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Baker, Sir Samuel White

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Samuel White, 1821–93, English explorer in Africa. He explored the Nile tributaries in Ethiopia in 1861–62. Going up the Nile from Cairo, he reached Gondokoro in 1863. He continued his ...

White, Sir George Stuart

(Encyclopedia)White, Sir George Stuart, 1835–1912, British field marshal. He first achieved distinction in the Afghan War of 1878–80. In Myanmar (1885–87), where he was knighted in 1886, in Baluchistan (1889�...

Knights of the White Camellia

(Encyclopedia)Knights of the White Camellia: see Ku Klux Klan. ...

White, John, artist, cartographer, Virginia pioneer

(Encyclopedia)White, John, fl. 1585–93, artist, cartographer, and Virginia pioneer, b. probably in England. In 1585 he was commissioned to go with the expedition to Roanoke Island to depict life in the New World....

champagne, sparkling white wine

(Encyclopedia)champagne shămpānˈ [key], sparkling white wine made from grapes grown in the old French province of Champagne. The best champagne is from that part of the Marne valley whose apex is Reims, the cent...

Sirius

(Encyclopedia)Sirius sĭrˈēəs [key], or Dog Star, brightest star in the sky. It is located in the constellation Canis Major (1992 position R.A. 6h44.8m, Dec. −16°42′); its Bayer designation is Alpha Canis M...

arborvitae

(Encyclopedia)arborvitae ärˌbərvīˈtē [key] [Lat.,=tree of life], aromatic evergreen tree of the genus Thuja of the family Cupressaceae (cypress family), with scalelike leaves borne on flattened branchlets of ...

azalea

(Encyclopedia)azalea əzālˈyə [key] [Gr.,=dry], any species of the genus Rhododendron, North American and Asian shrubs of the family Ericaceae (heath family) that are distinguished by the usually deciduous leave...

Scholz's star

(Encyclopedia)Scholz's star, dim binary star system, consisting of a red dwarf and brown dwarf, in the constellation Monoceros, apparent magnitude 18.3. The red dwarf is a tiny star, with less than ten percent the ...

luminosity

(Encyclopedia)luminosity, in astronomy, the rate at which energy of all types is radiated by an object in all directions. A star's luminosity depends on its size and its temperature, varying as the square of the ra...