galactic plane

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. the plane of the galactic equator.

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galactic plane British  

noun

1. the plane passing through the spiral arms of the Galaxy

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Etymology

Origin of galactic plane

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

galactic plane

In recent months, however, radio astronomers have spotted LPTs outside the galactic plane.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 3, 2024

By studying magnesium atom emission signals, the team was also able to map the morphology of these winds, which appear as cones of matter perpendicularly ejected from both sides of the galactic plane.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 6, 2023

Instead, the analysis turned up hundreds of neutrinos that came from the galactic plane of the Milky Way.

From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2023

In the 1980s he and his colleagues discovered the first known filaments—streaks of superfast particles that stretch vertically through the galactic plane for more than 100 light-years and remain unexplained.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 22, 2023

Globular clusters plunge through the galactic plane and out the other side, where they slow, reverse and hurtle back again.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan