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The don gratuit or "free gift" in English, was a voluntary contribution to royal finances paid by the First Estate (the clergy) under France's ancien regime. [1] [2] Since they were exempt from taxation such as taille, the First Estate was first requested to pay the don gratuit to fund the fight against the Huguenots under Henry IV and then from 1636 for the defence of the kingdom during the ...
Although exempted from the taille, the church was required to pay the crown a tax called the "free gift" ("don gratuit"), which it collected from its office holders, at roughly a twentieth the price of the office (that was the "décime", reapportioned every five years).
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. [1] [2] The word is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System.
This glossary of astronomy is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to astronomy and cosmology, their sub-disciplines, and related fields. Astronomy is concerned with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth. The field of astronomy features an extensive vocabulary and a ...
nude; in French, literally, in a natural manner or way (au is the contraction of à le, masculine form of à la). It means "in an unaltered way" and can be used either for people or things. For people, it rather refers to a person who does not use make-up or artificial manners (un entretien au naturel = a backstage interview). For things, it ...
In Western culture, the name "Milky Way" is derived from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky. The term is a translation of the Classical Latin via lactea, in turn derived from the Hellenistic Greek γαλαξίας, short for γαλαξίας κύκλος (galaxías kýklos), meaning "milky circle".
AU – (measurement) Astronomical Unit, the distance between the Earth and the Sun; AUASS – (organization) Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences; AURA – (organization) Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy; AWCA – (meeting) American Workshop on Cometary Astronomy, an older name for the International Workshop on ...
A small orrery showing Earth and the inner planets. An orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons, usually according to the heliocentric model.