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/ɪklˈɪptɪk/ Listen

Ecliptic

noun

The great circle representing the apparent annual path of the sun; the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun; makes an angle of about 23 degrees with the equator.

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Etymology of 'Ecliptic'

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"Ecliptic" Quotes from Famous Books

... the equinox, the season of Dante's journey, the sun in Aries is at the intersection of the ecliptic and the equator of the celestial sphere, and his apparent motion in his annual revolution cuts the apparent diurnal motion of the fixed stars, which is performed in circles ...

— The Divine Comedy, Volume 3, Paradise [Paradiso] • Dante Alighieri

... is almost a globe it is not perfectly round, so that every variation from the regular curve disturbs the air currents. Moreover, the motions of the earth are very complicated. Sometimes it is nearer the sun than at other times. It wobbles slightly on its axis. It is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic, causing the seasons, and that brings a new set of factors into the problem. A mountain range or a desert will modify the atmosphere, even the difference between a forest and a ...

— The Boy with the U. S. Weather Men • Francis William Rolt-Wheeler

... cotton or tons of manufactured iron which they consume for the benefit of Manchester and Sheffield, are certainly as comic as anything in Aristophanes. The madness of the philosopher who deemed himself personally answerable for the obliquity of the ecliptic has more than its match in the sense of responsibility shown by British journalists for the good conduct of the rest of mankind. All other kingdoms, potentates, and powers would seem to be minors or lunatics, and they the divinely appointed guardians under bonds to see that their ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 50, December, 1861 • Various

Words linked to "Ecliptic" : great circle