. In October 1845, he gave his predicted position for the new world to George Airy, the Astronomer Royal. But Airy procrastinated for nine months until he heard of a similar claim by Urbain Leverrier. He then instigated a search, but the race was lost: Neptune was found in 1846 by Johann Galle using Leverrier's figures. Adams remained silent throughout the bitter ensuing debate that established his precedence in the discovery. Although eventually he was offered a knighthood and the post of Astronomer Royal after Airy, Adams turned them down and remained at Cambridge as director of the observatory.

Adams, Walter Sydney (1876–1956)

An American astronomer who discovered the first white dwarf. The son of American missionaries, Adams was born in Syria. He followed his Dartmouth professor, Edwin Frost, to Yerkes Observatory, and accompanied his Yerkes director, George Hale, to Mount Wilson Observatory, where Adams served as director from 1923 to 1946. His spectroscopic studies, with Arnold Kohlschütter, of the Sun and stars led to the discovery of spectroscopic parallax as a stellar yardstick. This method involves measuring the relative intensities of spectral lines of both giant and main sequence stars to determine absolute magnitudes and hence distances. Adams worked with Hale on the discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots and used photography to measure the differential rotation of the Sun. With Theodore Dunham Jr., he codiscovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Venus, and the molecules CN and CH in interstellar clouds. Adams identified Sirius B as the first known white dwarf, and his measurement of its gravitational redshift in 1924 helped strengthen the case for the general theory of relativity.

active galactic nucleus (AGN)

A galactic nucleus that gives off much more energy than can be explained purely in terms of its star content. AGN are found at the heart of active galaxies, including quasars, Seyfert galaxies, blazars, and radio galaxies. In addition to their great energy output, they can be highly variable. Some quasars vary in brightness over a few weeks or months, while some blazars show changes in X-ray output over as little as three hours. These fluctuations place strict limits on the maximum size of the energy source, because an object can't vary in brightness faster than the time it takes light to travel from one side of its energy-producing region to the other. The rapid flickering of AGN means that they draw their energy from a small volume, in some cases less than one light-day across. Furthermore, observations of the orbital motion of stars and other material around AGN show that a large mass, ranging up to several billion solar masses, is concentrated within its engine room. This leads to the almost unavoidable conclusion that the central engine is a supermassive black hole. Since a black hole, by definition, emits nothing, the radiation from an AGN is believed to come from material heated to several million degrees in an accretion disk before tumbling into the black hole or, in some cases, being shot away in twin jets along the central engine's spin axis.

active galactic nucleus An X-ray view, by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, of the core of the active galaxy Centaurus A. It shows a spectacular jet and many pointlike sources, the majority of which are X-ray binaries. NASA/Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

     Astronomers have identified about a dozen types of AGN, each with a different overall pattern of emission. Some of these types differ only in appearance; for example, if a thick dust cloud lies between us and the center, it can block radiation at frequencies between visible light and X rays, so that we see only the radio, infrared, and very high-energy radiation, plus the emission lines from outlying clouds. In at least some cases, the dust in the nucleus forms a thick ring around the center. Then the appearance of the AGN depends crucially on whether it is seen side-on, so that the center is hidden, or face-on, so that the center is visible.

     AGN fall into two major divisions: radio-loud and radio-quiet. Within each is a broad range of luminosity, from AGN so weak that they're barely detectable against the light from the central stars of their host galaxy, to quasars that are more than 100 times brighter than all the stars in their hosts put together. Radio-loud AGN always produce jets in which the material may be flowing at close to the speed of light. The power of the jets (the kinetic energy flowing along them per second) roughly matches or exceeds the AGN's luminosity (total energy radiated per second). Radio-loud AGN are generally found in elliptical galaxies and almost never found in spirals. Radio-quiet AGN may also have detectable jets, but these are thousands of times weaker than the AGN's total radiant energy. They usually occur in spiral galaxies, although some of the most luminous radio-quiet AGN have elliptical hosts. The obvious differences between spirals and ellipticals occur on scales many times larger than that of the AGN, and it remains uncertain how AGN know which type of galaxy they're in.

     In the 1980s, it became clear that nuclear activity can extend to lower levels and can appear in galaxies that superficially look normal. Many galaxies were found to show emission from their nuclei that couldn't be explained in detail by young stars, and these were dubbed LINERs (low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions). Debate continues as to how many kinds of objects fall into this category, but X-ray and ultraviolet observations show that some of these are indeed lower-power versions of Seyfert nuclei, complete with X-ray source and variability. The phenomenon of nuclear activity now appears to range in luminosity over six orders of magnitude and to show up in a significant fraction of bright galaxies, including our own.

adaptive optics

An optical system that enables rapid fluctuations in a telescope's image quality, caused by atmospheric turbulence, to be corrected in fractions of a second. These fluctuations are measured by a wavefront sensor that uses a reference star to measure the distortions that are taking place. The reference star is typically a reasonably bright star close in the sky to the object under study but may also be the object itself or a reflected laser beam that serves as an artificial reference star. The measured distortions are then removed with a phase corrector—typically a very thin mirror in the light path of the telescope that can be rapidly deformed by actuators to the equivalent shape of the wavefront, which must be subtracted to produce a sharp image. Unlike active optics, adaptive optics provides real-time response and can result in a level of resolution close to the theoretical limit allowed by diffraction. It is used in conjunction with many new telescopes including the Keck Observatory telescopes and the Large Binocular Telescope.

Adhara (Epsilon Canis Majoris, ε CMa)

The second brightest star in Canis Major; it lies below Sirius at the lower right of a triangle of bright stars known to the Arabs as the Virgins, from which its name (alternatively spelled Adara or Undara) derives. It is one of the hottest of the bright stars: so luminous that if placed at the distance of Sirius (just over 8 light-years), it would shine 15 times brighter than Venus. Astronomers have used its spectrum extensively to study the nature of local interstellar matter.

adiabatic process

A process in which no heat enters or leaves a system. This is the case, for example, when an interstellar gas cloud expands or contracts. Adiabatic changes are usually accompanied by changes in temperature. Compare with isothermal process.

Adrastea

The second moon of Jupiter, also known as Jupiter XV; it was discovered in 1979 by the American astronomers David Jewitt and G. Edward Danielson from Voyager images. Adrastea measures 23 × 20 × 15 km and orbits 57,300 km above the Jovian cloud-tops, close to the outer edge of Jupiter's ring system. It appears to act as a shepherd moon and, together with Metis, as the source of the material for the rings.

advance of perihelion

The slow rotation of the major axis of a planet's orbit in the same direction as the revolution of the planet itself, due mainly to gravitational interactions with other planets. A small additional advance of Mercury's perihelion, by 43" per century, was eventually explained as an effect of the general theory of relativity. In the case of close binary stars, the advance of pericenter may additionally be caused by mass transfer and the stars' distorted (elliptical) shapes. Advance of perihelion (or pericenter) is also known as apsidal motion.

Ae star

An A star with strong emission lines, usually of hydrogen, superimposed on an otherwise normal spectrum and caused by a circumstellar shell of heated material. Some Ae stars have only recently formed and may be surrounded by visible nebulosity, in which case they are known as Herbig Ae/Be stars.

afterglow

(1) A broad glowing arc, sometimes seen high in the western sky at twilight, caused by fine particles of dust scattering light in the upper atmosphere. (2) Lingering radiation, also called postluminescence, that remains after an event like a gamma-ray burst (which has an X-ray afterglow) or the Big Bang (the afterglow of which is the cosmic microwave background radiation).

Ahnighito meteorite

The largest part of the Cape York meteorite and the largest meteorite on display in any museum (The American Museum of Natural History, New York).

AI Velorum star (AI Vel star)

A type of pulsating variable that is very similar to a Delta Scuti star but has a greater amplitude (up to about 1.2 magnitude) and a period of 1 to 5 hours. The prototype, located in Vela 2.8° north-northeast of Gamma Velorum, is the brightest of its class, with a magnitude range of 6.4 to 7.1. AI Velorum stars were formerly known as dwarf Cepheids.

airglow

Diffuse radiation, extending from the near infrared to the far ultraviolet, that is continuously emitted by a planetary atmosphere; also known as nightglow. It is caused by the collision of charged particles and X rays from space, mainly from the Sun, with atoms and molecules high in the atmosphere. Earth's airglow varies with the time of night or day, latitude, and season, goes from a minimum at the zenith to a maximum about 10° above the horizon, and originates mainly from discrete atomic and molecular transitions that give rise to a mostly emission-line and emission-band spectrum. Emission from oxygen at 5577 Å (green) predominates at night, while yellow sodium and red oxygen emissions are prominent at twilight. Daytime airglow, although drowned by sunlight, is actually 1,000 times as intense as at night.

airmass

The path length that light from a celestial object takes through Earth's atmosphere relative to the length at the zenith. Airmass is 1 at the zenith and roughly 2 at an altitude of 60°. It can be calculated to a good approximation from the formula

A = 1.0 / [cos(Z) + 0.50572 × (96.07995 − Z)−1.6364]

where Z is the zenith angle (the vertical angle of an object from the zenith).

Airy, George Biddell (1801–1892)

An English astronomer, born in Alnwick, Northumberland, who graduated at the head of his class from Cambridge in 1823 shortly after devising a way to correct astigmatism—a condition from which he personally suffered. In 1826 Airy was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics (Newton's old position) at Cambridge, and, two years later, Plumian Professor of Astronomy. As the seventh Astronomer Royal (1835–1881) he turned the Royal Greenwich Observatory into a model of efficiency and a leading center for positional astronomy; the transit telescope he installed defines the location of 0° longitude on Earth. However, Airy's arrogance and disinterest in basic research held up the confirmation of an eighth planet (Neptune) based on predictions by John Adams and also left Greenwich a late-starter in the fields of spectroscopy and astrophysics. His precision, to the point of pedantry, extended to his labeling empty boxes empty.

Airy disk

The central spot in the diffraction pattern of the image of a star at the focus of a telescope, named after George Airy. It is surrounded by several fine diffraction rings like the rings around the bull's-eye of a target. The size of the Airy disk, equal (in radians) to about 1.22λ times the focal ratio, where λ is the wavelength of light, is the same for all telescopes of a given size and is less in instruments of larger aperture. (It is one of the quirks of astronomy that bigger telescopes produce smaller images of stars.) In practice, however, atmospheric turbulence, unless compensated for, results in a false disk that is larger than the Airy disk.

Aitken, Robert Grant (1864–1951)

An American astronomer, born in Jackson, California, who worked at the Lick Observatory from 1895 to 1935, serving the final four years as its director. Specializing in observations of double stars, he discovered 3,100 new pairs including, in 1923, the faint companion of Mira. He published an important catalog of double stars (see Aitken Double Star Catalogue), and also measured positions of comets and planetary satellites and computed their orbits. He was editor of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for many years, wrote an influential book on binary stars, and lectured and wrote widely for the public.

Aitken Double Star Catalogue (ADS)

The name by which Robert Aitken's massive New General Catalogue of Double Stars within 120 Degrees of the North Pole is generally known. Published in two volumes by the Carnegie Institution in 1932, it superceded Sherburne Burnham's 1906 catalog, contained measurements of 17,180 double stars north of declination -30°, and allowed orbit determinations that greatly improved knowledge of stellar masses.

Al Niyat (Sigma and Tau Scorpii, σ Sco and τ Sco)

Two stars of similar brightness in Scorpius with the same Arabic name, meaning artery. They mark the vessels that lead away from the heart of the Scorpion, Antares. σ Sco is a multiple system (visual magnitude 2.90, absolute magnitude -3.87, distance 735 light-years) dominated by a brilliant spectroscopic binary consisting of an O9 (main sequence) dwarf and a B2 giant orbiting each other every 33 days at about the distance of Venus from the Sun. Another B star, two magnitudes fainter, lies 0.4" away, while farther out is a ninth magnitude B9 companion. σ is believed to be part of the Upper Scorpius portion of the Scorpius-Centaurus Association, although it appears to lie almost 300 light-years from the center of this group. It is also involved with a large mass of interstellar gas that it ionizes and causes to glow. Unusual among bright naked-eye stars, σ's light is reddened and dimmed by over a magnitude by interstellar dust.

     The lower of the two artery stars, τ Sco, is a B0 dwarf (visual magnitude 2.78, absolute magnitude 2.82, distance 430 light-years). It, too, is a member of the Upper Scorpius Association and was the first star, other than the Sun, to have its spectrum analyzed in detail (by Albrecht Unsöld in 1939). Its measured rotation speed is very low for a B star—less than 5 km/s, compared with a norm for this type of several hundred km/s. Astronomers suspect it may actually be a fast rotator whose spin axis happens to be pointed almost directly at us. It also shows unusual emission lines in its infrared spectrum, leading some researchers to suggest that it may be a Be star seen pole-on.

Albategnius (Al-Battani, Muhammad ibn Jabir) (c. 850–929)

An Arab prince, born in Batan, Mesopotamia, who was the leading astronomer and mathematician of his time. He drew up improved tables of the Sun and the Moon, measured the eccentricity of Earth's orbit and the inclination of Earth's equator to its orbital plane, and derived an accurate length for the year, which was used in the Gregorian reform of the Julian calendar. His observations at Rakku, made over a 40-year period, were summarized in Movements of the Stars (first published in Europe in 1537) and enabled Hevelius to discover the secular variation in the Moon's motion. In mathematics, Al-Battani introduced the use of signs. See also Arabian astronomy.

albedo

A measure of the reflecting power of a nonluminous object, such as a planet, moon, or asteroid. Albedo (from the Latin albus meaning white) is expressed as the fraction of light and/or other radiation falling on an object that is reflected or scattered back into space; its value ranges from 0, for a perfectly black surface, to 1, for a totally reflective surface. Several different types of albedo are defined. The two main categories are normal albedo and Bond albedo. Normal albedo, also known as normal reflectance, is a measure of a surface's relative brightness when illuminated and observed vertically. Within this category, visual albedo refers to radiation only in the visible part of the spectrum. Geometric albedo, also known as physical albedo, is the ratio between the brightness of an object as seen from the direction of the Sun, and the brightness of a hypothetical white, diffusely reflecting sphere of the same size and at the same distance. The normal albedo of a moon or asteroid, which can be calculated if the object's apparent brightness, size, and distance are known, is an important indicator of surface composition. Bond albedo (named for the American astronomer George Bond), also known as spherical albedo, is the fraction of the total incident solar radiation—the radiation at all wavelengths—that is reflected or scattered by an object in all directions; this is an important measure of a planetary body's energy balance. (See table, "Examples of Visual Albedo.")

Examples of Visual Albedo

albedo feature

A marking on the surface of a celestial object that is significantly brighter or darker than its surroundings. As in the case of Syrtis Major on Mars, it need not necessarily correspond with an actual geological or topographical feature.

albedo Striking albedo variations between the dark maria and bright highland regions of the nearside of the Moon are evident in this composite picture built up from thousands of images taken in the near infrared by the Clementine probe. NASA

Albireo (Beta Cygni, β Cyg)

The second brightest star in Cygnus and widely regarded as one of the most attractive double stars in the sky. Its name is of uncertain provenance, having first appeared in a 1515 translated edition of Ptolemy's Almagest as ab ireo—far from the original Arabic name Al Minhar al Dajajah, meaning hen's beak. Albireo's stellar duet, separated by 35", makes a striking gold-blue contrast, easily seen at low telescopic power. β¹ is an orange giant K star (visual magnitude 3.1, surface temperature 4,100 K, luminosity 100 Lsun, radius 20 Rsun), while its partner, β², is a main-sequence B star (visual magnitude 5.1) that is slightly variable, rapidly rotating, losing matter, and surrounded by a gas disk of its own making. The two rotate around each other at a distance of about 4,400 AU and with a period of about 7,300 years. β¹ is itself a binary system consisting of a B dwarf in a tight orbit around an aging giant.

Alcyone (Eta Tauri, η Tau)

The brightest star in the Pleiades and the only one to have a Bayer designation. Like its bright neighbors, Alcyone is a B star but is somewhat evolved and considered a giant. Its high rotational speed—over 200 km/s (more than 100 times faster than the Sun)—has caused gas to spin from its equator into a surrounding light-emitting disk. This makes Alcyone a Be star but with a disk thicker than usual. A smaller companion lies just a few AU away.

Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri, α Tau)

The brightest star in Taurus, the thirteenth brightest star in the sky, the most luminous star within 100 light-years of the Sun, and the nearest red giant. Its Arabic name, meaning the follower, refers to its apparent pursuit of the Pleiades across the sky. Aldebaran lies in front of the Hyades cluster but is not physically associated with it, being only half as far away. As part of a zodiacal constellation, it is close to the Sun's path, the Sun passing to the north of it around June 1; it is also regularly occulted by the Moon. Aldebaran is a low-level irregular variable that fluctuates by about 0.2 magnitude. Having evolved off the main sequence, it has expanded to a radius of about 40 Rsun—big enough to have a measurable angular diameter of 0.021" (the apparent size of a nickel seen 50 km away). If put in place of the Sun, Aldebaran would stretch halfway to Mercury and span 20° of our sky.

Alderamin (Alpha Cephei, α Cep)

The brightest star in Cepheus and a subgiant A star. Its name comes from the Arabic al dhira al yamin, meaning right arm, which apparently refers to the arm of the king whom the constellation represents. Alderamin lies close to the precessional path of the north celestial pole (see precession of equinoxes), so that it periodically comes within 3° of being an exact pole star—a status it last held in about 18,000 B.C. and will hold again about 5,500 years from now. Its unusually high rotational speed of 246 km/s at the equator (about 125 times higher than the Sun's), prevents the separation of chemical elements that is common to stars of this class. The rapid spin may also be tied to Alderamin's activity. The Sun is magnetically active because its outer third is subject to large convective currents. Such convective zones aren't generally expected in A-type stars; yet Alderamin emits roughly the same amount of X-ray radiation as does the Sun.

Alexandra family

A small family of main-belt asteroids lying at a mean distance of 2.6 to 2.7 AU from the Sun, with orbital inclinations of 11 to 12° and a variety of compositions, including representatives from classes C, G, and T. The prototype, (54) Alexandra, of spectral class C and diameter 165 km, was discovered in 1858 by Hermann Gold-schmidt; its orbital details are: semimajor axis 2.71 AU, perihelion 2.18 AU, aphelion 3.25 AU, eccentricity 0.199, inclination 11.8°.

Alfirk (Beta Cephei, β Cep)

The second brightest star in Cepheus and the prototype Beta Cephei star. Its Arabic name (also spelled Alphirk) may refer to the two stars (the other being Alderamin) or may come from a phrase meaning flock of sheep. A giant B star, Alfirk's chief period is 4.57 hours, during which it varies from magnitude 3.16 to 3.27 and back. Like all Beta Cephei stars, however, Alfirk pulsates with multiple periods, smaller changes taking place with a variety of other periods between 4 and 5 hours, in addition to 6- and 12-day rotational modulations. It is also a Be star that sheds matter and has a magnetic field about 100 times stronger than Earth's. Two smaller, fainter A stars accompany it: the inner, about 45 AU away with an orbital period of some 90 years; the outer, easily seen in a small telescope, at least 2,400 AU away with a period of at least 30,000 years.

Alfvén, Hannes Olof Gösta (1908–1995)

A Swedish physicist known for his pioneering theoretical research in magnetohydrodynamics for which he shared the 1970 Nobel Prize for physics with the Frenchman Louis Néel. In the 1930s, Alfvén suggested that sunspots are the result of the Sun's magnetic field becoming temporarily frozen into the solar plasma. In 1942 he proposed that waves, now known as Alfvén waves, can travel through a plasma under conditions similar to those in the solar atmosphere.

Alfvén wave

A transverse (side-to-side vibrating) wave, similar to a sound wave, that travels along magnetic field lines in a plasma. Its speed of propagation, v, known as the Alfvén speed is given by:

where H is the magnetic field strength, ρ the plasma density, and μ the magnetic permeability.

Algieba (Gamma Leonis, γ Leo)

A magnificent binary system in Leo with orange-red and yellow components visible through a small telescope under good seeing conditions; its Arabic name means the forehead. The brighter component (magnitude 2.6) is a giant K star with a surface temperature of 4,400 K and a luminosity of 180 Lsun; its partner is a magnitude 3.8 giant G star with a temperature of 4,900 K and a luminosity of 50 Lsun. The angular separation of just over 4" means that the two stars are at least 170 AU apart—four times the Pluto-Sun distance—and have an orbital period of over 500 years.

Algol (Beta Persei, β Per)

The second brightest star in Perseus and the prototype eclipsing binary of the type known as Algol stars. Its original Arabic name Ra's al ghul means the demon's head. (A ghoul also appears in the Arabian Nights saga.) In Greek mythology, Algol represents Medusa's head with which Perseus turned Cetus to stone, and the star is traditionally considered unlucky. It consists of a bright B star and a dimmer but much larger giant K star that orbit each other every 2.87 days (69 hours). Because the orbital plane of the two stars lies along our line of sight, the K star periodically passes in front of its smaller partner, obscuring the latter's light and causing a dimming of the combined system from magnitude 2.1 to 3.5. The minimum lasts about 5 hours before the B star comes out of eclipse and Algol's brightness returns to its peak value. A very slight dip in combined brightness happens when the B star blocks a tiny portion of the light from its companion. The first measurement of Algol's period was made by John Goodricke in 1783; however, the star's strange behavior was almost certainly known to Arab astronomers, especially in view of the star's bad reputation. Algol is also famed for the so-called Algol paradox, which is that the more evolved of the stars in the system—the K-class giant—has the lower mass. This seems to break the rule in stellar evolutionary theory that the more massive a star, the faster it will evolve. The only explanation is that, in the past, the dim companion has transferred mass to the B star. The two stars are so close–less than 0.1 AU apart—that as the giant, and initially more massive, star swelled up, it began to lose material to its more compact neighbor, which thereby ended up the heavier of the two. Algol has a third star 1.5 times the mass and radius of the Sun that orbits the close pair in 1.86 years.

Algol star

A type of eclipsing binary, named after the prototype, Algol, that has periods of constant or near-constant brightness between minima, indicating that the two stars form a close binary of the detached or semidetached kind. Thousands of examples are known, with periods ranging from about 5 hours to 30 years and brightness variations of up to several magnitudes. In most cases where mass transfer takes place, it is by direct accretion rather than by an accretion disk. However, an extreme group of eclipsing, mass-transferring binaries, known as W Serpentis stars or hyperactive Algols, does have accretion disks and may be in a pre-Algol-type stage. Algol stars are among the most important kind of star systems in terms of the information they provide on stellar masses and sizes.

Alhazen (Abu Ali al Hassan ibn al Haitham) (c. 965–c. 1040)

An Arab mathematician and physicist who wrote the first important book on optics since the time of Ptolemy, in which he rejected the older notion that light was emitted by the eye in favor of the view accepted today: light from external sources enters and is focused by the eye. His Treasury of Optics (first published in Latin in 1572) discusses lenses, plane and curved mirrors, and colors. Prior to this work he made a near-disastrous expedition to southern Egypt, sponsored by the Caliph al-Hakim, to study possible ways of controlling the Nile. Realizing that the river could not be easily tamed and that heads would (literally) roll when the bad news was relayed, Alhazen feigned madness upon his return and kept up the pretence until the Caliph died in 1021. See also Arabian astronomy.

Alhena (Gamma Geminorum, γ Gem)

A subgiant A star and the third brightest member of Gemini. Its Arabic name (alternatively given as Almeisan) refers to a brand on a horse or a camel. Alhena is a spectroscopic binary with a period of 12.6 years and is the brightest star ever observed to be occulted by an asteroid. In 1991, (381) Myrrha passed in front of Alhena enabling not only the asteroid's diameter (140 km) to be determined but also the fact that the dimmer companion star is a Sun-like G dwarf almost 200 times fainter than Alhena proper. Accumulated observations have shown that the companion, of about 1 solar mass, orbits the 2.8-Msun primary at an average separation of 8.5 AU—approximately the size of Saturn's orbit—but ranges from as close as Earth is to the Sun to about the Uranus-Sun distance.

Alioth (Epsilon Ursae Majoris, e UMa)

The brightest star in Ursa Major and the third star from the end of the Big Dipper's handle; its proper name comes from a corruption of the Arabic meaning black horse. Alioth is the brightest Ap star and is also an Alpha² Canum Venaticorum star with a period of 5.1 days. Its oxygen abundance is 100,000 times greater near the magnetic equator than near the magnetic poles (which are offset from the rotational equator and poles); the amount of chromium varies similarly. Although visually the brightest Ap star, Alioth has one of the weakest magnetic fields of this class—15 times weaker than that observed for Cor Caroli.

Alkaid (Eta Ursae Majoris, η UMa)

The second brightest star in Ursa Major and the end star in the handle of the Big Dipper. Its name (alternatively given as Benetnasch) is a contraction of the phrase ka'id banat al Na'ash meaning chief mourner of the daughters of Al Na'ash (the latter represented by stars in the Dipper's handle) that stand by a funeral bier made of the Dipper's bowl. Alkaid is just below the temperature limit at which stars generate strong X rays because of shock waves in their winds.

Allende meteorite

A carbonaceous chondrite that fell near the village of Pueblito de Allende in the Mexican state of Chihuahua on February 8, 1969, scattering several tons of material over an area of 48 km × 7 km. Specimens of the meteorite were found to contain a fine-grained carbon-rich matrix studded with chondrules, both matrix and chondrules consisting mainly of olivine. Close examination of the chondrules revealed tiny black markings, up to 10 trillion per cm², that were absent from the matrix and taken as evidence of radiation damage. Similar structures have been found in lunar basalts but not in their terrestrial equivalent, which would have been screened from cosmic radiation by Earth's atmosphere and geomagnetic field. Irradiation of the chondrules, it seems, happened after they had solidified but before the cold accretion of matter that took place during the early stages of formation of the solar system, when the parent meteorite came together. The Allende meteorite also contains fine-grained, microscopic diamonds with strange isotopic signatures that point to an extrasolar origin; these interstellar grains are older than the solar system and probably the product of a nearby supernova.

all-sky camera

A camera with a very wide field of view that can be used to observe the sky from horizon to horizon. Such instruments are used, for example, to study aurorae and for meteor and fireball patrols. They produce a circular image with the zenith at the center and the horizon at the circumference.

Almaak (Gamma Andromedae, γ And)

One of the most beautiful double stars in the sky. Its Arabic name (also written as Almach, Almak, Alamak, and Alamaak) is unrelated to the legend of Andromeda but refers instead to a badgerlike animal of the Middle East. Even a small telescope shows a superb pair separated by 10": the brighter component is golden yellow, its partner is blue. The second magnitude primary, γ¹, is a bright giant K star with a surface temperature of about 4,500 K, a luminosity of about 2,000 Lsun, and a radius of 80 Rsun—big enough to swallow the orbit of Venus. Its fainter blue companion, γ², is also double, although the dual nature is more difficult to detect. The two fifth-magnitude stars orbit each other with a period of about 60 years and, despite being near their greatest separation are still only 0.5" apart, and thus almost impossible to see separately. The brighter of these two is itself a spectroscopic binary with a period of 2.7 days. The three components of γ² are all hot main sequence stars with temperatures around 10,000 K.

Almagest

The Arabic title of Ptolemy of Alexandria's Syntaxis, the writings in which he combined his own astronomical research with those of others. Although much of the work is inaccurate, even in premise, it remained the standard reference source in Europe until Nicolaus Copernicus published his results in the sixteenth century.

almanac

A book of tables, usually covering a period of one calendar year, that lists the future positions of the Moon, planets, and other prominent celestial objects, together with other useful astronomical data. Important examples include The Astronomical Almanac and The Nautical Almanac.

Alnair (Alpha Gruis, α Gru)

The brightest star in Grus and the thirtieth brightest star in the sky. Its Arabic name (also written Al Na'ir) means the bright one, and comes from a longer phrase for the bright one in the fish's tail, since the Arabs considered the stars of Grus to be the tail of Piscis Austrinus. Alnair can't be seen from latitudes higher than 42° N.

Alnath (Beta Tauri, β Tau)

A giant B star and the second brightest star in Taurus. Its Arabic name (also written as Elnath, El Nath, and Nath) means the butting one—appropriate to its position at the tip of the Bull's northern horn. Alnath also doubles as the gamma star of neighboring Auriga, although it is now never referred to as Gamma Aurigae. It is distinctive, too, in lying just 3° to the west of the galactic anticenter, the point in the sky that lies directly opposite the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Alnath appears to be a mercury-manganese star, with a manganese abundance 25 times greater than the Sun's but with calcium and magnesium abundances that are only one-eighth solar. Another prominent example of such a star, is, by coincidence, the only other bright star shared by two constellations—Alpheratz (Alpha Andromedae or Delta Pegasi). Alnath has left the main sequence and will evolve, over the next million years or so, to become a cooler, orange giant.

Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis, ε