taivaankappaleen

Taivaankappaleen is the Finnish genitive singular form of taivaankappale, a word meaning "celestial body" or "heavenly object." In astronomical contexts it refers to objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets, asteroids and meteoroids. The term combines taivas ("sky, heaven") and kappale ("piece, object"), literally denoting an object of the sky.

As a genitive form, taivaankappaleen is used to indicate possession, origin, partitive relationships or other grammatical roles in a sentence. Examples include taivaankappaleen liike ("the motion of the celestial body"), taivaankappaleen massa ("the mass of the celestial body") and havainto taivaankappaleen läheltä ("an observation near the celestial body"). It appears in scientific, educational and literary registers of Finnish.

Beyond strict astronomy, taivaankappale/taivaankappaleen can be used poetically to describe luminous or mysterious objects in the sky. Related Finnish terms include planeetta (planet), tähti (star), kuu (moon) and komeetta (comet). In English-language contexts, taivaankappaleen is typically translated as "of the celestial body" or "celestial body's," depending on syntax.