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Star of Bethlehem, in the Gospels

(Encyclopedia)Star of Bethlehem, name given to the luminous celestial object rising in the sky that, as related in the Gospel of Matthew, led the Wise Men of the East to the manger in Bethlehem where Jesus was born...

water, desalination of

(Encyclopedia)water, desalination of, process of removing soluble salts from water to render it suitable for drinking, irrigation, or industrial uses. The principal methods used for desalination include distillatio...

Canis Minor

(Encyclopedia)Canis Minor [Lat.,=lesser dog], small constellation ying near the celestial equator, E of Orion and NE of Canis Major, the Large Dog. Known as the Small Dog, Canis Minor is traditionally identified as...

bodhisattva

(Encyclopedia)bodhisattva bōˌdĭsätˈwə [key] [Sanskrit,=enlightenment-being], in early Buddhism the term used to refer to the Buddha before he attained supreme enlightenment; more generally, any being destined...

planetarium

(Encyclopedia)planetarium, optical device used to project a representation of the heavens onto a domed ceiling; the term also designates the building that houses such a device. A modern planetarium consists of as m...

Lange, Friedrich Albert

(Encyclopedia)Lange, Friedrich Albert frēˈdrĭkh älˈbĕrt längˈə [key], 1828–75, German neo-Kantian philosopher. He accepted the materialistic method of investigating phenomena but rejected its concept of ...

time , sequential arrangement of all events

(Encyclopedia)time, sequential arrangement of all events, or the interval between two events in such a sequence. The concept of time may be discussed on several different levels: physical, psychological, philosophi...

Levi-Civita, Tullio

(Encyclopedia)Levi-Civita, Tullio to͞olˈlyō lāˈvē-chēˈvētä [key], 1873–1942, Italian mathematician. He taught at the universities of Padua (1898–1919) and Rome (1919–38) and was noted for his resear...

Airy, Sir George Biddell

(Encyclopedia)Airy, Sir George Biddell, 1801–92, English astronomer. The son of a poor farmer, he distinguished himself as Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, where he was elected fellow of Trinity College (1824) and a...

quadrature

(Encyclopedia)quadrature, in astronomy, arrangement of two celestial bodies at right angles to each other as viewed from a reference point. If the reference point is the earth and the sun is one of the bodies, a pl...