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quarter horse

(Encyclopedia)quarter horse, American breed of light horse that originated during the colonial era, partly from Arabian ancestry (see Arabian horse). The name refers to the horse's reputation for speed at the quart...

color

(Encyclopedia)color, effect produced on the eye and its associated nerves by light waves of different wavelength or frequency. Light transmitted from an object to the eye stimulates the different color cones of the...

interference

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Constructive interference: Two crests or two troughs meet and combine (A, B, C). Destructive interference: A crest and a trough meet and cancel each other (D, E, F). interference, in physics, ...

Yeager, Chuck

(Encyclopedia)Yeager, Chuck (Charles Elwood Yeager) yāˈgər [key], 1923–2020, American aviator, b. Myra, W.Va. An ace fighter pilot during World War II, he was a military test pilot during the early postwar yea...

neutrino astronomy

(Encyclopedia)neutrino astronomy, study of stars by means of their emission of neutrinos, fundamental particles that result from nuclear reactions and are emitted by stars along with light. Approximately 100 billio...

quasar

(Encyclopedia)quasar kwāˈsär [key], one of a class of blue celestial objects having the appearance of stars when viewed through a telescope and currently believed to be the most distant and most luminous objects...

Perrine, Charles Dillon

(Encyclopedia)Perrine, Charles Dillon pərīnˈ [key], 1867–1951, American astronomer, b. Steubenville, Ohio. He was on the staff of Lick Observatory (1893–1909) and was (1909–36) director of the Argentine Na...

mass, in physics

(Encyclopedia)mass, in physics, the quantity of matter in a body regardless of its volume or of any forces acting on it. The term should not be confused with weight, which is the measure of the force of gravity (se...

Milky Way

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Position of the sun in the Milky Way Milky Way, the galaxy of which the sun and solar system are a part, seen as a broad band of light arching across the night sky from horizon to horizon; if ...

cruiser

(Encyclopedia)cruiser, large, fast, moderately armed warship, intermediate in type between the aircraft carrier and the destroyer. During World War II, battle cruisers operated as small battleships, combining in on...