albedo

[ al-bee-doh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, plural al·be·dos.

Astronomy. the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it.
Meteorology. such a ratio for any part of the earth's surface or atmosphere.
pith ( def 2 ).

albedo

/ ælˈbiːdəʊ /

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
physics the probability that a neutron passing through a surface will return through that surface

albedo

/ ăl-bē′dō /

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.

Origin of albedo¹

First recorded in 1855–60; from Late Latin albēdō “white (color), whiteness,” equivalent to alb(us) “white” + -ēdō noun suffix; torpedo

Origin of albedo¹

C19: from Church Latin: whiteness, from Latin albus white

There are other metals with a higher albedo, but none that give a richer effect.

The electron telescope could detect its larger planets, especially a gas-giant fifth-orbit world of high albedo.

If anything of the right size shows up, decelerate until we can get mass and albedo measurements.

If the asteroid's albedo matched it, that would be one piece of evidence.

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

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