General astronomy

General astronomy

Industry: Astronomy

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General astronomy

arcminute

Astronomy; General astronomy

A unit of angle equal to 1/60 of a degree.

aspheric

Astronomy; General astronomy

An optical surface with departures in shape from a perfect sphere in order to cancel optical imperfections or aberrations.

A sparsely populated grouping (mass range 102-103 Msun) of very young, massive stars lying along a spiral arm of the Milky Way, whose spectral types or motions in the sky indicate a common origin. ...

asterism

Astronomy; General astronomy

a group of bright stars which form a conspicuous pattern on the celestial sphere

asteroid (minor planet, planetoid)

Astronomy; General astronomy

Also called planetoids or minor planets, the asteroids are tiny planets most of which orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The largest - and the first discovered - is Ceres, with a diameter of ...

asteroid belt

Astronomy; General astronomy

A region of space lying between Mars (1.5 AU) and Jupiter (5.2 AU), where the great majority of the asteroids are found. None of the belt asteroids have retrograde motion.

astrology

Astronomy; General astronomy

1) Divination using the positions of the planets, the Sun and the Moon as seen against the stars in the constellations of the zodiac - a "science" almost as old as homo sapiens. Although at one stage ...