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Beaufort scale

(Encyclopedia)Beaufort scale, a scale of wind velocity devised (c.1805) by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort of the British navy. An adaptation of Beaufort's scale is used by the U.S. National Weather Service; it employ...

nebula

(Encyclopedia)nebula nĕbˈyo͝olə [key] [Lat.,=mist], in astronomy, observed manifestation of a collection of highly rarefied gas and dust in interstellar space. Prior to the 1960s this term was also applied to b...

solar energy

(Encyclopedia)solar energy, any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. Solar energy is needed by green plants...

quantum electrodynamics

(Encyclopedia)quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum field theory that describes the properties of electromagnetic radiation and its interaction with electrically charged matter in the framework of quantum theory. ...

lens, in optics

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Lenses lens, device for forming an image of an object by the refraction of light. In its simplest form it is a disk of transparent substance, commonly glass, with its two surfaces curved or wi...

Kyustendil

(Encyclopedia)Kyustendil kyo͝ostĕndēlˈ [key], city (1993 pop. 54,452), SW Bulgaria, near the Serbian border. Famous for its mineral springs used to heat hothouses, Kyustendil is a market city for fruit and othe...

Lagoon Nebula

(Encyclopedia)Lagoon Nebula, bright, diffuse nebula in the southern constellation Sagittarius; cataloged as M8 or NGC 6526. It is visible to the naked eye and has an angular area larger than that of the full moon. ...

Morley, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Morley, Christopher, 1890–1957, American editor and author, b. Haverford, Pa., grad. Haverford College, 1910. He was a Rhodes scholar. Morley was one of the founders of the Saturday Review of Litera...

Leshan

(Encyclopedia)Leshan lōˈshänˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 384,300), central Sichuan prov., China, just S of Chengdu, on the Min River. Heavy industry is the city's largest source of income; agriculture and ligh...

McAllen

(Encyclopedia)McAllen, city (1990 pop. 84,021), Hidalgo co., extreme S Tex., on the Rio Grande; inc. 1911. It is a port of entry and a packing and processing center for the citrus fruit, truck crops, and other prod...