Inferior planets

Inferior planets Mercury and Venus - the planets placed between the Earth and the Sun - are known as inferior. Those planets further from the Sun than Earth: i.e., Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Chiron, are referred to as superior.

Inferior Planets - Planets orbiting between the Earth and the Sun (Moon, Mercury and Venus and the postulated Vulcan). The orbits of the superior planets, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars lie beyond that of the Earth from the Sun.

Inferior Planets. The minor planets, those whose orbits are within that of the Earth: viz.: Mercury and Venus. v. Planets. Infortunes. Mars and Saturn. v. Planets, Malefic.

inferior planets Venus and Mercury, so called because their orbits are smaller (closer to the Sun) than Earth's. infortunes Another term for malefics. See malefic.

Said of the inferior planets as well as of the Moon, when less than half of the disc is illuminated by the Sun. Critical Days.

SUPERIOR and INFERIOR PLANETS Saturn, Jupiter and Mars being placed above the Orb of the Sun, are called the superior, ponderous and more weighty Planets. Venus, Mercury and Luna are called the inferior Planets, being under the Orb of the Sun.

The orbits of the Inferior planets lie between the Earth and the Sun (Vulcan, Moon, Mercury and Venus). See Inferior Planets. Swift in Course (Swift in Motion)A planet moving faster than its mean motion. An accidental dignity.

Herakleides (c. 380-c.310 BC) developed a hybrid theory half-way between the geocentric and heliocentric systems in which the inferior planets Mercury and Venus were in orbit around the Sun while the Sun itself and the superior planets Mars, ...

The maximum elongation for the inferior planets is 28° for Mercury, and 48° for Venus. Mercury can therefore only form a conjunction and semi-sextile to the Sun; Venus can onlly form a conjunction, semi-sextile, or semi-square to the Sun.

See also: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Planet, Moon