Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to a reference system based at the center of the sun.
  • adjective Having the sun as the center.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In astronomy, referred to the sun as a center; appearing as if seen from the sun's center.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Astron.) pertaining to the sun's center, or appearing to be seen from it; having, or relating to, the sun as a center; -- opposed to geocentrical.
  • adjective See under Parallax.
  • adjective etc. (of a heavenly body), the direction, latitude, longitude, etc., of the body as viewed from the sun.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective astronomy having the sun at the center/centre; usually in reference to a solar system or orbit

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having the sun as the center

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From helio- +‎ centric.

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Examples

  • "And separation successfull ... i'm floating. .in heliocentric orbit ..."

    Kepler Is On Its Way - NASA Watch 2009

  • This representation of the heavens is usually called the heliocentric, or “Sun-centred,” system — derived from the Greek helios, meaning “Sun.”

    Five People Born on February 19 | myFiveBest 2010

  • "Copernicanism", that is, a heliocentric solar system with _circular_ orbits, was long dead.

    Monty Python it is not - The Panda's Thumb 2005

  • - As I sit at my computer terminal, I notice that my bottled water (no "heliocentric" acid rain water from KPU for this boy!) has a "sell by" date.

    unknown title 2009

  • - As I sit at my computer terminal, I notice that my bottled water (no "heliocentric" acid rain water from KPU for this boy!) has a "sell by" date.

    unknown title 2009

  • - As I sit at my computer terminal, I notice that my bottled water (no "heliocentric" acid rain water from KPU for this boy!) has a "sell by" date.

    unknown title 2009

  • - As I sit at my computer terminal, I notice that my bottled water (no "heliocentric" acid rain water from KPU for this boy!) has a "sell by" date.

    unknown title 2009

  • "heliocentric" plant, like a sunflower, is one that grows toward or is drawn to the sun.

    xml's Blinklist.com 2008

  • Neither has the Copernican heliocentric model, because its circular orbits were only partially right.

    Bukiet on Brooklyn Books Hal Duncan 2009

  • The opposition to the heliocentric cosmology of Copernicus came largely from religious adherence to the Ptolemaic alethic model, but the astronomers who held out against Kepler were largely being scientistic.

    Bukiet on Brooklyn Books Hal Duncan 2009

Comments

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  • "In the early 1630's, Galileo had wanted to publish a book endorsing the Copernican heliocentric model of the solar system, but the Vatican would not permit the book's release unless Galileo included equally persuasive evidence for the church's geocentric model - a model Galileo knew to be dead wrong."

    - 'Angels and Demons', Dan Brown.

    February 28, 2008