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Telesto

(Encyclopedia)Telesto təlĕsˈtō [key], in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn XIII (or S13), Telesto is an irregularly shaped (nonspherical) body measuring a...

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...

year

(Encyclopedia)year, time required for the earth to complete one orbit about the sun. The solar or tropical year is measured relative to the sun and is equal to 365 days, 5 hr, 48 min, 46 sec of mean solar time (see...

Ångström, Anders Jöns

(Encyclopedia)Ångström, Anders Jöns änˈdərs yöns ōngˈström [key], 1814–74, Swedish physicist. He was educated at the Univ. of Uppsala and in 1839 became a member of its faculty. He is particularly noted...

Wisconsin, University of

(Encyclopedia)Wisconsin, University of, main campus at Madison; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1848, opened 1849. Its history was disturbed by storms over the policies of Glenn Frank and o...

binary star

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Eclipsing binary: Primary component passing behind secondary (dimmer) component B. Light curve for eclipsing binary binary star or binary system, pair of stars that are held together by the...

Giacconi, Riccardo

(Encyclopedia)Giacconi, Riccardo, 1931–2018, Italian-American astrophysicist, b. Milan, Italy, Ph.D. Univ. of Milan 1954. He was a researcher at American Science and Engineering Corporation (1959–73), professor...

tropical year

(Encyclopedia)tropical year, time between successive vernal equinoxes; 365 days, 5 hr, 48 min, 46 sec of mean solar time (see solar time). The tropical year is the basis of the year used in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Lockyer, Sir Joseph Norman

(Encyclopedia)Lockyer, Sir Joseph Norman lŏkˈyər [key], 1836–1920, English astronomer, educated on the Continent. One of the first to make a spectroscopic examination of the sun and stars, he devised (1868), i...

court system in the United States

(Encyclopedia)court system in the United States, judicial branches of the federal and state governments charged with the application and interpretation of the law. The U.S. court system is divided into two administ...