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gram

(Encyclopedia)gram, abbr. g, unit of mass equal to 0.001 kilogram, the basic unit of mass in the metric system. The gram is the unit of mass in the cgs system. It is approximately equal to 0.035 avoirdupois ounce, ...

centimeter

(Encyclopedia)centimeter sĕnˈtĭmēˌtər [key], abbr. cm, unit of length equal to 0.01 meter, the basic unit of length in the metric system. The centimeter is the unit of length in the cgs system. It is approxim...

Arizona, University of

(Encyclopedia)Arizona, University of, at Tucson; land-grant and state-supported; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891. Because of the proximity of Pueblo villages and rich archaeological sites, Native America...

Aratus, Greek poet

(Encyclopedia)Aratus ərāˈtəs [key], fl. 3d cent. b.c., Greek court poet, from Soli in Cilicia. He wrote an astronomical treatise, Phenomena, which was quoted by Paul at Athens. ...

foot-pound

(Encyclopedia)foot-pound, abbr. ft-lb, unit of work or energy in the customary English gravitational system; it is the work done or energy expended by a force of 1 pound acting through a distance of 1 foot. It is e...

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

(Encyclopedia)Theodore Roosevelt National Park, 70,447 acres (28,531 hectares), W N.Dak., in the Badlands and on the Little Missouri River; est. 1947. There are three units—the North Unit, the Elkhorn Ranch Unit,...

transit

(Encyclopedia)transit, in astronomy, passage of a body across a meridian or passage of a small body across the visible disk of a larger one. (The passage of a large body across a smaller one is called an eclipse or...

Low, Frank James

(Encyclopedia)Low, Frank James, 1933–2009, American astronomer and physicist, b. Mobile, Ala., grad. Yale (B.S. 1955), Rice Univ. (M.A. 1957, Ph.D 1959). Low, who worked at Texas Instruments and the National Radi...

twilight

(Encyclopedia)twilight, period between sunset and total darkness or between total darkness and sunrise. Total darkness does not occur immediately when the sun sinks below the horizon because light from the sun that...

Royal Greenwich Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Royal Greenwich Observatory, astronomical observatory established in 1675 by Charles II of England at Greenwich and known as the Royal Observatory. It moved during 1948–57 to Herstmonceux Castle, Su...