Phosphorus (morning star) Phosphorus (morning star) Phosphorus (Greek "Phōsphoros") is the Morning Star, the planet Venus in its morning appearance. Φαοσφόρος ("Phaosphoros") and Φαεσφόρος ("Phaesphoros") are forms of the same name in some Greek dialects. This celestial object was named when stars and planets were not always distinguished with modern precision. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is Heosphoros (Greek "Heōsphoros"), meaning "Dawn-Bringer". The form Eosphorus is sometimes met in English, as if from Ἠωσφόρος ("Ēōsphoros"), which is not actually found in Greek literature, but would be the form that Ἑωσφόρος would have in some dialects. As an adjective, the Greek word
Stability of the Solar System essentially the distance from sun to earth). These are now known as the Kirkwood gaps. Some asteroids were later discovered to orbit in these gaps, but their orbits are unstable and they will eventually break out of the resonance due to close encounters with a major planet. Another common form of resonance in the Solar System is spin–orbit resonance, where the period of spin (the time it takes the planet or moon to rotate once about its axis) has a simple numerical relationship with its orbital period. An example is our own Moon, which is in a 1:1 spin–orbit resonance