Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) gegenschein gāˈgənshīnˌ [key] or counterglow, a slight brightening of the night sky in the region of the zodiac directly opposite the sun, i.e., 180° from the sun. Discovered by the Danish astro...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Circle circle, closed plane curve consisting of all points at a given distance from some fixed point, called the center. A circle is a conic section cut by a plane perpendicular to the axis of...

(Encyclopedia) Loire, longest river of France, c.630 mi (1,010 km) long, rising in the Cévennes Mts., SE France, and flowing in an arc through central and W France to the Atlantic Ocean at Saint-Nazaire. The upper ...

(Encyclopedia) Killarney, town (1991 pop. 7,274), Co. Kerry, SW Republic of Ireland. The town, which has mineral-water bottling, footwear, lace, hosiery, woolens, and ornamental ironwork industries, is also a touris...

(Encyclopedia) Belinsky, Vissarion Grigoryevich vĭsəryônˈ grĭgôrˈyəvĭch byĭlyĭnˈskē [key], 1811–48, Russian writer and critic. He was prominent in the group that believed Russia's hope to lie in follo...

(Encyclopedia) myosin mīˈəsĭn [key], one of the two major protein constituents responsible for contraction of muscle. In muscle cells myosin is arranged in long filaments called thick filaments that lie parallel...

(Encyclopedia) Zagros zăgˈrŏs [key], mountain system of W Iran, extending c.1,100 mi (1,770 km) from the Turkish-Armenian frontier SE to the Strait of Hormuz, forming the western and southern border of the centra...

(Encyclopedia) Visalia vəsālˈyə [key], city (1990 pop. 75,636), seat of Tulare co., S central Calif., in the San Joaquin Valley (see under San Joaquin); founded 1852, inc. 1874. Its economy is centered around ag...

(Encyclopedia) Galway gôlˈwā [key], county, 2,293 sq mi (5,939 sq km), W Republic of Ireland. The county ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Precession of the equinoxes (the points at which the earth's celestial equator intersects its ecliptic) is due to the slow rotation of the earth's axis around a perpendicular to the ecliptic. ...