heavenly body

noun

plural heavenly bodies

: an aggregation of matter in the universe (such as a planet, star, or nebula) that can be considered as a single unit (as for astronomical study) : celestial body

Cooper's … account of the collection and interpretation of information about this heavenly body presents us with vivid images of the Venusian landscape as well as insights into the frustrations and rewards of space science.—

Donna Seaman

This harvest was the first solid sample of a heavenly body collected in more than 30 years and the first ever from a comet.—

Jeffrey Winters

Examples of heavenly body in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Matson went on to say that Newton could calculate the motion of the heavenly bodies and the workings of the universe but didn't understand stock market bubbles or the inner workings of the human mind. —

Omaid Homayun, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024 First man on the moon, first human on another heavenly body, first footsteps beyond our celestial front yard, 250,000 miles away. —

Scott Lebar, Sacramento Bee, 20 July 2024 The Earth was at the center of the universe, and the sun, the moon and other heavenly bodies spun around it. —

Danuta Hamlin, Fox News, 18 Feb. 2024 Their existence gave evidence for what Copernicus had merely intuited: Not all heavenly bodies circle Earth. —

Dava Sobel, Discover Magazine, 12 Nov. 2019 Early astronomical observatories boosted accuracy by constructing enormous buildings structured to enable the measurement of the position of heavenly bodies—hugely expensive projects that often required some form of royal patronage. —

John Timmer, Ars Technica, 18 Nov. 2023 This particular example is distinguished by a 44 mm rose-gold case and a black sapphire-crystal dial that shows a rotating chart of the heavenly bodies. —

Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 26 Sep. 2023 Aristotle, for example, thought that heavenly bodies were made of a theoretical form of matter called aether and naturally moved in circles. —

Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 5 Sep. 2023 Volunteers from the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers and the Planetary Society will be on hand to help out, as will amateur astronomers who can discuss the finer points of our heavenly bodies. —

Dakota Kim, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heavenly body.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.