Ecliptic Definition

ĭ-klĭptĭk
noun
The great circle on the celestial sphere intersecting the celestial equator at about 2312° and representing the changing position of the sun with respect to the background stars, as seen from the orbiting earth during one year.
Webster's New World
A great circle inscribed on a terrestrial globe inclined at an approximate angle of 23°27' to the equator and representing the apparent motion of the sun in relation to the earth during a year.
American Heritage
The plane of the earth's orbit extended infinitely.
Webster's New World
adjective
Of eclipses or the ecliptic.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Ecliptic

Noun

Singular:
ecliptic
Plural:
ecliptics

Origin of Ecliptic

  • 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 eclipse

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Ecliptic Sentence Examples

  • The axis of the ecliptic is a line perpendicular to this plane.

  • Actually the curve in which it moves is nearly a circle; but the distance varies slightly owing to the minute secular variation in the position of the ecliptic, caused by the action of the planets.

  • The rate of motion is slightly variable from century to century owing to the secular motion of the plane of the ecliptic. Its period, with the present rate of motion, would be about 26,000 years, but the actual period is slightly indeterminate from the cause just mentioned.

  • If we conceive a pole to each of these orbits, determined by the points in which lines perpendicular to their planes intersect the celestial sphere, the pole of the satellite orbit will revolve around the pole of the planetary orbit precisely as the pole of the earth does around the pole of the ecliptic, the inclination of the two orbits remaining unchanged.

  • In or near Iioo B.C., Chou Kung, an able mathematician, determined with surprising accuracy the obliquity of the ecliptic; but his attempts to estimate the sun's distance failed hopelessly as being grounded on belief in the flatness of the earth.

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Words Starting With

EECECL

Words Ending With

CICTIC

Unscrambles

ecliptic

Words Starting With E and Ending With C

Starts With E & Ends With CStarts With EC & Ends With CStarts With E & Ends With IC

Word Length

8 Letter Words8 Letter Words Starting With E8 Letter Words Ending With C