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albedo

[al-bee-doh]
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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. the white, inner rind of a citrus fruit.
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Origin of albedo

1855–60; < Late Latin albēdō whiteness, equivalent to alb(us) white + -ēdō noun suffix; cf. torpedo
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for albedo

Historical Examples

  • The asteroid's efficiency in reflecting sunlight was its albedo.

    Rip Foster in Ride the Gray Planet

    Harold Leland Goodwin

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

  • Its theoretical mean temperature, taking into account both distance from the sun and albedo, is 34° C. below freezing.

  • An albedo equal to that of Mars was assumed as the basis of the calculation.

  • The telescopes showed Sennech's albedo down to a fraction of normal; that, he supposed, would indicate smoke in the atmosphere.

    Tulan

    Carroll Mather Capps

British Dictionary definitions for albedo

albedo

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
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Word Origin

C19: from Church Latin: whiteness, from Latin albus white
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for albedo

n.

"ratio of light reflected from a surface," 1859, from Latin albedo, literally "whiteness," from albus "white" (see alb).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
albedo in Science

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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.