solar system

solar system

n.

1. often Solar System The sun together with the eight planets and all other celestial bodies that orbit the sun.

2. A system of planets or other bodies orbiting another star.

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solar system

n

(Astronomy) the system containing the sun and the bodies held in its gravitational field, including the planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto), the asteroids, and comets

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solar system 1. Often Solar System. The Sun together with the nine planets, their moons, and all other bodies that orbit it, including asteroids, comets, meteoroids, and Kuiper belt objects. The outer limit of the solar system is formed by the heliopause. See more at nebular hypothesis. 2. A similar system surround another star. The Milky Way contains 12 stars known to have planets in orbit around them, though none is known to have as extensive or diverse a group of orbiting bodies as the Sun's system. A Closer Look The solar system consists of much more than just the Sun and planets. It contains billions of other objects and extends far beyond the outermost planets. Several hundred thousand asteroids revolve around the Sun in orbits mainly between Mars and Jupiter. Countless smaller meteoroids, including cometary debris and fragments from the collision of larger bodies, are also present, some of which approach Earth's orbit closely enough to be known as near Earth objects. In addition, as many as a billion objects, most the size of a speck of dust, cross through our atmosphere as meteors or micrometeoroids each day, though the vast majority are invisible to observers on the ground. Astronomers have recorded more than 800 comets passing through the inner part of the solar system. Billions more lie in the area surrounding the solar system, in the disk of debris known as the Kuiper belt and in the swarm of comets known as the Oort cloud. All of these objects orbit the Sun at high speeds. Some orbits, like those of the planets near the Sun, are almost circular. Other orbits, like those of comets that make their way in among the planets, are stretched out into long ellipses. As in most scientific fields, new discoveries are constantly changing our understanding and definitions. The objects in the Kuiper belt, for example, were discovered in the 1990s. When the new planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History opened in 2000, many visitors were shocked to find that Pluto, long known as the ninth, outermost planet, had been demoted to a Kuiper belt objectcausing considerable controversy.

solar system

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

solar system - the sun with the celestial bodies that revolve around it in its gravitational field system, scheme - a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole; "a vast system of production and distribution and consumption keep the country going" heliosphere - the region inside the heliopause containing the sun and solar system earth, globe, world - the 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on; "the Earth moves around the sun"; "he sailed around the world" interplanetary medium - interplanetary space including forms of energy and gas and dust Jupiter - the largest planet and the 5th from the sun; has many satellites and is one of the brightest objects in the night sky Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, Kuiper belt - a disk-shaped region of minor planets outside the orbit of Neptune Mars, Red Planet - a small reddish planet that is the 4th from the sun and is periodically visible to the naked eye; minerals rich in iron cover its surface and are responsible for its characteristic color; "Mars has two satellites" Mercury - the smallest planet and the nearest to the sun minor planet, planetoid - any of numerous small celestial bodies that move around the sun Neptune - a giant planet with a ring of ice particles; the 8th planet from the sun is the most remote of the gas giants; "the existence of Neptune was predicted from perturbations in the orbit of Uranus and it was then identified in 1846" outer planet - (astronomy) a major planet whose orbit is outside the asteroid belt (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) major planet, 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 Pluto - a small planet and the farthest known planet from the sun; it has the most elliptical orbit of all the planets; "Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930" Saturn - a giant planet that is surrounded by three planar concentric rings of ice particles; the 6th planet from the sun Sun - the star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system; "the sun contains 99.85% of the mass in the solar system"; "the Earth revolves around the Sun" Uranus - a giant planet with a ring of ice particles; the 7th planet from the sun has a blue-green color and many satellites; "Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in 1781" Venus - the second nearest planet to the sun; it is peculiar in that its rotation is slow and retrograde (in the opposite sense of the Earth and all other planets except Uranus); it is visible from Earth as an early `morning star' or an `evening star'; "before it was known that they were the same object the evening star was called Venus and the morning star was called Lucifer"

Translations

solar system → نظام شمسي sluneční soustava solsystem Sonnensystem ηλιακό σύστημα sistema solar aurinkokunta système solaire solarni sustav sistema solare 太陽系 태양계 zonnestelsel solsystem układ słoneczny sistema solar солнечная система solsystem ระบบสุริยะจักรวาล güneş sistemi hệ mặt trời 太阳系