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red giant

(Encyclopedia)red giant, star that is relatively cool but very luminous because of its great size. All normal stars are expected to pass eventually through a red-giant phase as a consequence of stellar evolution. A...

Reed, Ishmael Scott

(Encyclopedia) Reed, Ishmael Scott, 1938- , African-American novelist, poet, and social critic, b. Chattanooga, Tn. When he was a child, Reed’s family moved ...

Struve

(Encyclopedia)Struve shtro͞oˈvə [key], family of astronomers. Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, 1793–1864, was born in Germany but later lived in Russia. While director (1817–39) of Dorpat Observatory he w...

thunderstorm

(Encyclopedia)thunderstorm, violent, local atmospheric disturbance accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, often by strong gusts of wind, and sometimes by hail. The typical thunderstorm caused by convect...

scandium

(Encyclopedia)scandium skănˈdēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Sc; at. no. 21; at. wt. 44.95591; m.p. 1,541℃; b.p. 2,831℃; sp. gr. 2.99 at 20℃; valence +3. Scandium is a soft silver-white metal...

sphinx

(Encyclopedia)sphinx sfĭngks [key], mythical beast of ancient Egypt, frequently symbolizing the pharaoh as an incarnation of the sun god Ra. The sphinx was represented in sculpture usually in a recumbent position ...

celestial mechanics

(Encyclopedia)celestial mechanics, the study of the motions of astronomical bodies as they move under the influence of their mutual gravitation. Celestial mechanics analyzes the orbital motions of planets, dwarf pl...

Cassini

(Encyclopedia)Cassini käs-sēˈnē [key], name of a family of Italian-French astronomers, four generations of whom were directors of the Paris Observatory. Gian Domenico Cassini, 1625–1712, was born in Italy and...

Turner, Joseph Mallord William

(Encyclopedia)Turner, Joseph Mallord William, 1775–1851, English landscape painter, b. London. Turner was the foremost English romantic painter and the most original of English landscape artists; in watercolor he...

cosmology

(Encyclopedia)cosmology, area of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe. The earliest pre-Ptolemaic theories assumed that the earth was the cent...