Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

celestial sphere

(Encyclopedia)celestial sphere, imaginary sphere of infinite radius with the earth at its center. It is used for describing the positions and motions of stars and other objects. For these purposes, any astronomical...

Medici, Italian family

(Encyclopedia)Medici mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], Italian family that directed the destinies of Florence from the 15th cent. until 1737. Of obscure origin, they rose to immense wealth as merchants and ba...

ecliptic coordinate system

(Encyclopedia)ecliptic coordinate system, an astronomical coordinate system in which the principal coordinate axis is the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun through the heavens. The ecliptic poles are the two p...

Como, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Como, Lake kōˈmō [key], Ital. Lago di Como or Lario, c.56 sq mi (145 sq km), 30 mi (48 km) long and from 1⁄2 to 21⁄2 mi (0.8–4 km) wide, in Lombardy, N Italy. Lake Como is a natural widening ...

Hoy

(Encyclopedia)Hoy, island, 13 mi (21 km) long and 6 mi (9.7 km) wide, off N Scotland, second largest of the Orkney Islands. It is located at the southwestern side of the Scapa Flow anchorage. Ward Hill (1,565 ft/47...

Gera

(Encyclopedia)Gera gāˈrä [key], city, Thuringia, E Germany, on the White Elster River. It is an industri...

Gallup

(Encyclopedia)Gallup, town (2020 pop. 21,899), alt. 6,515 ft (1,986 m), seat of McKinley co., NW N.Mex., on the Puerco River near the Ariz. line; inc. 1891. It is a r...

Garcilaso de la Vega, Spanish poet

(Encyclopedia)Garcilaso de la Vega gärthēläˈsō ᵺā lä vāˈgä [key], 1503?–1536, lyric poet of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Toledo. Garcilaso, the embodiment of the cultured and gifted courtier, was chiefl...

Miami, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Miami mīămˈē, –ə [key] or Great Miami, river, c.160 mi (260 km) long, formed in W Ohio near Indian Lake and flowing generally SW past Dayton to the Ohio River at the Ind. line. The Miami River ...

Pascin, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Pascin, Jules zhül päskăNˈ [key], 1885–1930, American painter, b. Bulgaria. Born Julius Pincas, he moved to Paris in 1905. He acquired American citizenship in 1914. Essentially a draftsman, belo...