#astero

• Arsinoe — A proper name of ancient Greek origin, historically borne by several famous queens and princesses of the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, notably Arsinoe II and Arsinoe IV (the sister of Cleopatra). In geography, the name designated various ancient cities in the Mediterranean basin renamed in honor of these sovereigns, while in modern science, the term identifies asteroid 404 Arsinoe from the main belt and a genus of fossil mammals from the Embrithopoda order (Arsinoitherium).
• Artemis — An adapted form or literary variant for Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, forests, wild animals, and the Moon in Greek mythology, twin sister of Apollo; (in astronomy) a designation attributed to certain celestial bodies, asteroids, or large planetary geological structures; (in biology) a name used regionally or scientifically in the classification of certain medicinal or aromatic plant species from the Artemisia family or aquatic organisms from the Artemia genus.
• Astérie — An old popular name or rare lexical regionalism used in isolation to name the starfish (a marine invertebrate of the Asteroidea class); the term represents a direct adaptation of the noun from the French language ('astérie') or classical Latin, preserved in old 19th-century natural history translations.
• Astero- — A scientific combining form (prefixoid) extracted from the Greek language (from 'aster, asteros'); it means star, star-shaped, radiate, or relating to stars and celestial bodies. It is widely used in international scientific terminology (botany, zoology, astronomy, geology) to form neologisms describing radial structures or cosmic phenomena.
• Asterocarpous — Having star-shaped fruits or fruits arranged in a radiate, star-like manner; a specialized botanical adjective used to describe plants, shrubs, or species whose capsules, berries, or fruiting organs display protrusions or geometric arrangements visually reminiscent of a star.
• Asteroid — A rocky or metallic celestial body, much smaller than a planet, orbiting the Sun, with most clustered in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter; as an adjective, it describes an object, organism, or structure exhibiting a stellar shape or star-like radial symmetry.
• Asteroidea — A major taxonomic class of marine invertebrates in the phylum Echinodermata, grouping all true species of starfish; they are characterized by a flat central disc body from which multiple radiate arms (typically five) extend symmetrically, covered by a calcareous exoskeleton and equipped with tube feet for locomotion.
• Asteronym — A type of hidden pseudonym or a masking of an author's identity by using a cluster of three or more asterisks (***) in place of the real name; a cryptonymic device historically used in literature and journalism to sign anonymous articles or literary works, protecting the writer's identity within a magazine.
• Astronomer — An old, rare, popular form or archaic adaptation utilized in the past to name the astronomer (a scientist specialized in the study of stars, galaxies, and the universe); a term encountered in old documents and early translations of science popularization books from the 19th-century period.
• Asteropsia — A rare visual perception disorder or subjective optical phenomenon where a patient perceives luminous spots, sparks, or star-shaped radiating reflections within the visual field; it typically occurs due to ocular strain, vascular retinal conditions, or as a transient neurological manifestation during migraine episodes with aura.
• Asterotrichous — Having star-shaped or starry-branched hairs; a specialized botanical adjective used to describe plants, stems, or leaves whose epidermal pubescence consists of stellate trichomes (irregular hairs with geometric rays), acting as an anatomical defense against excessive transpiration.
• Asteroxylon — A genus of primitive fossil plants (Asteroxylon) from the Lycopodiopsida class, characteristic of the Early Devonian, discovered in the famous Rhynie chert deposits (Scotland); they were ancient terrestrial plants with dichotomously branched stems covered with scale-like leaf-like outgrowths (enations) and featuring a star-shaped central cylinder (actinostele) visible in cross-section.
• Asterozoans — A major subphylum or taxonomic grouping (Asterozoa) within the phylum Echinodermata, bringing together all echinoderms with a star-shaped body and unchanging radial symmetry; it includes two major extant classes: Asteroidea (true starfish) and Ophiuroidea (brittle stars or ophiuroids).
• Astraea — The virgin goddess of innocence, purity, and justice in Greek mythology, daughter of Astraeus and Eos, considered the last immortal to leave Earth at the end of the Iron Age to seek refuge in the sky, where she became the constellation Virgo. In astronomy, it denotes 5 Astraea, a large main-belt asteroid discovered in 1845 by Karl Ludwig Hencke, and in zoology, it represents a genus of medium to large sea snails in the family Turbinidae.
• Atalante — A graphical variant or inflected form associated with the mythological heroine Atalanta. In astronomy, 'Atalante' (36 Atalante) is the name of a large, dark main-belt asteroid discovered in 1855 by astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt. The term also designates various historical naval ships, localities, or geographical features named in honor of the famous huntress from Hellenic legends.
• Aurelia — A classic feminine given name of Latin origin, derived directly from the Roman gentile name 'Aurelia', based on the etymon 'aureus' (golden, brilliant). The name carries nuances of nobility, purity, and solar splendor; in astronomy, it designates a large main-belt asteroid (419 Aurelia) discovered at the end of the 19th century.
• Baade — A proper surname of German origin, predominantly associated in scientific contexts with the astronomer Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade (1893–1960). His foundational contributions include defining the two distinct stellar populations (Population I and Population II), recalibrating cosmic distances by revising the Cepheid period-luminosity relation, and discovering major asteroids, with his name being given to the lunar crater Baade, asteroid 1501 Baade, and an observational window toward the galactic center.