Sentence:  The Poynting-Robertson effect ( Robertson , 1937 ; Wyatt and Whipple , 1950 ) , which is a retardation of the orbital motion of <WSD>particles</WSD> by the relativistic aberration of the repulsive force of the impinging solar radiation , causes the dust to spiral into the sun in times much shorter than the age of the Earth . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions