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radar astronomy

(Encyclopedia)radar astronomy, application of radar to the determination of distances and planetary features within the solar system, such as rotation rates. A short burst of radio waves is transmitted in the direc...

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...

Datong

(Encyclopedia)Datong or Tatung both: däˈto͞ong [key], city, N Shanxi prov., China. It is an important industrial and ...

Crespi, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Crespi, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä krāsˈpē [key], c.1575–1632, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect of the Milanese school. He was also called Il Cerano. His paintings are ...

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey

(Encyclopedia)Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 1836–1907, American author and editor, b. Portsmouth, N.H. His most widely read work was The Story of a Bad Boy (1870), a vigorous narrative based on his own boyhood. His sho...

Day, Clarence Shepard

(Encyclopedia)Day, Clarence Shepard, 1874–1935, American essayist, b. New York City, grad. Yale, 1896. His biographical sketches of his parents, God and My Father (1932), Life with Father (1935), and Life with Mo...

chintz

(Encyclopedia)chintz chĭnts [key] [probably Hindustani,=variegated], originally a painted or stained calico from India. Esteemed for its bright colors and designs, it was used in Europe for bedcovers and draperies...