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Another system is no longer "solar", just planetary, as it evolves around another star, not the Sun. Or am I making this up?
by __michal 11y ago
Another system is no longer "solar", just planetary, as it evolves around another star, not the Sun. Or am I making this up?
- hartror 11y agoYou are correct.
- overcast 11y agoI don't think most people understand that our star is called Sol.
- jewel 11y agoIt'd be nice to call it a stellar system for consistency, but that already means a group of interacting stars. Planetary system or exoplanetary system seems to be the right term to use.
- sdrothrock 11y agoHuh, "planetary system" wouldn't been my first choice. By analogy, if a solar system is a system about the Sun, a planetary system would seem to me to be a system about a planet e.g. Jupiter and its moons.
- jessriedel 11y agoMaybe "planetary system" is a system of planets, but a "planet system", like the "Jupiter system", would be the system for a single planet. That would make "stellar system" sensible too. Furthermore, a planetary system associated with a single star is a "star system". One more option: "exosolar system".
- sdrothrock 11y agoThat makes a lot of sense!
- em3rgent0rdr 11y agoHow about a "star+planet(s) system". Unambiguous, but can't easily pronounce.
- restalis 11y agoNitpicks: First, I would call it the Solar System. (Not any solar system, mind you.) That would be in line with existing nomenclature in which the Solar System¹ is the name of our planetary system². Second, "moon" is not the best term (although I know it's in use like a lot of other "liberal English" words) and I would prefer "(natural) satellite"³ for this generic meaning and leave "moon" for the (Earth's) Moon⁴. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System ² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_system ³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellite ⁴ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon
- laretluval 11y agohttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solar%20system http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solar%20system Full 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
- jessriedel 11y agoYea, this is a case where different communities (astronomers vs. laymen) have different definitions. Astronomers use the restrictive definition of "solar" for just for "sol", but they also have a more expansive definition of "metal" to mean "anything but hydrogen and helium".
- gammarator 11y agoYeah, usually astronomers say "extrasolar planet", or exoplanet for short.