SINCE 1828
outer planet
nounDefinition of outer planet
: any of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune whose orbits lie beyond the asteroid belt
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Although this planetary connection is somewhat rare, as these outer planets won’t meet again until 2022, this is actually the third — and final — alignment of 2018’s three-part series. — Aliza Kelly Faragher, Allure, "What September's Aries Horoscope Means for You," 30 Aug. 2018 Additional missions were identified as well, such as a lunar spacecraft and probes to explore the outer planets. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "The Spacecraft Engineering Required to "Touch the Sun"," 6 Aug. 2018 The agency has an unparalleled track record in exploration, particularly with robotic probes stretching across the Solar System from the Sun to the outer planets and beyond. — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, "On NASA’s birthday, a reminder that we can thank Nixon for the agency," 1 Oct. 2018 The outer planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune — were formed by vacuuming up smaller objects in their paths. — Brian Resnick, Vox, "Astronomers discovered 10 new moons of Jupiter. Where have they been hiding?," 17 July 2018 And, as one of the outer planets in our solar system, Uranus moves pretty slowly, completing one orbit of the sun every 84 years and moving into a new Zodiac sign about every seven. — refinery29.com, "Uranus Is Moving Into Taurus — & That’s Actually Kind Of A Big Deal," 14 May 2018 The planets on the other side of the asteroid belt are referred to as the outer planets. — Aliza Kelly Faragher, Allure, "Birth Charts 101: An Astrology Beginner's Guide to Understanding the Planets," 12 Mar. 2018 But fortunately, the outer planets might be safe from this barrage of high-energy space weather. — John Wenz, Popular Mechanics, "Some TRAPPIST-1 Planets Could Support Atmospheres Despite Volatile Star," 30 Dec. 2017 The outer planets define larger life themes, as well as experiences shared by generations. — Aliza Kelly Faragher, Allure, "Birth Charts 101: An Astrology Beginner's Guide to Understanding the Planets," 12 Mar. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'outer planet.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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