celestial bodies
1Cthulhu Mythos celestial bodies — The following fictional celestial bodies figure prominently in the Cthulhu Mythos stories of H. P. Lovecraft and other writers. Many of these astronomical bodies have parallels in the real universe, but are often renamed in the mythos and given… …
2Magnetic field of celestial bodies — See also Earth s magnetic field The magnetic field of a rotating body of conductive gas or liquid develops self amplifying electric currents, and thus a self generated magnetic field, due to a combination of differential rotation (different… …
3Celestial mechanics — is the branch of astrophysics that deals with the motions of celestial objects. The field applies principles of physics, historically classical mechanics, to astronomical objects such as stars and planets to produce ephemeris data. Orbital… …
4Celestial navigation — Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is a position fixing technique that was devised to help sailors cross the featureless oceans without having to rely on dead reckoning to enable them to strike land. Celestial navigation uses… …
5celestial mechanics — the branch of astronomy that deals with the application of the laws of dynamics and Newton s law of gravitation to the motions of heavenly bodies. [1815 25] * * * Branch of astronomy that deals with the mathematical theory of the motions of… …
6Celestial spheres — Not to be confused with celestial sphere. For other uses, see Celestial (disambiguation). Geocentric celestial spheres; Peter Apian s Cosmographia (Antwerp, 1539) …
7celestial illusion — The term celestial illusion is indebted to the Latin noun caelum, which means heaven. It is used to denote a group of *size illusions characterized by an apparent increase in the size of celestial bodies when these are perceived above the… …
8celestial navigation — navigation by means of observations made of the apparent position of heavenly bodies. Also called astronavigation, celo navigation. [1935 40] * * * use of the observed positions of celestial bodies to determine a navigator s position. At… …
9celestial guidance — noun a method of controlling the flight of a missile or spacecraft by reference to the positions of celestial bodies • Hypernyms: ↑steering, ↑guidance, ↑direction * * * a guidance system for an aeronautical or space vehicle by which an automatic… …
10celestial sphere — An imaginary sphere of infinite radius, centered at the center of the earth, on which the apparent motion of celestial bodies takes place. Because all stars are so far from an earthbound observer that they can be located solely by their direction …
