Definitions

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

  • noun astronomy The surface (plane) that contains an orbit.

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

  • noun (astronomy) the plane on which a body is orbiting

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Examples

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  • From the examples:

    “Guglielmini's theory was right, in considering the absolute path of the falling body (apart from the resistance of the air) as elliptical, or approximately parabolical, and the orbital plane as passing a little north of the vertical, through the centre of attraction, while the errors in his formulæ, afterwards repeated by Olbers, served to incite Gauss and Laplace to develop the correct theory of relative motion.”

    --The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability

    November 7, 2011