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sea whip

(Encyclopedia)sea whip, erect colony of marine animals of the phylum Cnidaria, with whiplike branches. The skeleton consists of a horny axis, overlaid with small calcareous bodies called spicules. Often beautifully...

precession of the equinoxes

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Precession of the equinoxes (the points at which the earth's celestial equator intersects its ecliptic) is due to the slow rotation of the earth's axis around a perpendicular to the ecliptic. ...

Gombos, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Gombos, Julius gömˈbösh [key], Hung. Gömbös Gyula, 1886–1936, Hungarian premier and officer. He was minister of war under the premiership of Stephen Bethlen (1921–31) and of Julius Károlyi (...

Alamein, El

(Encyclopedia)Alamein, El äl älămānˈ [key], town, N Egypt, on the Mediterranean Sea. It was the site of a decisive British victory in World War II (see North Africa, campaigns in). In preparation for an attack...

centrifuge

(Encyclopedia)centrifuge sĕnˈtrəfyo͞oj [key], device using centrifugal force to separate two or more substances of different density, e.g., two liquids or a liquid and a solid. The centrifuge consists of a fixe...

vortex

(Encyclopedia)vortex vôrˈtĕks [key], mass of fluid in whirling or rotary motion. To simplify the analysis, vortex motion usually describes motions in a frictionless fluid. In such cases the absence of friction w...

North Africa, campaigns in

(Encyclopedia)North Africa, campaigns in, series of military contests for control of North Africa during World War II. The desert war started in 1940 and for more than two years thereafter seesawed between NE Libya...

Franco, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Franco, Francisco fränthēsˈkō frängˈkō [key], 1892–1975, Spanish general and caudillo [leader]. He became a general at the age of 32 after commanding the Spanish Foreign Legion in Morocco. Du...

ecliptic coordinate system

(Encyclopedia)ecliptic coordinate system, an astronomical coordinate system in which the principal coordinate axis is the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun through the heavens. The ecliptic poles are the two p...

diurnal circle

(Encyclopedia)diurnal circle dīûrˈnəl [key], apparent path followed by a star due to the earth's rotation on its axis. The stars appear to move on the celestial sphere in concentric circular paths centered at t...