/ ciao4.16 / dictionary / z.html
Please read CXC Director Dr. Pat Slane's A Letter to the Community regarding NASA's plans to decommission Chandra.
z
The letter z has many definitions in X-ray astronomy. The intended one must be deduced from the context in which it appears:
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The coordinate along the optical axis of Chandra. A standard NASA convention used in many missions.
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The height above the plane of a galaxy, accretion disk or other flattened distribution.
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The fractional abundance of "metals" (i.e. elements heavier than helium).
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The redshift. When due to expansion of the Universe, generally used to give distance.
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