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Al-Battani

(Encyclopedia)Al-Battani ălˌbətēˈnēəs [key], b. before 858, d. 929, Arab astronomer and mathematician. He is best known in astronomy for his improvements and corrections of the Ptolemaic tradition. His Kitab...

Bode's law

(Encyclopedia)Bode's law [for J. E. Bode], also known as Titius's law or the Titius-Bode law, empirical relationship between the mean distances of the planets from the sun. If each number in the series 0, 3, 6, 12,...

occultation

(Encyclopedia)occultation ŏkˌəltāˈshən [key], in astronomy, eclipse of one celestial body by another, e.g., when the moon lies between a star and the earth. Occultations of stars by the moon are important in ...

solar system

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Solar system CE5 solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the ...

Flammarion, Camille

(Encyclopedia)Flammarion, Camille kämēˈyə flämäryôNˈ [key], 1842–1925, French astronomer and author. He served for some years at the Paris Observatory and the Bureau of Longitudes, and in 1883 he set up a...

astrophysics

(Encyclopedia)astrophysics, application of the theories and methods of physics to the study of stellar structure, stellar evolution, the origin of the solar system, and related problems of cosmology. The distinctio...

eccentricity

(Encyclopedia)eccentricity, in astronomy: see orbit. ...

filament

(Encyclopedia)filament, in astronomy: see chromosphere. ...

granule

(Encyclopedia)granule, in astronomy: see photosphere. ...

twinkling

(Encyclopedia)twinkling, in astronomy: see seeing. ...