radial motion

[ rey-dee-uhl moh-shuhn ]

noun

, Astronomy.

1. the component of the motion of a star away from or toward the earth along its line of sight, expressed in miles or kilometers per second and determined by the shift in the wavelength of light emitted by the star.

Word History and Origins

Origin of radial motion¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

Three position coordinates and three velocity coordinates were needed to precisely track a star’s motion through space, including its radial motion towards or away from us.

From Scientific American

This radial motion opponency generates a balance of excitation and inhibition that makes LPLC2 non-responsive to related patterns of motion such as contraction, wide-field rotation or luminance change.

From Nature

From the purple brackets shown in Fig. 1c, we see that an antiatom possessing this axial kinetic energy would experience a potential change of ΔΦ ≈ 100 V in 1 ms, although there are substantial uncertainties in this estimate due to variations in the potential over the volume of the trap, the distribution of kinetic energies and the potential changes arising from radial motion.

From Nature

One chaser only is capable of radial motion for adjusting the diameter of thread the die will cut, and this chaser is adjusted and set by a screw in the periphery of the collet.

From Project Gutenberg

The divisions were cut, while the screw was stationary, by means of a dividing knife attached to a swing frame, which allowed it to have only a radial motion.

From Project Gutenberg