The Great Christ Comet (63 page)

Partial lunar eclipse.
When a portion of the Moon passes behind Earth through Earth's shadow.

Perigee.
The point in a celestial body's orbit when it is closest to Earth.

Perihelion.
The point in a celestial body's orbit when it is closest to the Sun.

Perihelion distance (q).
The distance from a solar system body to the Sun when it is closest to it.

Perihelion time (T).
The time in a celestial body's orbit when it is closest to the Sun.

Periodic comet.
A comet that completes a single revolution around the Sun in less than 200 years. (Also called a “short-period comet.”)

Phase angle.
The angle formed where a line extending to a solar system body from the Sun and one extending to the same body from Earth converge.

Planetarium software.
Software that simulates the sky at different points in history.

Planetary perturbations.
A solar system body's deviations from its calculated orbit due to the gravitational forces exerted by other solar system bodies, especially planets such as Jupiter and Saturn.

Precession of the equinoxes.
The slow westward shift of the equinoxes along the ecliptic, caused by the spinning-top-like wobble of Earth's axis. One cycle lasts about 26,000 years.

Progenitor comet.
A parent or ancestor comet.

Prograde.
Orbital movement that is in the same direction as most solar system bodies. When viewed from the vantage point of Earth's North Pole, it is counterclockwise motion.

Pseudonucleus.
A cometary coma's star-like zone of concentrated brightness in the vicinity of the nucleus.

Radiant.
The point from which the meteors in a given meteor shower seem to emanate.

Retrograde.
Orbital movement in a direction opposite to that of most solar system bodies. When viewed from the vantage point of Earth's North Pole, it is clockwise motion.

Return.
A comet's reappearance in connection with a particular perihelion pass.

Semi-major axis.
Half of the longest diameter of an ellipse, measuring from the widest points through the foci and the center.

Short-period comet.
A comet that completes one revolution around the Sun in less than 200 years. (Also called a “periodic comet.”)

Solar wind.
The constant stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun.

Spin axis.
The imaginary line around which an object rotates.

Sporadic meteors.
Meteors that have not been associated with a particular meteor shower.

Sungrazer.
Any of the group of comets that make very close passes by the Sun, coming within 0.01 AU (or 0.05 AU) of it.

Sunskirter.
Any of the group of comets that have a perihelion distance that is greater than 0.01 AU (or 0.05 AU) but less than 0.1 AU.

Superbolide.
A bolide (meteor) that attains to an apparent magnitude of -17 or brighter.

Superior planets.
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (and, in recent times, Uranus and Neptune).

Supernova.
The enormous, catastrophic nuclear explosion of a star that greatly intensifies its brightness for a period up to about three years. A supernova may be due to the cataclysmic ignition of nuclear fusion in a white dwarf's core, or due to a massive star's running out of fuel and then catastrophic collapse under its own gravity.

Surface brightness.
The brightness of a celestial body's brightness per unit area, expressed in magnitudes per square arcsecond/arcminute.

Tail.
Streams of dust and gas expelled from and pushed behind a coma that may become bright enough to be seen on Earth.

Trans-Neptunian object.
Any solar system object with an orbit farther away from the Sun than Neptune (for example, Pluto).

Vernal equinox.
The moment, in the Spring, when the Sun crosses the plane of Earth's equator, with the result that night and day are of equal length. Also, the celestial location of the Sun at the moment of the vernal equinox—known as the First Point of Aries.

Waning gibbous Moon.
The phase of the lunar cycle after a full Moon when the Moon is less than fully, but more than half, illuminated.

Waxing gibbous Moon.
The phase of the lunar cycle before a full Moon when the Moon is more than half, but less than fully, illuminated.

White dwarf.
A still-white-hot, old, dying star that has used up all of its nuclear fuel and has cast off its outer material.

Zenith.
The imaginary point directly above an observer.

Zenith attraction.
An effect in which meteor radiants appear to observers to be closer to the zenith than they really are.

Zodiac (zodiacal signs).
The 12 divisions, each 30 degrees long, into which the zodiacal band is divided in astrology. The divisions are named after the constellations that occupy the zodiacal band.

Zodiacal band.
The band of sky either side of the ecliptic, along which the Sun, Moon, and major planets appear to traverse the heavens.

Zodiacal constellations.
The constellations located along the zodiacal band.

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