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transit

 
Dictionary: tran·sit   (trăn'sĭt, -zĭt) pronunciation
n.
  1. The act of passing over, across, or through; passage.
    1. Conveyance of people or goods from one place to another, especially on a local public transportation system.
    2. The system or vehicles used for such conveyance.
  2. A transition or change, as to a spiritual existence at death.
  3. Astronomy.
    1. The passage of a celestial body across the observer's meridian.
    2. The passage of a smaller celestial body or its shadow across the disk of a larger celestial body.
  4. A surveying instrument similar to a theodolite that measures horizontal and vertical angles.

v., -sit·ed, -sit·ing, -sits.

v.tr.
  1. To pass over, across, or through: aircraft transiting the United States and Canada.
  2. To revolve (the telescope of a surveying transit) about its horizontal transverse axis in order to reverse its direction.
v.intr. Astronomy
To make a transit.

[Middle English transite, from Latin trānsitus, from past participle of trānsīre, to go across. See transient.]


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The apparent passage of a celestial body across the apparent disk of a larger body, such as a planet across its parent star or of a satellite across its parent planet; also, the apparent passage of a celestial object or reference point across an adopted line of reference in a celestial coordinate system. Classically, the observed data were instants of internal and external tangency of the disks (contacts) at ingress and egress of the smaller body. In the modern era, data may also include the differential brightness of the two disks and the duration of any change of brightness.

Mercury and Venus are the only planets whose orbits lie between the Earth and the Sun and thus can be seen from Earth to cross the disk of the Sun. The conditions are that the planet is in inferior conjunction at the same time that it passes one of the two nodes of its orbit, thus putting it essentially in a straight line between the Earth and the Sun. Historically, transits of Mercury were observed for the purpose of getting precise positions of the planet to improve knowledge of its orbit, and transits of Venus to determine the solar parallax. In a century, there are 13 or 14 transits of Mercury. The size, shape, and orientation of the orbit of Venus causes transits to be very rare. Transits usually occur in pairs separated by 8 years, with 105.5 or 121.5 years between pairs. A pair occurs on June 8, 2004, and June 6, 2012. See also Mercury (planet); Planet; Venus.

Transits of the galilean satellites of Jupiter are used mainly to estimate the albedo (reflectivity) of the satellites relative to that of Jupiter. As each satellite passes in front of the planet, it casts its shadow on the planet's disk and causes the phenomenon of shadow-transit. See also Jupiter; Satellite (astronomy).

Until the close of the twentieth century, passages of stars and other celestial bodies across the local meridian were observed extensively for determining precise coordinates of the stars and planets, accurate time, or the position of the observer. The instrument commonly used is often called a transit circle. This type of observation has been almost completely superseded by interferometric methods from Earth's surface and orbiting satellites, and by other astrometric observations from spacecraft. See also Astronomical coordinate systems; Astronomical transit instrument.

The search for planets around solarlike stars other than the Sun yielded the first positive results in 1995. The most recently developed of several techniques is to detect photometrically the minute decrease in brightness of a star as an orbiting planet crosses its face. This can occur only if the planet's orbital plane lies edge-on to the Earth. The first planetary companion detected this way was reported in 1999, orbiting the star HD 209458 in Pegasus. Even though that companion was larger than Jupiter, the technique is considered the most mature for detecting Earth-class extrasolar planets, that is, those that are 0.5–10 times the size of Earth.


Thesaurus: transit
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noun

  1. The moving of persons or goods from one place to another: carriage, conveyance, transport, transportation. See move/halt.
  2. The process or an instance of passing from one form, state, or stage to another: change, passage, shift, transition. See change/persist.

verb

    To go across: cross, pass, track, traverse. See move/halt.

Architecture: transit
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A surveying instrument used for the measurement and laying out of horizontal and vertical angles, distances, directions, and differences in elevation; a type of theodolite having an alidade with a telescope which can be reversed in direction.

transit: a, tripod stand; b, leveling plates; f, vernier; g, compass; h, h′, levels; i, vertical circle; k, telescope


 
transit, in astronomy, passage of a body across a meridian or passage of a small body across the visible disk of a larger one. (The passage of a large body across a smaller one is called an eclipse or occultation.) All of the fixed stars transit the celestial meridian once daily; an observer can determine either his longitude or the sidereal time by noting the time at which a given star transits his meridian and by referring to tables. Transits of small bodies across larger ones can be observed only within the bounds of the solar system. The innermost moons of Jupiter are so close to the planet that they transit it at every orbit. Of the planets, only Mercury and Venus, whose orbits lie inside the earth's orbit, can transit the sun. When such a transit occurs, the planet appears in a special solar telescope as a small black dot on the sun's disk. A solar transit can occur only when one of the two planets is in inferior conjunction and at one of its nodes on the plane of the ecliptic. For Mercury, solar transit can occur only in May or November. The interval between November transits is 7, 13, or 46 years; May transits occur at intervals of 13 or 46 years. Exact timing of Mercury's transits have offered experimental confirmation of the theory of relativity. For Venus, solar transit occurs in June or December. Currently, two transits take place within about 8 years of each other, with an interval of 521/2 or 601/2 years between pairs of transits. The next two solar transits of Venus will occur in June, 2004, and June, 2012. Venus's solar transits have been used in determining the astronomical unit.


Being conveyed from one place to another; in animal husbandry parlance used to mean being transported, usually with the qualification that the journey is undertaken over long distances without adequate preparation. Untoward sequels are heat stroke and transit tetany, especially in overweight and late pregnant animals.

  • t. erythema — the carcasses of pigs which have been transported long distances before slaughter develop large patches of superficial erythema where they have lain for long periods. The stained areas have to be trimmed.
  • t. fever — see bovine respiratory disease.
  • t. tetany, t. recumbency — of mares, see lactation tetany. Of ruminants it is a syndrome of recumbency, complete anorexia, rumen stasis and a gradual onset of coma and death after a course of 2 to 3 days. There may be tetany and excitement in the early stages. Occurs in ruminants transported long distances or forced to take too much exercise when in advanced pregnancy. Called also railroad disease, railroad sickness.
Word Tutor: transit
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - A facility consisting of the means and equipment necessary for the movement of passengers or goods; Passing over or through.

pronunciation The railroad is held in highest favor by the optimist, for it permits him to make the transit with great expedition. — Ambrose Bierce, Source: The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

Translations: Transit
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - gennemrejse, overgang, passage, befordring, transport
v. tr. - passere
v. intr. - være på gennemrejse

idioms:

  • transit company    transitfirma

Nederlands (Dutch)
vervoer, doortocht(-)

Français (French)
n. - (gén) transit, (Astron) passage, (Astron) théodolite, télescope
v. tr. - transiter, passer par, (Astron) faire tourner le télescope pour changer sa direction
v. intr. - (Astron) faire un passage

idioms:

  • in transit    en transit

Deutsch (German)
n. - Transit, Durchgang, Transport
v. - gehen durch, überqueren

idioms:

  • in transit    auf der Durchreise, auf dem Transport

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - διάβαση, διέλευση, διαμετακόμιση, μετεπιβίβαση, τράνζιτο
v. - περνώ, παρέρχομαι, διέρχομαι, μετεπιβιβάζω/-ομαι

idioms:

  • transit company    εταιρεία διαμετακομιστικού εμπορίου

Italiano (Italian)
transito, transitare

Português (Portuguese)
n. - passagem (f), trânsito (m), viagem (f)
v. - transitar, passar por

Русский (Russian)
транзит, проезд/переход через что-л.

Español (Spanish)
n. - tránsito
v. tr. - transitar
v. intr. - transitar

idioms:

  • in transit    en tránsito

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - genomresa, överresa, transport, befordran (varor, passagerare), övergång, passage
v. - fara igenom, passera, transitera

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
运输, 运送, 过境, 通过, 经过, 中转, 横越

idioms:

  • transit company    中转公司, 公共交通运输公司

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 運輸, 運送, 過境, 通過, 經過, 中轉
v. tr. - 橫越, 經過, 通過
v. intr. - 通過

idioms:

  • transit company    中轉公司, 公共交通運輸公司

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 통과, 운송로
v. tr. - 횡단하다, 통과하다, 나르다
v. intr. - 통과하다, 이동시키다, 나르다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 横切る, 通過する, 横断する
n. - 通過, 通行, 横断, 移り変わり, 変遷, 運送, 通路, トランシット

idioms:

  • transit company    輸送会社

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أنتقال, مرور, عبور (فعل) يمكنه من ألعبور, يعبر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מעבר, העברה‬
v. tr. - ‮עבר, העביר‬
v. intr. - ‮עבר‬


 
 

 

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