ecliptic

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As the ecliptic occupies a position which for our present purpose we may regard as fixed in space, it follows that the pole of the ecliptic is a fixed point on the surface of the heavens; so that the path of the pole of the earth must be a small circle in the heavens, fixed in its position relatively to the surrounding stars.

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Definitions (12)

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  1. noun The intersection plane of the earth's orbit with the celestial sphere, along which the sun appears to move as viewed from the earth.
  2. noun A great circle inscribed on a terrestrial globe inclined at an approximate angle of 23°27ʹ to the equator and representing the apparent motion of the sun in relation to the earth during a year.

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Examples (50)

  • Anyway, if we could see the Sun moving against a background of stars, we'd see that the Sun moves on a regular path through the stars, a path called the ecliptic. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 02 - August 1999
  • Since they came in from well above the ecliptic, their spiral passed from north to south. —  GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION
  • —The astronomers of the eighteenth century had found, by a comparison of ancient with modern observations, that the obliquity of the ecliptic is slowly diminishing from century to century. —  Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men
  • In the next instant the third ship wheeled, clawed for the ecliptic, and vanished once more into her own brand of alien hyperspace. —  Kenneth Bulmer - Worlds for the Taking
  • For the new method he noticed that great accuracy was required in the reduction of the observed places of Mars to the ecliptic, and for this purpose the value obtained for the parallax by Tycho's assistants fell far short of the requisite accuracy. —  Kepler
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Etymologies (2)

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  1. Middle English ecliptik, from Medieval Latin (līnea) eclīptica, ecliptic (line), from Latin eclīpticus, of an eclipse, from Greek ekleiptikos, from ekleipein, to fail to appear; see eclipse.

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  1. Formerly ecliptick; = French écliptique = Portuguese ecliptico = Italian eclittico, from Late Latin eclipticus, from LGr. ἐκλειπτικός, of or caused by an eclipse (as a noun, = French écliptique = Spanish eclíptica = Portuguese ecliptica = Italian eclittica, from Late Latin ecliptica (sc. linea, line), from Greek ἐκλειπτικός, (sc. κύκλος, circle), the line or circle in the plane of which eclipses take place), from ἒκλειψις, an eclipse: see eclipse, n.
 

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/əˈklɪptɪk/
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