terminator

terminator

(ter -mă-may-ter) The boundary between the dark and sunlit hemispheres of the Moon or a planet, the rotation of which gives rise to a sunrise terminator and a sunset terminator. The appearance of the terminator is affected by topographic irregularities, such as mountains, and by the presence of an atmosphere. See also phases, lunar.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

terminator

[′tər·mə‚nād·ər]

(astronomy)

The line of demarcation between the dark and light portions of the moon or planets.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

terminator

(electronics)

A resistor connected to a signal wire in a bus or network for the purpose of impedance matching to prevent reflections.

For example, a 50 ohm resistor connected across the end of an Ethernet cable. SCSI chains and some LocalTalk wiring schemes also require terminators.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

terminator

(1) A character that ends a string of alphanumeric characters.

(2) A hardware component that is connected to the last peripheral device in a series or the last node in a network.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Terminator

 

the line on the disk of a planet or satellite that separates the illuminated, or day, hemisphere from the dark, or night, hemisphere.

The morning terminator is the sunrise line of a planet or satellite; the evening terminator is the sunset line. The terminator appears as a semiellipse on the disk of a celestial body, such as the moon, that is visible from the earth, and the motion of the terminator across the disk is responsible for changes of phase. If a planet has an atmosphere, the terminator is shifted somewhat toward the night hemisphere as a result of refraction and twilight.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.