Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
planetology

planetology

7.1
The study of planets like Earth or Mars, what they are made of and how they change
  • noun
  • /ˌplænɪˈtɒlədʒi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : planetología
  • Many universities offer courses on planetology to teach students about planetary structures and atmospheres.
  • comparative planetology

Examples

  • To this point, students have had a casual approach; now they find they must be "more scientific" in their studies as they begin to learn about comparative planetology.

    Academic text (1999)

  • I thought you were going to cooperate with me on the planetology report, you bastards.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Astronomy ceased to hold sway over these new objects, and geology, in its guise of comparative planetology, took over.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • And regardless of habitability, future space-based missions like Darwin and TPF will permit us to do comparative planetology on a wide variety of planets.

    Academic text (2007)

  • In September 2000, Showman and Timothy Dowling of the University of Louisville's Comparative Planetology Laboratory unveiled a computer simulation that helps solve the mystery of why hot spots are so dry.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The field of planetology explores the unique features and evolution of planets in our solar system.

  • Research in planetology has revealed that each planet has distinct geological processes that shape its surface.

Surface Forms

planetology singular
planetologies plural

Morphology

planetology = planet (transparent) = planet + ology

The word is transparently formed from 'planet' plus the productive scholarly suffix '-ology', meaning 'the study of'.

Etymology

Planetology comes from planet, a word that originally meant 'wanderer', and the ending -ology, which means 'study' as in biology or geology; so planetology is the scientific 'study' of planets and how they are made and change.