solar system n.
a system of one or more stars, often with accompanying planets
A generalization of the usual meaning, referring to our own planetary system, which OED records from 1704 (in an unrevised entry).
SF Encyclopedia
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[1740
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Then upwards yet your ravish’d eyes convey, / And view the skies with sparkling di’monds gay: / See num’rous solar systems scatter’d round, / To make your admiration more profound. ]
To Mr. M. on His Denial of Soul’s Future Existence in London Magazine Oct. 505/2 -
1882
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Nunsowe Green
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A very grand scheme was in contemplation, under White’s redoubtable leadership—no less than a public excursion to the nebula in Argo, in order to survey, from some near but sufficiently safe position, the marvellously stupendous movements that are of late developing there, in the gradual process of evolving a huge solar system.
Thousand Years Hence xxi. 386 -
1886
Granting human electricity to exist, why should not a communication be established, like a sort of spiritual Atlantic cable, between man and the beings of other spheres and other solar systems?
Romance of Two Worlds 192
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1935
Murray Leinster
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He had piloted the Adastra to its first contact with the civilization of another solar system.
Proxima Centauri in Astounding Stories Mar. 21/2
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1941
Raymond Z. Gallun
Must be a piece of some unknown planet, that maybe belonged to some unknown solar system, way out among the stars.
Meteor Legacy in Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 39/2
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1944
Hal Clement
Admittedly, he was used to interplanetary rather than interstellar flight; but it is almost as easy to get lost inside solar systems as between them.
Trojan Fall in Astounding Science-Fiction June 57/2
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1946
Murray Leinster
Slade left the Copernicus with fuel for at most seven light-years. It’s fifty to the nearest inhabited solar system.
Plants in Astounding Science-Fiction Jan. 142/1
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1977
George Zebrowski
Gorgias touched the map retrieval plate and the screen lit up, revealing a solar system of twelve planets.
Ashes & Stars 109
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1991
George Zebrowski
‘We’re the first human beings to reach another solar system,’ Lena said with awe.
Stranger Suns 38
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1995
Ursula K. Le Guin
The Werel-Yeowe solar system consists of 16 planets orbiting a yellow-white star (RK-tamo-5544-34).
Four Ways to Forgiveness 211
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2009
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James Patrick Kelly
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Their ships cruised at sublight speeds through distant solar systems.
Going Deep in Asimov’s Science Fiction June 26 -
2020
Hank Green
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I do not exist to save humans, I exist to save humanity. Your cruelties and mistakes may look damning to you, but that is not what I see. Every human conversation is more elegant and complex than the entire solar system that contains it.
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor235
Research requirements
antedating 1882
Earliest cite
"Nunsowe Green", A Thousand Years Hence
Research History
Ralf Brown located and Steven Silver submitted a 1991 cite from George Zebrowski's "Stranger Suns".Ralf Brown located and Douglas Winston submitted a 1977 cite from George Zebrowski's "Ashes and Stars".
Mike Christie submitted a 1944 cite from Hal Clement's "Trojan Fall".
Mike Christie submitted a 1946 cite from Murray Leinster's "The Plants".
Mike Christie submitted a 1941 cite from Raymond Z. Galllun's "Meteor Legacy".
Ralf Brown identified and Lawrence Watt-Evans located a cite from the 1887 second edition of Marie Corelli's 1886 "A Romance of Two Worlds".
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2020 cite from Hank Green.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted an 1882 cite from "Nunsowe Green".
(The OED definition refers only to our own solar system.)
Last modified 2022-01-22 14:46:35
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.