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synthetic textile fibers

(Encyclopedia)synthetic textile fibers have revolutionized the textile industry. Such artificial fibers are usually long-chain polymers, produced industrially by the condensation of many small units. Orlon is the t...

pika

(Encyclopedia)pika pīˈkə [key], short-haired mammal related to rabbits and hares, also called mouse hare and rock rabbit. Pikas live above the timber line in the mountains of N Asia and W North America. The pika...

zodiacal light

(Encyclopedia)zodiacal light or zodiacal band, a faint band of light sometimes seen in the western sky just after sunset in the spring, extending up from the horizon at the point where the sun has just set, or in t...

ultraviolet astronomy

(Encyclopedia)ultraviolet astronomy, study of celestial objects by means of the ultraviolet radiation they emit, in the wavelength range from about 90 to about 350 nanometers. Ultraviolet (UV) line spectrum measure...

space probe

(Encyclopedia)space probe, space vehicle carrying sophisticated instrumentation but no crew, designed to explore various aspects of the solar system (see space exploration). Unlike an artificial satellite, which is...

X-ray astronomy

(Encyclopedia)X-ray astronomy, study of celestial objects by means of the X rays they emit, in the wavelength range from 0.01 to 10 nanometers. X-ray astronomy dates to 1949 with the discovery that the sun emits X ...

Nichiren

(Encyclopedia)Nichiren nĭchˈərən [key] [Jap.,=sun lotus], 1222–82, Japanese Buddhist priest, founder of Nichiren Buddhism. Of humble birth, Nichiren (whose given name was Zennichimaro) early became a monk, an...

Nicholas Brothers

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas Brothers, African-American tap dance team consisting of Fayard Antonio Nicholas, 1914–2006, b. Mobile, Ala., and Harold Lloyd Nicholas, 1921–2000, b. Winston-Walem, N.C. Performing on sta...

MacLeod, Alistair

(Encyclopedia)MacLeod, Alistair məkloudˈ [key], 1936–2014, Canadian fiction writer, b. John Alexander Joseph MacLeod, Ph.D. Notre Dame, 1968. He taught at the Univ. of Windsor from the late 1960s until his reti...

Rigel

(Encyclopedia)Rigel rīˈjəl [key], bright star in the constellation Orion; Bayer designation Beta Orionis; 1992 position R.A. 5h14.2m, Dec. −8°13′. A huge, blue supergiant of spectral class B8 Ia, Rigel has ...