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ceilometer

(Encyclopedia)ceilometer sēlŏmˈĭtər [key], in aviation and meteorology, automatic instrument used to record ceiling, i.e., the altitude of the lowest cloud layer covering more than half of the sky. The ceilome...

Crazy Horse

(Encyclopedia)Crazy Horse, d. 1877, war chief of the Oglala Sioux. He was a prominent leader in the Sioux resistance to white encroachment in the mineral-rich Black Hills. When Crazy Horse and his people refused to...

Kalidasa

(Encyclopedia)Kalidasa käˌlĭdäˈsə [key], fl. 5th cent.?, Indian dramatist and poet. He is regarded as the greatest figure in classical Sanskrit literature. Except that he was retained by the Gupta court, no f...

Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees, 1869–1959, Scottish physicist, educated at Manchester and Cambridge universities. He was Jacksonian professor of natural philosophy at Cambridge from 1925 to 1934. Note...

clipper

(Encyclopedia)clipper, type of sailing ship, designed for speed. Long and narrow, the clipper had the greatest beam aft of the center; the bow cleaved the waves; and the ship carried, besides topgallant and royal s...

comet

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Comet: Whatever the direction of a comet's flight, its “tail” always points away from the sun. The tail disappears when the comet is far from the sun. comet [Gr.,=longhaired], a small cele...

Aorangi, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Aorangi, Mount ouräkˈē [key] [both: Maori,=cloud in the sky], or Mount Cook, 12,254 ft (3,735 m) high, on the South Island, New Zealand, in the Southern Alps; highest peak of New Zealand. Several g...

Waubeshiek

(Encyclopedia)Waubeshiek wôˈbəshēk [key], c.1794–c.1841, Native North American prophet, also known as White Cloud. He was a friend and adviser of Black Hawk and by prophesying victory was chiefly responsible ...

brown dwarf

(Encyclopedia)brown dwarf, in astronomy, celestial body that is larger than a planet but does not have sufficient mass to convert hydrogen into helium via nuclear fusion as stars do. Also called “failed stars,”...

Horsehead Nebula

(Encyclopedia)Horsehead Nebula, dark nebula located in the constellation Orion; designated IC 434 or B 33. It consists of a cloud of nonluminous interstellar matter resembling the outline of a horse's head and appe...
 

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