Ansa
Ansa or ANSA can refer to any of the following:
As the acronym ANSA:
ansa is Latin for "handle". It has several uses derived from this meaning:
- In anatomy, the word is applied to nervous structures which resemble loops (for example the ansa lenticularis, ansa cervicalis, Loop of Henle (ansa nephroni) or the ansa of the tympanal organ).
- In archaeology it is used for the engraved and ornamented handle of a vase, which has often survived when the vase itself, being less durable, has disappeared.
- In astronomy, one of the apparent ends of the rings of Saturn as seen in perspective from the earth: so-called because, in the earlier telescopes, they looked like handles projecting from the planet.
- In chemistry, it is used to describe a bridge between two functional groups/ligands.
- In the plural ansae, in astronomy, compact nebulosities such as can be found in protoplanetary nebulae.