Sentence:  Astronomers cannot help regarding the solar system as a small <WSD>widdershins</WSD> universe, because the real movements with which they are familiar are nearly all <WSD>widdershins</WSD>: the rotation of the sun on its axis, the rotation and revolution of the earth and the moon, the rotation and revolution of the planets and of most of their satellites. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Anticlockwise, counter-clockwise.