English new terms dictionary. 2014.
ecliptic — Astronomy ► NOUN ▪ a great circle on the celestial sphere representing the sun s apparent path during the year, so called because lunar and solar eclipses can only occur when the moon crosses it. ► ADJECTIVE ▪ of eclipses or the ecliptic … English terms dictionary
ecliptic — ecliptically, adv. /i klip tik/, n. 1. Astron. a. the great circle formed by the intersection of the plane of the earth s orbit with the celestial sphere; the apparent annual path of the sun in the heavens. b. an analogous great circle on a… … Universalium
Astronomy — • Divided into two main branches, astrometry and astrophysics; the former concerned with determining the places of the investigation of the heavenly bodies, the latter, with the investigation of their chemical and physical nature Catholic… … Catholic encyclopedia
Astronomy — (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον), star , and nomos (νόμος), law ) is the scientific study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth s atmosphere (such as the cosmic… … Wikipedia
astronomy — /euh stron euh mee/, n. the science that deals with the material universe beyond the earth s atmosphere. [1175 1225; ME astronomie ( < AF) < L astronomia < Gk. See ASTRO , NOMY] * * * I Science dealing with the origin, evolution, composition,… … Universalium
Astronomy on Mars — Mosaic of two different Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) exposures of Earth, the Moon, and Jupiter from 2003 … Wikipedia
Astronomy in medieval Islam — An 18th century Persian Astrolabe, kept at The Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge, England. Islamic astronomy or Arabic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the… … Wikipedia
Ecliptic coordinate system — The ecliptic coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system that uses the ecliptic for its fundamental plane. The ecliptic is the path that the sun appears to follow across the sky over the course of a year. It is also the projection of the… … Wikipedia
astronomy — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. cosmology, cosmogony. See universe. II (Roget s IV) n. Syn. stargazing, astrochemistry, astrophysics, earth space science, selenology, astrophotography, astrophotometry, uranology, uranography,… … English dictionary for students
ecliptic — n. Astronomy, celestial great circle along which sun apparently travels. ♦ ecliptical, a … Dictionary of difficult words
