Term Index (W)
- W:
- W 51:
- W51: cloud complex radio source
- W boson:
- W Ursae Majoris contact system:
- W Ursae Majoris variable:
- W Virginis variable:
- W0855:
- w1:
- w2:
- w3:
- w4:
- W51: cloud complex radio source
- W51 A:
- W51: cloud complex radio source
- W51 B:
- W51: cloud complex radio source
- W51 C:
- W51: cloud complex radio source
- W0:
- WALLABY:
- WAM:
- MMX: Japanese probe to bring back a sample of a Martian moon
- warm dark matter:
- warm intercloud medium:
- warm ionized medium:
- warm neutral medium:
- warm pixel:
- hot pixel: CCD pixel that shows more brightness than it should
- warp: bend in the otherwise=flat disk of a galaxy
- warped geometry:
- Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS): modern database of double stars
- Washington Naval Observatory:
- USNO: observatory obtaining astronomical data for Naval use
- WASP: multi-university initiative to locate transiting planets
- WASP-33:
- WASP-33b: hot Jupiter discovered in 2010
- WASP-33b: hot Jupiter discovered in 2010
- WASP-67b: hot Jupiter discovered in 2011
- WASP-South:
- SuperWASP (SWASP): broad Earth-based search for transiting planets
- WASP-67b: hot Jupiter discovered in 2011
- WATCH:
- GRANAT: observatory-satellite for detecting gamma rays and X-rays
- water:
- autoconversion rate: rate at which water changes from cloud droplets to new raindrops
- bathymetry: study and measurement of sea depths
- carbonate system: system governing water and CO2 in the presence of each other
- habitability: ability of a planet to support life
- habitable zone (HZ): zone where conditions are favorable for life
- humidity: amount of water vapor in a portion of the atmosphere
- hydrology: study of the movement of water
- ice: solid state of water
- lunar water: water on the moon
- maser: electromagnetic radiation amplified by stimulated emission
- precipitable water vapor (PWV): depth of liquid water equivalent to the atmosphere's water vapor
- snow line: distance from protostar cool enough for water to condense
- supercooling: cooling water below freezing point without it freezing
- superionic ice: odd state of water at high temperature and pressure
- tide: effect of Moon's gravity on Earth's seas, etc.
- water lines: spectral lines specific to water
- water vapor planet: planet showing water vapor in its atmosphere
- water-ice planet: planet made entirely of water ice
- water activity (aw): measure of partial vapor pressure of water
- water cycle:
- water hole:
- water ice:
- ice: solid state of water
- water line:
- snow line: distance from protostar cool enough for water to condense
- water lines: spectral lines specific to water
- water planet:
- water vapor:
- earthshine: reflected and emitted electromagnetic radiation from Earth
- water vapor planet: planet showing water vapor in its atmosphere
- water world: planet with substantial liquid water
- water-ice planet: planet made entirely of water ice
- Waterloo:
- watt (W): SI unit of power
- jansky (Jy): unit of measurement of spectral flux density
- joule (J): SI unit of energy
- luminosity (L): measure of brightness
- wave:
- wave cloud:
- wave dark matter:
- wave equation:
- wave front error:
- wave function:
- wave interference:
- wave mechanics:
- wave period:
- wave-particle duality: at atomic scale, things act like both particles and waves
- wavefront error (WFE): measure of a class of telescope distortion
- wavefront sensor: instrument for determining a wave's deformation
- waveguide:
- wavelength: an alternative description of an electromagnetic wave's frequency or photon energy
- wavenumber (ν): reciprocal of wavelength
- waveplate: type of optical device that alters polarization
- Waves:
- amplitude: the height of a wave
- beat frequency: frequency emerging from two other frequencies
- Doppler shift: wave frequency difference due to relative velocity difference with source
- frequency: number of cycles per unit of time, such as waves per second
- interference: result of interaction of waves
- Juno: mission to Jupiter
- photon energy: the energy carried by a single photon
- plane wave: simplified wave concept useful for modeling
- polarization: property of waves that oscillate in a particular direction
- polarization modes: electric and magnetic aspects of the polarization of electromagnetic radiation
- wave-particle duality: at atomic scale, things act like both particles and waves
- wavefront sensor: instrument for determining a wave's deformation
- wavelength: an alternative description of an electromagnetic wave's frequency or photon energy
- wavenumber (ν): reciprocal of wavelength
- WB:
- WBR:
- WBS:
- Yohkoh: 1990s Japanese solar observatory spacecraft
- WC:
- WD:
- WDM:
- WDS:
- We:
- weak cosmic censorship:
- weak encounter:
- weak force:
- weak gravitational encounter:
- weak gravitational interaction:
- weak gravitational lensing:
- weak lensing (WL): slight lensing detected in random patterns of distant objects
- weak interaction:
- N-body problem: calculating the paths of gravitationally-interacting celestial objects
- weak lensing (WL): slight lensing detected in random patterns of distant objects
- weak radio galaxy:
- weak scattering:
- weak scintillation:
- weak stellar encounter:
- weak-line star: star with faint spectral lines compared to its spectral class
- weak-line T-Tauri star:
- weakly interacting massive particle:
- WIMP: proposed particle comprising dark matter
- weakly ionized:
- weakly-coupled QFT:
- weakly-coupled quantum field theory:
- weather:
- weathering: changes in surface due to contact with atmosphere
- weathering-limited:
- weathering: changes in surface due to contact with atmosphere
- WEAVE: spectrograph under construction for the William Herschel Telescope
- WEB:
- Webb:
- weber:
- magnetic flux (Φ): total magnetism passing through a surface
- tesla (T): unit of magnetic flux density
- WEBT:
- WEI:
- weighted principle component analysis:
- PCA analysis: an automatable method of determining galaxy morphology
- Weizmann Institute:
- WISeREP: interactive catalog of supernovae
- Weizmann Interactive Supernova Data Repository:
- WISeREP: interactive catalog of supernovae
- WENSS:
- USS Sources: catalog of sources with steep spectral index
- Werner band:
- WeSa:
- West Virginia:
- Westerbork Hydrogen Accretion in Local Galaxies Survey:
- Westerbork Northern Sky Survey:
- USS Sources: catalog of sources with steep spectral index
- Westerbork Radio Telescope:
- Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT): radio telescope array of 14 dishes in Netherlands
- Westerhout Radio Survey (W): 1950s radio survey of the galactic plane
- westerlies:
- Hadley cell: circulation pattern of up at the equator, poleward, down, and back
- superrotating wind: wind traveling in the same direction as the planet is rotating
- zonal flow: east-west air circulation
- Westerlund:
- WET:
- WF/PC:
- WF/PC2:
- WFC:
- WFC3:
- WFCAM:
- WFCAM Transit Survey (WTS): 2000s survey for exoplanet transits using UKIRT
- WFE:
- WFI:
- WFIRST:
- WFIRST CGI:
- WFIRST WFI:
- WFIRST-AFTA:
- WFMOS:
- WFOS:
- WFPC2:
- WFSS:
- WG:
- WHIRC:
- Whirlpool Galaxy (M51a,NGC 5194): easily observed spiral galaxy
- white dwarf (WD): stellar remnant of mostly electron degenerate matter
- White Dwarf Catalog:
- white dwarfs:
- white giant:
- white noise:
- red noise: noise tending toward lower frequencies
- Whole Earth Blazer Telescope (WEBT): international initiative to gather blazar lightcurves
- Whole Earth Telescope (WET): international initiative to gather variable star lightcurves
- WHSF:
- WHT:
- WHT Enhanced Area Velocity Explorer:
- WEAVE: spectrograph under construction for the William Herschel Telescope
- Wide Angle Search for Planets:
- WASP: multi-university initiative to locate transiting planets
- Wide Area Search for Planets:
- WASP: multi-university initiative to locate transiting planets
- wide binaries (WB): binary stars thousands of AU apart
- Wide Field Imager:
- Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE): partly-failed 1999 infrared satellite
- Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope:
- Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): infrared space telescope aimed at an all-sky survey
- Wide-field Multi-object Spectrograph (WFMOS): proposed instrument to detect baryon acoustic oscillations
- Wide-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey:
- WINGS: all-sky survey investigating known galaxy clusters
- wide-field slitless spectroscopy:
- Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind Survey:
- Wien approximation: yields approximation of black body curve useful at short wavelengths
- Wien's displacement constant:
- Wien's displacement law: temperature times wavelength with maximum intensity equals a constant
- Wien's law:
- WiggleZ: survey aimed at mapping dark energy
- Wigner crystal: phase of matter formed without specific bonds
- Wild 2:
- Stardust: space mission that collected and returned comet coma dust
- Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP): spacecraft that measured variations in the cosmic background radiation
- William Herschel Telescope (WHT): 4.2 meter telescope in the Canary Islands
- Willman:
- Willman 1:
- Wilson-Bappu effect: a relation between a star's spectral line and luminosity
- Wilson-Bappu relation:
- WIM:
- WIMP: proposed particle comprising dark matter
- dark matter: matter suggested by gravity in galaxies and galaxy clusters
- ZEPLIN: experiment to identify WIMPs with a tank of xenon
- WIMP decoupling:
- decoupling: some type of particle stops being destroyed as often as it is created
- wimp miracle:
- neutralino: proposed type of particle that might include wimps
- wind shear:
- WINDII:
- winding problem:
- window:
- window function: function with a zero value outside some specific range
- windowing function:
- Winer Observatory:
- KELT: pair of telescopes searching for transients
- winged radio galaxy:
- WINGS: all-sky survey investigating known galaxy clusters
- wino:
- supersymmetry (SUSY): extension to standard model of particle physics
- winter solstice:
- solstice: moment when Sun reaches its northern- or southern-most position
- WIRC:
- WIRCam:
- WIRE:
- Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE): 1990s ultraviolet space telescope used on two shuttle missions
- WISDOM:
- WISE:
- WISE 0720-0846:
- WISE 0855-0714 (W0855): nearby brown dwarf
- WISE 1049-5319:
- WISE 1506+7027: nearby brown dwarf
- WISE J072003.20-084651.2:
- WISE J104915.57-531906.1:
- WISE J1147-2040:
- WISEP:
- WISeREP: interactive catalog of supernovae
- WISH:
- WISPR:
- WISS:
- WIYN:
- WIYN 0.9m Telescope:
- WIYN 3.5m Telescope: Kitt Peak telescope run by university collaboration with NOAO
- WL:
- weak lensing (WL): slight lensing detected in random patterns of distant objects
- WLM:
- WMAP:
- WMAP cold spot:
- WMAP1:
- WMAP3:
- WMAP5:
- WMAP7:
- WMAP9:
- WN:
- WNC:
- WNE:
- WNL:
- WNM:
- WNO:
- WO:
- wobble method:
- WOH:
- Wolf:
- Wolf 359: nearby red dwarf
- Wolf number:
- sunspot: temporary darker region of the Sun's surface
- Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte (WLM,DDO 221): irregular galaxy at edge of Local Group
- Wolf-Rayet galaxy: galaxy with a lot of Wolf-Rayet stars
- Wolf-Rayet star: type of star with broad emission bands
- WR 104: Wolf-Rayet star surrounded by spiral nebula
- WR 140: Wolf-Rayet star that produces much dust
- Wollaston prism:
- Wolter telescope: reflector telescope using only shallow-angle reflections
- NuSTAR: space telescope for high-energy X-rays
- WOR:
- work function:
- world cooling:
- dynamo: mechanism for generating magnetic fields around astronomical bodies
- world line:
- worldline: path of an object through space and time
- worldline: path of an object through space and time
- wormhole: connection between two regions in a curved space
- WPCA:
- PCA analysis: an automatable method of determining galaxy morphology
- WR:
- WR 104: Wolf-Rayet star surrounded by spiral nebula
- WR 140: Wolf-Rayet star that produces much dust
- WR galaxy:
- WR star:
- Wray:
- WRD:
- WRF:
- MarsWRF: Mars-oriented general circulation model
- WRG:
- WRH:
- WSRT:
- WT:
- WTS:
- WTTS:
- WUPPE:
- WXM:
- WYFFOS:
- WZ:
Index