Rust Belt or Rustbelt, economic region in the NE quadrant of the United States, focused on the Midwestern (see Midwest) states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, as well as Pennsylvania...

Jupiter, in astronomy, 5th planet from the sun and largest planet of the solar system. Jupiter's orbit lies beyond the asteroid belt at a mean distance of 483.6 million mi (778.3 million km) f...

Eris, in astronomy, dwarf planet that is the most distant body known to be in orbit around the sun. Eris, whose highly eccentric elliptical orbit ranges from 38 AU to 97 AU and is inclined mor...

Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO), series of eight orbiting observatories (see observatory, orbiting) launched between 1962 and 1971 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ...

Horse latitudes, two belts of latitude where winds are light and the weather is hot and dry. They are located mostly over the oceans, at about 30° lat. in each hemisphere, and have a north-sou...

Megachurch, large Protestant church with an average weekly attendance of 2,000 or more; relatively uncommon until after 1970. In the United States, where most megachurches are located, there w...

Ionosphere, series of concentric ionized layers forming part of the upper atmosphere of the earth from around 30 to 50 mi (50 to 80 km) to 250 to 370 mi (400 to 600 km) where it merges with th...

Comet [Gr.,=longhaired], a small celestial body consisting mostly of dust and gases that moves in an elongated elliptical or nearly parabolic orbit around the sun. Comets visible from the eart...

Taurus [Lat.,= the bull], in astronomy, constellation NW of Orion and lying on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Gemini and Aries; it is one of the constellati...

Pluto, in astronomy, a dwarf planet and the first Kuiper belt, or transneptunian, object (see comet) to be discovered (1930) by astronomers. Pluto has an elliptical orbit usually lying beyond ...