The Story of Astronomy (34 page)

quasar
A powerful “quasi-stellar radio source” with a very large
REDSHIFT
.

radio galaxy
A galaxy that emits most of its radiation in the radio part of the
SPECTRUM
.

radio waves
Long wavelength
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
, used for radio and TV communication.

radius vector
A variable line drawn to a curve from a fixed point as origin: in astronomy the origin is usually at the Sun or a planet round which a satellite revolves.

red dwarf
A low-mass star on the main sequence of the
H–R DIAGRAM
.

red giant
A large cool star with a high luminosity.

redshift
The shifting of light to longer wavelengths. It can be caused by gravitational fields or by high speeds of recession. The shifting of light to shorter wavelengths is called blueshift.

reflection nebula
A dense cloud of gas in interstellar space, illuminated by the light of stars lying behind it.

relativity
The theory of time and space in the universe as developed by Albert Einstein.

satellite
A body in orbit around a larger astronomical body.

Seyfert galaxy
A
SPIRAL
GALAXY
with a bright nucleus and with emission lines in its spectrum.

solar system
The system of all the astronomical objects subjected to the Sun's gravity.

solar wind
A flow of
PROTONS
and
ELECTRONS
emitted by the Sun.

spectrum
The result of passing light through a prism to spread out the various colors. The spreading out of other parts of
ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATION
by similar means.

spiral arms
Arms of gas, dust and stars associated with
SPIRAL GALAXIES
.

spiral galaxy
A flattened and rotating galaxy with two spiral arms winding out from the nuclear bulge at the center of the galaxy.

star
A sphere of gas giving out radiation in the
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
.

starburst
A place where there is an exceptionally high rate of star formation.

stellar wind
Equivalent to
SOLAR WIND
, but applied to any star.

supergiant
A star with very high luminosity.

supernova
A rare stellar explosion when a star can increase its brightness by a millionfold.

supernova remnant
The remnant left over when a
SUPERNOVA
loses its brightness.

transit
The passage of one astronomical body across the face of another, for example the planet Venus on the face of the Sun.

ultraviolet
The part of the
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
beyond the violet end of visible light.

universe
The whole of space, consisting of matter, energy and radiation.

visible light
The part of the
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
that can be seen with the naked eye.

white dwarf
A stellar remnant that has exhausted all its thermonuclear fuel and can no longer shine.

X-ray radiation
High-frequency radiation between the gamma ray spectrum and
ULTRAVIOLET
light.

X-ray star
A
NEUTRON STAR
in a binary system that emits bursts of X-rays.

zenith
The point of the sky directly overhead. The highest
point of the celestial sphere viewed from any particular place. The opposite to a
NADIR
.

zodiac
The 12 sections of the sky recognized by astronomers and astrologers. Astrologers lay great store by which planets appear in which signs of the zodiac.

Armitage, A.,
Edmond Halley
(Nelson 1966)

Aughton, P.,
Newton's Apple
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2002)

Aughton, P.,
Transit of Venus
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2004)

Buttman, G.,
William Herschel
(WVG Stuttgart 1961)

Comins, N.F. and Kaufmann, W.J.,
Discovering the Universe
(W.H. Freeman 2005)

Donahue, W.H.
Johannes Kepler's New Astronomy
(Cambridge University Press 1992)

Gribbin, J.,
In Search of the Big Bang
(Heinemann 1986)

Hall, A.S.,
The Scientific Revolution 1500–1800
(Longman 1954)

Hawking, S.,
A Brief History of Time
(Bantam 1988)

Hawking, S.,
The Universe in a Nutshell
(Transworld 2001)

Hoffmann, B.,
Einstein
(Paladin 1975)

Hogben, L.,
Science for the Citizen
(George Allen 1938)

Longair, M.S.,
Our Evolving Universe
(Cambridge University Press 1996)

Mitton, S.,
The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy
(Jonathan Cape 1977)

Moore, P.,
Watchers of the Stars
(Michael Joseph 1974)

Roos, M.,
Introduction to Cosmology
(Wiley 2003)

Sagan, C.,
Cosmos
(Abacus 1980)

Skeat, W.W.,
Chaucer, the Complete Works
(Oxford University Press 1912)

Weinberg, S.,
The First Three Minutes
(André Deutsch 1977)

Westfall, R.S.,
Never at Rest
(Cambridge University Press 1980)

White and Gribbin,
Stephen Hawking, A Life in Science
(Penguin 1992)

Wolf, A.,
A History of Science, Technology and Philosophy
2nd edn. (Allen Unwin 1950)

Wright, W.A. (ed.),
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
(Macmillan 1973)

Abell, George,
351

Abul Wala,
57

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,
147

Académie Royale d'Architecture,
147
–8

Académie Royale des Sciences,
147
–8,
149
–50

active optics,
321

Adams, John Couch,
192
–3

adaptive optics,
321

Adelard of Bath,
65
–6

al-Birini,
57
–8

al-Hakim, Caliph,
59

Al Sufi Abd al-Rahman (Azophi),
56
–7

Albategnius,
56
,
60
,
61

Alexander the Great,
24

Alexandria (Egypt),
24
,
36
,
37
–8,
53

Lighthouse,
35

algebra,
55
,
61
–2

Alhazen,
58
–9

Allen Telescope Array,
274
–5

Almagest
,
43
–9,
67

amateur astronomers: role,
325

Andalusia,
53
–4,
65
–6

Andromeda Galaxy,
57
,
233
–4,
237
–8

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
,
68

angular measurement: origin of degrees and minutes,
18

Antikythera instrument,
51
–2

Apollo
missions,
306
–7

Apollonius of Perga,
45
,
48
,
62
,
93

Arabian and Persian astronomy,
53
–66

arc of the meridian,
159

Archimedes,
98

Aristarchus,
25
–31

Aristotle,
24
–5,
32
,
105
–6

Armstrong, Neil,
306
–7

Arrest, Heinrich Louis d,'
193

Arzachel,
59
–60

astrolabes,
51
–2,
54
–5,
60
,
70
–1,
162

astrology

Arab,
57
–8

beginnings,
12

in Renaissance,
72
,
73
,
82
–3,
84
,
87
,
88
,
94
–5

astrophotography,
203
–5

atmospheric refraction,
34

atomic weapons,
225
–6

atoms,
198
,
247
–58,
265
–9

Augustus, Roman emperor,
42

Azophi
see
Al Sufi Abd al-Rahman

Aztecs,
13
–14

B
²
FH paper,
265
–7,
297
–8

Babbage, Charles,
188

Babylonians,
18
–20

Barberini, Cardinal
see
Urban VIII, Pope

Barrow, Isaac,
135

Bell, Jocelyn,
261
–3

Ben Sabbah,
60
–1

Bessel, Friedrich W.,
200

Besso, Michele,
211

Betelgeuse,
252
–3

Big Bang

and black holes,
302

criticisms,
243
,
265
–6

Hubble's contribution,
240
–1

origins of theory,
222

overview,
326
–39

and singularities,
299

situation,
289

black holes

first suggestion of existence,
155
–6

overview,
269
–73,
276
–9,
298
–303

and quasars,
281
,
298

supermassive,
352
–3

theory universe is contained inside,
287
–9

Bohr, Niels,
248
–9

Bondi, Hermann,
243
,
297

Brahe, Tycho,
81
–8,
90
,
95
,
116
,
258

Brown, Michael,
318

brown dwarfs,
349

Bruno, Giordano,
70
,
96
–7

Brunowski, Johann,
91

Burbidge, Geoffrey,
298

Burbidge, Margaret,
298

Byzantines,
52
–3

Caccini, Tommaso,
103

calculus,
133
–4,
156
–7,
189

tensor calculus,
224

calendars

ancient,
13
–14

Arab,
61

Babylonian,
18
–20

Chinese,
49
–50

Egyptian,
20
–1

Gregorian,
41
,
56
,
73
–4

Julian,
41
–2

Sumerian,
17
–18

Callisto,
314
,
315

Cambridge University,
112
–14,
129
–30,
135
,
261
–2,
292
–3

Camden, William,
110

Canopus,
33
–4

carbon: formation,
253
,
266
–7

Cassini, Gian-Domenico,
151
–2,
158

Cassini, Jacques,
159

Cassini, Jean-Dominique, comte de,
160

Cassini de Thury (Cassini III),
159
–60

Cassini
spacecraft,
312
,
316

Cassini division,
158
–9

Castelli, Benedetto,
104

Centurion
(ship),
173

Cepheid variables,
230
–1,
237
–8,
341

Ceres,
318

CERN,
333

Chaldeans,
33

Challis, James,
192
–3

Chandra Observatory and Telescope,
322
,
324

Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan,
256
,
324

Charles II, king of Great Britain and Ireland,
165

Charon,
318

Chaucer, Geoffrey,
70
–1

Cheever, Ezekiel,
114

chemical compounds: notation system,
198

Chinese astronomy,
12
,
49
–50,
258

Christian IV, king of Denmark,
87

Chwolson, Orest,
223

El Cid,
65

clocks and watches

17th-century manufacture,
111

at Greenwich,
167

radium clocks,
249

regulation by pendulum,
96
–7,
99

shipboard,
172
–6

CMB (cosmic microwave background),
327
–30,
335
–6,
339

Colbert, Jean-Baptiste,
147
,
151

collimators,
322

Columbus, Christopher,
162

comets

and amateur astronomers,
325

discovered by SOHO,
323

Halley's,
68
–9

Helvelius' observations,
126
–7

Kuiper Belt,
319

mentions in
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
,
68

Oort Cloud,
319

Shoemaker-Levy
9
,
313
,
325

supposed influence on life on Earth,
11
,
49

Tempel 1's contrived collision with spacecraft,
324
–5

compasses,
194

Compton Telescope,
322

conic sections,
48
,
62
,
93