solar system

noun

Definition of solar system

: the sun together with the group of celestial bodies that are held by its attraction and revolve around it also : a similar system centered on another star

Examples of solar system in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This week’s photos take us out to our solar system and then to infinity and beyond—almost. — Shannon Stirone, WIRED, "Space Photos of the Week: Mars Has Spiders in the Springtime," 14 July 2018 The gap in their arrivals approximates the gap between appearances by Halley’s Comet, the most famous of the thousands of comets that streak through our solar system. — Tom Verducci, SI.com, "The Star That Still Won't Shine: The Incredible, Unprecedented but Unseen Greatness of Mike Trout," 12 July 2018 Kepler, which is currently 94 million miles away from Earth, found many, many exoplanets (planets outside of our solar system) in its heyday. — Jennie Neufeld, Vox, "Vox Sentences: Trade war will tariff us apart," 7 July 2018 The planet, hotter than any in our solar system, supports what astronomers have long believed: that such bodies are born of the disks of gas and dust that coalesce around young stars. — Katie Langin, Science | AAAS, "Top stories: cycling and climate change, hidden pharma payments, and cursing surgeons," 6 July 2018 Since the initial observation, more studies have allowed scientists to measure more details about the planet including its temperature of around 1,000 degrees Celsius, which is hotter than any of the planets in our solar system. — Richard Tribou, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Image captures moment planet is born, scientists say," 2 July 2018 Getting a stable axial tilt as a planet is a complex endeavor, one that involves a planet's relationship with both its parent star, its sibling planets in its solar system, and even its moons. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Study Shows Exoplanet Has a Stable Axis Just Like Earth," 29 June 2018 Thus a heliocentric solar system might well have been a constant of astronomical thought from Babylon and classical Greece onwards. — The Economist, "Empty sky, empty Earth?," 5 July 2018 Or maybe our solar system just happens to be located in a quiet, exurban cul-de-sac of the universe, an accident of cosmic geography. — Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, "But, Seriously, Where Is Everybody?," 22 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'solar system.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.