planet

plan·et  (plnt)

n.

1. A nonluminous celestial body larger than an asteroid or comet, illuminated by light from a star, such as the sun, around which it revolves. In the solar system there are nine known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

2. One of the seven celestial bodies, Mercury, Venus, the moon, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, visible to the naked eye and thought by ancient astronomers to revolve in the heavens about a fixed Earth and among fixed stars.

3. One of the seven revolving astrological celestial bodies that in conjunction with the stars are believed to influence human affairs and personalities.

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[Middle English, from Old French planete, from Late Latin planta, from Greek plants, variant of plans, plant-, from plansthai, to wander; see pel-² in Indo-European roots.]

Planets of the Solar System

Listed below are the nine planets that have been identified in our solar system and their respective satellites. The sidereal period of a planet is the amount of time required for that planet to make one revolution about the sun with respect to the stars. The rotational period of a planet is the amount of time required for the planet to perform one complete rotation about its own axis. If the planet rotates on its axis in a manner opposite to that of Earth, the rotation is called retrograde and the number is given with a - sign in front of it.

PLANETS: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

PLANET	EQUATORIAL RADIUS:		MASS: x 1024 kilograms	SIDEREAL PERIOD: days	ROTATIONAL PERIOD: days	AVERAGE SURFACE TEMPERATURE:		MEAN DISTANCE FROM SUN:
	kilometers	miles				degrees Celsius	degrees Fahrenheit	x 106 kilometers	x 106 miles
Mercury	2,440	1,516	0.3302	87.97	58.6462	179	354	57.909	35.983
Venus	6,052	3,761	4.869	224.7	-243.01	453	847	108.21	67.239
Earth	6,378.14	3,963	5.9742	365.2564	0.99727	7.9	46	149.5979	92.956
Mars	3,397	2,111	0.64191	686.98	1.025957	-63	-81	227.941	141.63
Jupiter	71,492	44,423	1,899.00	4,332.71	0.41354	-153	-244	778.332	483.63
Saturn	60,268	37,449	568.8	10,759.22	0.4375	-185	-301	1,426.98	886.69
Uranus	25,559	15,882	86.6	30,685.40	-0.65	-215	-355	2,870.99	1,783.95
Neptune	24,764	15,388	102.78	60,189.00	0.768	-225	-373	4,497.072	2,794.36
Pluto	1,151	715	0.013	90,780.80	-6.3872	-236	-393	5,913.514	3,674.5

PLANETARY SATELLITES

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER				BY PLANET, FROM NEAREST SATELLITE TO FURTHEST SATELLITE
Satellite	Planet, Orbital Order	Satellite	Planet, Orbital Order	Planet	Satellite	Planet	Satellite
Adrastea	Jupiter, 2	Leda	Jupiter, 9	Earth	Moon		Rhea
Amalthea	Jupiter, 3	Lysithea	Jupiter, 11	Mars	Phobos		Titan
Ananke	Jupiter, 13	Metis	Jupiter, 1		Deimos		Hyperion
Ariel	Uranus, 12	Mimas	Saturn, 6	Jupiter	Metis		Iapetus
Atlas	Saturn, 2	Miranda	Uranus, 11		Adrastea		Phoebe
Belinda	Uranus, 9	Moon	Earth		Amalthea	Uranus	Cordelia
Bianca	Uranus, 3	Naiad	Neptune, 1		Thebe		Ophelia
Callisto	Jupiter, 8	Nereid	Neptune, 8		Io		Bianca
Calypso**	Saturn, 8	Oberon	Uranus, 15		Europa		Cressida
Carme	Jupiter, 14	Ophelia	Uranus, 2		Ganymede		Desdemona
Charon	Pluto	Pan	Saturn, 1		Callisto		Juliet
Cordelia	Uranus, 1	Pandora	Saturn, 4		Leda		Portia
Cressida	Uranus, 4	Pasiphae	Jupiter, 15		Himalia		Rosalind
Deimos	Mars, 2	Phobos	Mars, 1		Lysithea		Belinda
Desdemona	Uranus, 5	Phoebe	Saturn, 14		Elara		Puck
Despina	Neptune, 3	Portia	Uranus, 7		Ananke		Miranda
Dione***	Saturn, 9	Prometheus	Saturn, 3		Carme		Ariel
Elara	Jupiter, 12	Proteus	Neptune, 6		Pasiphae		Umbriel
Enceladus	Saturn, 7	Puck	Uranus, 10		Sinope		Titania
Epimetheus*	Saturn, 5	Rhea	Saturn, 10	Saturn	Pan		Oberon
Europa	Jupiter, 6	Rosalind	Uranus, 8		Atlas	(unofficial name)	Caliban
Galatea	Neptune, 4	Sinope	Jupiter, 16		Prometheus	(unofficial name)	Sycorax
Ganymede	Jupiter, 7	Telesto**	Saturn, 8		Pandora	Neptune	Naiad
Helene***	Saturn, 9	Tethys**	Saturn, 8		Epimetheus*		Thalassa
Himalia	Jupiter, 10	Thalassa	Neptune, 2		Janus*		Despina
Hyperion	Saturn, 12	Thebe	Jupiter, 4		Mimas		Galatea
Iapetus	Saturn, 13	Titan	Saturn, 11		Enceladus		Larissa
Io	Jupiter, 5	Titania	Uranus, 14		Tethys**		Proteus
Janus*	Saturn, 5	Triton	Neptune, 7	(Trojan)	Telesto**		Triton
Juliet	Uranus, 6	Umbriel	Uranus, 13	(Trojan)	Calypso**		Nereid
Larissa	Neptune, 5				Dione***	Pluto	Charon
				(Trojan)	Helene***

*The satellites Epimetheus and Janus orbit so closely together that gravitational interactions cause them to regularly exchange orbits.

**The satellites Tethys, Telesto, and Calypso have been determined to be the same distance from Saturn to within current experimental accuracy.

***The satellites Dione and Helene have been determined to be the same distance from Saturn to within current experimental accuracy.

Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company

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planet

Noun

any of the nine celestial bodies, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto, that revolve around the sun in oval-shaped orbits [Greek planaein to wander]

planetary adj

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planet  (plnt)

A large celestial body, smaller than a star but larger than an asteroid, that does not produce its own light but is illuminated by light from the star around which it revolves. In our solar system there are nine known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Because of Pluto's small sizeabout two-thirds the diameter of Earth's moonand its unusual orbit, many astronomers believe it should actually be classed as a Kuiper belt object rather than a planet. A planetlike body with more than about ten times the mass of Jupiter would be considered a brown dwarf rather than a planet. See also extrasolar planetinner planetouter planet

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planetary adjective

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	planet - (astronomy) any of the nine large celestial bodies in the solar system that revolve around the sun and shine by reflected light; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in order of their proximity to the sun; viewed from the constellation Hercules, all the planets rotate around the sun in a counterclockwise direction major planet astronomy, uranology - the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole biosphere - the regions of the surface and atmosphere of the Earth (or other planet) where living organisms exist celestial body, heavenly body - natural objects visible in the sky inferior planet - any of the planets whose orbit lies inside the earth's orbit gas giant, Jovian planet - any of the four outermost planets in the solar system; much larger than Earth and gaseous in nature (like Jupiter) daystar, morning star, Phosphorus, Lucifer - a planet (usually Venus) seen just before sunrise in the eastern sky outer planet - (astronomy) a major planet whose orbit is outside the asteroid belt (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) solar system - the sun with the celestial bodies that revolve around it in its gravitational field superior planet - any of the planets whose orbit lies outside the earth's orbit terrestrial planet - a planet having a compact rocky surface like the Earth's; the four innermost planets in the solar system
	2.	planet - a person who follows or serves another satellite follower - a person who accepts the leadership of another
	3.	planet - any celestial body (other than comets or satellites) that revolves around a star celestial body, heavenly body - natural objects visible in the sky

Translations

planet [ˈplænɪt] n → planeta m

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planet [ˈplænɪt] n → planète f

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planet [ˈplænɪt] n → Planet m

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planet [ˈplænɪt] n → pianeta m