Definition of ecliptic

Thanks for using this online dictionary, we have been helping millions of people improve their use of the english language with its free online services. English definition of ecliptic is as below...

Ecliptic (a.) A great circle of the celestial sphere, making an angle with the equinoctial of about 23¡ 28'. It is the apparent path of the sun, or the real path of the earth as seen from the sun..

Lern More About Ecliptic

Obliquity :: Obliquity (n.) The condition of being oblique; deviation from a right line; deviation from parallelism or perpendicularity; the amount of such deviation; divergence; as, the obliquity of the ecliptic to the equator..
Nonagesimal :: Nonagesimal (n.) The middle or highest point of the part of the ecliptic which is at any given moment above the horizon. It is the ninetieth degree of the ecliptic, reckoned from the points in which it is intersected by the horizon..
Pole :: Pole (n.) A point upon the surface of a sphere equally distant from every part of the circumference of a great circle; or the point in which a diameter of the sphere perpendicular to the plane of such circle meets the surface. Such a point is called the pole of that circle; as, the pole of the horizon; the pole of the ecliptic; the pole of a given meridian..
Ecliptic :: Ecliptic (a.) Pertaining to an eclipse or to eclipses.
Trepidation :: Trepidation (n.) A libration of the starry sphere in the Ptolemaic system; a motion ascribed to the firmament, to account for certain small changes in the position of the ecliptic and of the stars..
Latitude :: Latitude (n.) The angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic.
Nutation :: Nutation (n.) A very small libratory motion of the earth's axis, by which its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic is constantly varying by a small amount..
Ecliptic :: Ecliptic (a.) A great circle of the celestial sphere, making an angle with the equinoctial of about 23¡ 28'. It is the apparent path of the sun, or the real path of the earth as seen from the sun..
Midheaven :: Midheaven (n.) The meridian, or middle line of the heavens; the point of the ecliptic on the meridian..
Solar :: Solar (a.) Measured by the progress or revolution of the sun in the ecliptic; as, the solar year..
Sign :: Sign (n.) The twelfth part of the ecliptic or zodiac.
Node :: Node (n.) A hole in the gnomon of a dial, through which passes the ray of light which marks the hour of the day, the parallels of the sun's declination, his place in the ecliptic, etc..
Curtate :: Curtate (a.) Shortened or reduced; -- said of the distance of a planet from the sun or earth, as measured in the plane of the ecliptic, or the distance from the sun or earth to that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet upon the plane of the ecliptic, meets the ecliptic..
Plane :: Plane (a.) An ideal surface, conceived as coinciding with, or containing, some designated astronomical line, circle, or other curve; as, the plane of an orbit; the plane of the ecliptic, or of the equator..
Zodiac :: Zodiac (n.) An imaginary belt in the heavens, 16? or 18? broad, in the middle of which is the ecliptic, or sun's path. It comprises the twelve constellations, which one constituted, and from which were named, the twelve signs of the zodiac..
Solstice :: Solstice (v. i.) The point in the ecliptic at which the sun is farthest from the equator, north or south, namely, the first point of the sign Cancer and the first point of the sign Capricorn, the former being the summer solstice, latter the winter solstice, in northern latitudes; -- so called because the sun then apparently stands still in its northward or southward motion..
Inclinnation :: Inclinnation (n.) The angle made by two lines or planes; as, the inclination of the plane of the earth's equator to the plane of the ecliptic is about 23¡ 28'; the inclination of two rays of light..
Longitude :: Longitude (n.) The distance in degrees, reckoned from the vernal equinox, on the ecliptic, to a circle at right angles to the ecliptic passing through the heavenly body whose longitude is designated; as, the longitude of Capella is 79¡..
Dorado :: Dorado (n.) A southern constellation, within which is the south pole of the ecliptic; -- called also sometimes Xiphias, or the Swordfish..
Ultrazodiacal :: Ultrazodiacal (a.) Outside the zodiac; being in that part of the heavens that is more than eight degrees from the ecliptic; as, ultrazodiacal planets, that is, those planets which in part of their orbits go beyond the zodiac..
Random Fonts
Most Popular

close
Privacy Policy   GDPR Policy   Terms & Conditions   Contact Us