albedo

[ al-bee-doh ]

noun

, plural al·be·dos.

1. Astronomy. the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it.
2. Meteorology. such a ratio for any part of the earth's surface or atmosphere.
3. pith ( def 2 ).

albedo

/ ælˈbiːdəʊ /

noun

1. the ratio of the intensity of light reflected from an object, such as a planet, to that of the light it receives from the sun
2. physics the probability that a neutron passing through a surface will return through that surface

albedo

/ ăl-bē′dō /

1. The fraction of the total light striking a surface that gets reflected from that surface. An object that has a high albedo (near 1) is very bright; an object that has a low albedo (near 0) is dark. The Earth's albedo is about 0.37. The Moon's is about 0.12.

Word History and Origins

Origin of albedo¹

First recorded in 1855–60; from Late Latin albēdō “white (color), whiteness,” equivalent to alb(us) “white” + -ēdō noun suffix; torpedo

Word History and Origins

Origin of albedo¹

C19: from Church Latin: whiteness, from Latin albus white

Example Sentences

Decreased cloudiness over the eastern Pacific isn’t the only thing trimming Earth’s reflectance, or albedo, says Shiv Priyam Raghuraman, an atmospheric scientist at Princeton University.

From Science News

Dark roads, roofs and other building materials also have a lower albedo, meaning they reflect less sunlight.

From Science News For Students

This lowers their albedo — how much light they reflect — which can cause melting.

From Science News For Students

Tar and asphalt have a low albedo, absorbing the sun’s light, mostly as heat.

From Science News For Students

For the study, published Monday in Nature Astronomy, scientists used images collected by Hayabusa-2 to parse the rock’s albedo—or reflective properties—to uncover clues to the asteroid’s cosmic mashup.

From Popular-Science

There are other metals with a higher albedo, but none that give a richer effect.

From Project Gutenberg

The electron telescope could detect its larger planets, especially a gas-giant fifth-orbit world of high albedo.

From Project Gutenberg

If anything of the right size shows up, decelerate until we can get mass and albedo measurements.

From Project Gutenberg

If the asteroid's albedo matched it, that would be one piece of evidence.

From Project Gutenberg

Its "albedo," in other words, is 0·17, which is precisely that ascribed to the moon.

From Project Gutenberg