#astronomy

• Abul Feda — The Latinized name of Abu al-Fida (Isma'il ibn Ali ibn Mahmud al-Ayyubi), a prominent Kurdish prince, historian, geographer, and astronomer of the Ayyubid dynasty, who governed as the emir of Hama (Syria). He is globally recognized for his foundational encyclopedic writings, particularly 'Taqwim al-Buldan' (Sketch of the Countries), a monumental work of descriptive geography, and his universal historical chronicle, which served as essential bridges of knowledge between the medieval East and the European West, his name also being honored by a lunar crater.
• Abul Vefa — The Latinized name of Abu al-Wafa al-Buzjani (Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Ismail ibn al-Abbas al-Buzjani), a legendary Persian mathematician and astronomer who flourished in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age. He is considered one of the fathers of modern trigonometry, having introduced the secant and cosecant functions, perfected sine and tangent tables, and developed foundational trigonometric identities still used today in complex astronomical and geometric calculations.
• Acamas — The primary onomastic variant of the Greek mythological hero Acamante (son of Theseus), frequently used in classical Hellenic texts (such as Homer's Iliad). In the contemporary era, the term was adopted in astronomy to name an asteroid from the Jovian trojan group (136199 Acamas), which orbits near the planet Jupiter. Geographically, the name also designates a peninsula and a protected national park located at the northwestern tip of the island of Cyprus.
• Acronychal — Pertaining to acrony; located outside of time or independent of the linear temporal succession. In ancient and classical astronomy, the term describes the acronychal rising of a star or planet, occurring exactly at the moment of sunset (or vice versa), representing a geometric position diametrically opposed to the sun.
• Actaea — A term with multiple contexts; in botany, it represents a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the Ranunculaceae family, commonly known as baneberry, characterized by often toxic berry-like fruits. In Greek mythology, Actaea is the name of one of the Nereids (sea nymphs), and in astronomy, it designates a natural satellite of the trans-Neptunian object 120347 Salacia.
• Acteon — A current graphic and phonetic variant in the Romanian language for 'Actaeon'; a hero hunter in Greek mythology transformed into a stag by the goddess Artemis and torn apart by his own hounds. In an extended scientific sense, the name defines a genus of marine gastropod snails (Acteonidae) with delicate spiral shells, as well as a main-belt asteroid discovered in the 20th century, both borrowing the structural connotation of the mythological name.
• Adeona — A goddess in archaic Roman mythology protecting children and travelers, structurally invoked to ensure the safe return home of those who departed. In modern astronomy, the term designates 145 Adeona, a large and dark asteroid from the main asteroid belt, discovered in the 19th century by Christian Peters and considered the parent body of a distinct collisional family of asteroids.
• Adrastus — A legendary proper name from Greek mythology, borne most notably by the King of Argos who organized and led the famous military expedition of the 'Seven against Thebes' to restore his son-in-law to the throne. In astronomy, the term designates a major impact crater located on the surface of Saturn's moon Tethys, named in honor of a Homeric character.
• Aegaeon — An alternative name attributed in Greek mythology to the titan Briareus, a hundred-handed Hecatoncheire giant with fifty heads, celebrated for protecting Zeus's throne against the Olympian rebellion. In modern times, the term designates a small natural satellite of the planet Saturn (Saturn LIII), discovered in 2008 by the Cassini spacecraft and located within the planet's G ring.
• Aeolus — Aeolus; the mythological god, ruler, or keeper of the winds in Greek and Roman mythology, who lived on the floating island of Aeolia and kept storms locked inside a deep cave, releasing them only at the command of the major gods. In a modern context, the term designates various space projects (such as ESA's ADM-Aeolus meteorological satellite), atmospheric phenomena, or structural wind engineering concepts.
• Aerolite — A meteorite composed mostly of silicate mineral substances (stony), sometimes exhibiting small metallic inclusions of iron and nickel. This category of celestial bodies that have fallen onto the Earth's surface is structurally divided into chondrites and achondrites, offering fundamental scientific data regarding the early composition of the solar system.
• Aerolitic — Relating to aerolites, concerning aerolites (stony meteorites); originating from an aerolite or exhibiting compositional and structural characteristics specific to silicate rocks of extraterrestrial nature that have fallen to Earth.
• Aerosiderolite — A rare type of mixed meteorite, macro-structurally composed of a relatively equal mixture of silicate mass (olivine-type minerals or pyroxenes) and a metallic iron-nickel alloy. In a historical or contextual sense, the term designates celestial bodies that enter Earth's atmosphere, whose fragments collected on the ground provide precious geochemical data about early planetary core compositions.
• To loosen — To make a compact material, soil, or culinary mixture less dense, porous, and more aerated; to break the cohesion of tightly packed particles to allow air and water penetration. In agriculture, it refers to loosening the soil; in gastronomy, it describes aerating doughs or creams.
• Aphelion — The point in the elliptical orbit of a planet, comet, or celestial body at which it is furthest from the Sun. At this point, according to Kepler's laws, the orbital velocity reaches its absolute minimum, being diametrically opposite the perihelion.
• Cosmic void — A neologistic astronomical term used theoretically or hypothetically to describe a state or cosmic space characterized by the complete absence of galaxies; a vast region in the deep universe devoid of organized stellar structures or galactic systems.
• Gooseberries — A regional, popular Romanian term used to designate gooseberries, the tart, ribbed, and spherical berries of the Ribes uva-crispa shrub. Primarily used in western and northern dialects, the term refers to these yellowish-green fruits traditionally incorporated into spring sour soups or artisanal jams.
• Gooseberry — An archaic regional variant or dialectal form for the gooseberry shrub (Ribes uva-crispa) or its fruit. In northern and western Romanian dialects, the term designates the tart berries traditionally used in rural cuisine to sour spring soups or to prepare empirical remedies against fever.
• The garlic cloves — An articulated regional variant or localized plural form of the collective noun 'ait'; it directly denotes 'the garlic cloves' or, figuratively within old gastronomy, rural dishes subjected to a massive seasoning process with crushed garlic sauce. The word carries a powerful mark of dialectal oral expression specific to isolated historical communities, being used in protective empirical recipes and ethnographic descriptions of feast meals within archaic Romanian hearths.
• Garlic aspic — An archaic and rustic culinary dish from the category of aspics or thick roux sauces, structurally prepared from a dense emulsion of crushed garlic sauce, flour or cornmeal, and meat or vegetable broth, consumed predominantly during winters in traditional rural households across various regions. The term carries a powerful ethnographic weight, defining a simple, pungent, and hearty food utilized in the past for both daily sustenance and as an empirical protective remedy due to the antiseptic properties of garlic.