wandering star
Ancient name: planet
Wandering star is an old term for a planet, so called because planets appear to move against the fixed background of stars when viewed from Earth over successive nights.
The ancient Greeks distinguished these "wanderers" from the seemingly stationary stars.
The phrase occasionally appears in literary or poetic contexts to describe someone who drifts through life without settling down.
He lived as a wandering star, never staying anywhere long enough to call it home.
Curved celestial path
- solar systemStar and orbiting bodies
- JupiterLargest solar system planet
- SaturnRinged gas giant
- MarsRed planet, war deity
Venus · Mercury · Neptune · Uranus · celestial body · night sky · naked eye · brightness
Lasting very briefly
- fleetingPassing very quickly
- restlessUnable to be still
- roamingMoving without fixed purpose
- driftingMoving without purpose
nomadic · rootless · impermanent · transitory · vagabond · untethered · ever-moving · shifting
Celestial belt of signs
- horoscopeZodiac-based fortune telling
- natal chartStar positions at birth
- birth chartZodiac map at delivery
- housesBuildings for living
signs · Mercury retrograde · transit · ascendant · midheaven · aspects · conjunction · trine
Prophetic indicator
- portentSign of future calamity
- prophecyForetelling of future events
- deityWorshipped supernatural being
- IshtarBabylonian goddess of love
Marduk · Thoth · Hermes · Apollo · Aphrodite · divination · augury · oracle
Maritime angular measurement device
- astrolabeAncient altitude-measuring instrument
- celestial navigationLocation-finding via astronomical observation
- wayfindingNavigating through physical spaces
- latitudeGeographic or personal freedom
longitude · bearing · compass · almanac · quadrant · cross-staff · dead reckoning · declination
orbit
Curved celestial path
- solar systemStar and orbiting bodies
- JupiterLargest solar system planet
- SaturnRinged gas giant
Mars · Venus · Mercury · Neptune · Uranus · celestial body · night sky · naked eye · brightness · ecliptic
ephemeral
Lasting very briefly
drifting · nomadic · rootless · impermanent · transitory · vagabond · untethered · ever-moving · shifting · inconstant
zodiac
Celestial belt of signs
- horoscopeZodiac-based fortune telling
- natal chartStar positions at birth
- birth chartZodiac map at delivery
houses · signs · Mercury retrograde · transit · ascendant · midheaven · aspects · conjunction · trine · sextile
omen
Prophetic indicator
- portentSign of future calamity
- prophecyForetelling of future events
- deityWorshipped supernatural being
Ishtar · Marduk · Thoth · Hermes · Apollo · Aphrodite · divination · augury · oracle · Babylonian
sextant
Maritime angular measurement device
- astrolabeAncient altitude-measuring instrument
- celestial navigationLocation-finding via astronomical observation
- wayfindingNavigating through physical spaces
latitude · longitude · bearing · compass · almanac · quadrant · cross-staff · dead reckoning · declination · azimuth
wandering starfixed star
Star showing no planetary motion
fixed point · pole star · Polaris · North Star · lodestar
wandering starfixed point
Value unchanged by function
fixed star · constant · anchor · lodestone · guiding star
wandering starhomebody
One preferring domestic life
stay-at-home · pillar of the community · fixture · constant companion
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