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magic, a supposed supernatural power which gave to spirits a kind of dominion over the planets, and to the planets an influence over men. -- Natural magic, the art of employing the powers of nature to produce effects apparently supernatural. -- Superstitious, or Geotic, magic, the invocation of devils or demons, inv…

Unfavorable; unpropitious; pernicious; tending to injure; as, a malign aspect of planets.

One of the planets of the solar system, the fourth in order from the sun, or the next beyond the earth, having a diameter of about 4,200 miles, a period of 687 days, and a mean distance of 141,000,000 miles. It is conspicuous for the redness of its light.

Pertaining to, or resembling, the god, or the planet, Mars. Sir T. Browne.

Of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war, or to the planet bearing his name; martial.

e, metal, sand, or water. If it were not for these principles, the bodies of the earth, planets, comets, sun, and all things in them, would grow cold and freeze, and become inactive masses. Sir I. Newton. A deep mass of continual sea is slower stirred To rage. Savile.

cycle of variation; as, mean distance; mean motion; mean solar day. Mean distance (of a planet from the sun) (Astron.), the average of the distances throughout one revolution of the planet, equivalent to the semi-major axis of the orbit. -- Mean error (Math. Phys.), the average error of a number of observations found…

Of or relating to the Medici, a noted Italian family; as, the Medicean Venus. Medicean planets (Astron.), a name given by Galileo to the satellites of Jupiter.

One of the planets of the solar system, being the one nearest the sun, from which its mean distance is about 36,000,000 miles. Its period is 88 days, and its diameter 3,000 miles.

e celestial orb which revolves round the earth; the satellite of the earth; a secondary planet, whose light, borrowed from the sun, is reflected to the earth, and serves to dispel the darkness of night. The diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles, its mean distance from the earth is 240,000 miles, and its mass is one eight…

ing in the morning; -- a common sign of pregnancy. -- Morning star. (a) Any one of the planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mars, or Saturn) when it precedes the sun in rising, esp. Venus. Cf. Evening star, Evening. (b) Satan. See Lucifer. Since he miscalled the morning star, Nor man nor fiend hath fallen so far. Byron.…

A Moorish dance, usually performed by a single dancer, who accompanies the dance with castanets.

Direction of movement; course; tendency; as, the motion of the planets is from west to east. In our proper motion we ascend. Milton.

Nebular hypothesis, an hypothesis to explain the process of formation of the stars and planets, presented in various forms by Kant, Herschel, Laplace, and others. As formed by Laplace, it supposed the matter of the solar system to have existed originally in the form of a vast, diffused, revolving nebula, which, gradua…

The remotest known planet of our system, discovered -- as a result of the computations of Leverrier, of Paris -- by Galle, of Berlin, September 23, 1846. Its mean distance from the sun is about 2,775,000,000 miles, and its period of revolution is about 164,78 years. Neptune powder, an explosive containing nitroglycerin…

lthough existing before; lately manifested; recently discovered; as, a new metal; a new planet; new scenes.

st; western; -- opposed to oriental; as, occidental climates, or customs; an occidental planet.

on of some other of the heavenly bodies; -- applied especially to eclipses of stars and planets by the moon, and to the eclipses of satellites of planets by their primaries.

The position or aspect of a heavenly body, as the moon or a planet, when half way between conjunction, or opposition, and quadrature, or distant from another body 45 degrees.

when in the part of the heavens directly opposite to it; especially, the position of a planet or satellite when its longitude differs from that of the sun 180º; -- signified by the symbol as, .