galactic poles

British

plural noun

the two points on the celestial sphere, diametrically opposite each other, that can be joined by an imaginary line perpendicular to the galactic plane

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They are just as thick around the south galactic poles as around the north one.

From Side-Lights on Astronomy and Kindred Fields of Popular Science by Newcomb, Simon

The points in which the latter intersects the celestial sphere are called the galactic poles.

From Side-Lights on Astronomy and Kindred Fields of Popular Science by Newcomb, Simon

At some such distance as this, we might find a thinning out of the stars in the direction of the galactic poles, or the commencement of the Milky Way in the direction of this stream.

From Side-Lights on Astronomy and Kindred Fields of Popular Science by Newcomb, Simon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023