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planetary system

(Encyclopedia)planetary system, a star and all the celestial bodies bound to it by gravity, especially planets and their natural satellites. Until the last decade of the 20th cent., the only planetary system known ...

banner system

(Encyclopedia)banner system, Manchu conscription system. Companies of Manchu warriors were grouped (1601) into brigades, each with a distinctive banner. The banner system integrated former tribal units into a burea...

cgs system

(Encyclopedia)cgs system, system of units of measurement based on the metric system and having the centimeter of length, the gram of mass, and the second of time as its fundamental units. Other cgs units are the dy...

Ptolemaic system

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemaic system tŏlˌəmāˈĭk [key], historically the most influential of the geocentric cosmological theories, i.e., theories that placed the earth motionless at the center of the universe with a...

reproductive system

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Reproductive system reproductive system, in animals, the anatomical organs concerned with production of offspring. In humans and other mammals the female reproductive system produces the femal...

portal system

(Encyclopedia)portal system: see circulatory system. ...

Federal Reserve System

(Encyclopedia)Federal Reserve System, central banking system of the United States. Established in 1913, it began to operate in Nov., 1914. Its setup, although somewhat altered since its establishment, particularly ...

Indiana Dunes National Park

(Encyclopedia)Indiana Dunes National Park, 15,177 acres (6,142 hectares), NW Indiana, on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, est. 1966 as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, designated a national park 2019. The park's...

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