planetary body
Celestial mass orbiting
A planetary body is any natural object in space that orbits a star or moves through a solar system—planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets.
The term is deliberately inclusive, covering objects that don't quite qualify as planets under strict definitions: Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet but remains a planetary body.
Scientists use it when the precise category matters less than the object's general nature.
Star and orbiting bodies
- JupiterLargest solar system planet
- SaturnRinged gas giant
- NeptuneEighth planet or sea deity
- UranusSideways-spinning outer world
Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · gas giant · ice giant · habitable zone · exoplanet
Goddess of crops and growth
asteroid belt · Trojans · meteoroid · rocky · irregular · carbonaceous · silicate · metallic
Kuiper Belt dwarf world
- ErisGreek personification of conflict
- CeresGoddess of crops and growth
- trans-NeptunianBeyond the eighth planet
- Kuiper beltDistant ring of frozen objects
spherical · Sedna · Charon · reclassification · icy
Orbiting celestial body
- lunarOf the moon
- TitanMythic giant or moon
- EuropaGalilean moon with subsurface ocean
- GanymedeJupiter's largest natural satellite
Callisto · Io · Triton · Enceladus · Phobos · Deimos · craters · tides
Curved celestial path
- trajectoryPath of moving object
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- ellipticalOval-shaped or indirect
- gravitationalRelating to mass-based attraction
perihelion · aphelion · eccentricity · inclination · resonance · transit · retrograde · prograde
Central controlling part
- comaUnwakeable unconsciousness
- tailRear animal appendage
- HalleyAstronomer's surname, comet fame
- Hale-BoppLong-period celestial visitor
ice · dust · Oort cloud · Kuiper belt · perihelion · outgassing · sublimation · meteor shower
Growth through external addition
- nebulaInterstellar gas formation
- planetesimalPrimordial orbiting rock
- collisionForceful contact between objects
- gravityMutual mass attraction
condensation · differentiation · solar nebula · dust · gas · bombardment · migration · clearing
solar system
Star and orbiting bodies
Uranus · Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · gas giant · ice giant · habitable zone · exoplanet · protoplanet
Ceres
Goddess of crops and growth
Psyche · asteroid belt · Trojans · meteoroid · rocky · irregular · carbonaceous · silicate · metallic · cratered
Pluto
Kuiper Belt dwarf world
- ErisGreek personification of conflict
- CeresGoddess of crops and growth
- trans-NeptunianBeyond the eighth planet
Kuiper belt · spherical · Sedna · Charon · reclassification · icy
satellite
Orbiting celestial body
Ganymede · Callisto · Io · Triton · Enceladus · Phobos · Deimos · craters · tides · phases
orbit
Curved celestial path
- trajectoryPath of moving object
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- ellipticalOval-shaped or indirect
gravitational · perihelion · aphelion · eccentricity · inclination · resonance · transit · retrograde · prograde · synchronous
nucleus
Central controlling part
Hale-Bopp · ice · dust · Oort cloud · Kuiper belt · perihelion · outgassing · sublimation · meteor shower · dirty snowball
accretion
Growth through external addition
- nebulaInterstellar gas formation
- planetesimalPrimordial orbiting rock
- collisionForceful contact between objects
gravity · condensation · differentiation · solar nebula · dust · gas · bombardment · migration · clearing · circumstellar
planetary bodystar
Luminous astronomical object
sun · red giant · white dwarf · neutron star · supergiant
planetary bodygalaxy
Gravitationally bound stellar mass
universe · cosmos · galaxy cluster · supercluster · nebula
planet, planetary, planets, body, bodies, bodily, bodied, embody, embodied