Meanings
- not comparableastronomyBased on a model in which the Earth does not move and all other motion is described relative to the Earth's fixed position.
In contrast, the moon, since it shares the earth's heliocentric motion, does not have a component of its geostatic motion that mirrors the earth's orbit and thereby yields retrogression, as does the epicycle of a superior planet.
1983, John Earman, Testing Scientific Theories, page 2572 more examples
If heliostatic astronomy has no technical advantages, if thoroughly modern astronomy is not heliostatic, and if the arguments adduced by Copernicus were unconvincing, why were the early geostatic astronomies, Ptolemy's in particular, superseded?
1993, Hugh Thurston, Early Astronomy, Spriner-Verlag Ch 10, page 207If we make a scale model in a flat box of a geostatic solar system , driven perhaps by an electric motor , place it on a smooth table , and hold the sun still, allowing the box to slide around on the table, we obtain a heliostatic system.
1996, Hugh Thurston, Early Astronomy, page 206
Synonyms & antonyms
astronomical model
Origin
Cite this entry
geostatic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geostatic
“geostatic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geostatic. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “geostatic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/geostatic.
Source: geostatic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.