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The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of Earth around the Sun. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ a ] It was a central concept in a number of ancient sciences, providing the framework for key measurements in astronomy, astrology and calendar-making.
This glossary of astronomy is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to astronomy and cosmology, their sub-disciplines, and related fields. Astronomy is concerned with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth. The field of astronomy features an extensive vocabulary and a ...
In astronomy, the ecliptic coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system commonly used for representing the apparent positions, orbits, and pole orientations [1] of Solar System objects. Because most planets (except Mercury ) and many small Solar System bodies have orbits with only slight inclinations to the ecliptic , using it as the ...
The geocentric ecliptic system was the principal coordinate system for ancient astronomy and is still useful for computing the apparent motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets. [3] It was used to define the twelve astrological signs of the zodiac, for instance.
It is on the celestial equator at both the left and right extremes of the sky chart, with the ecliptic (the orange dotted sine curve) passing through it. The first point of Aries , also known as the cusp of Aries , is the location of the March equinox (the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere, and the autumnal equinox in the southern ...
The North Ecliptic Pole in Draco and the South Ecliptic Pole in Dorado are always at right ascension 18 h and 6 h respectively. The currently used standard epoch is J2000.0, which is January 1, 2000 at 12:00 TT. The prefix "J" indicates that it is a Julian epoch.
Diagram of an orbit. The plane of the orbit is in yellow, the reference plain is in gray, and the reference direction (vernal point) is the arrow in red.Also labeled are the mean anomaly (M) in pink, the true anomaly in red, the argument of periapsis (ω) and periapsis in purple, the longitude of ascending node (Ω) in green, and the inclination (i) in dark green.
A lunar node is either of the two orbital nodes of the Moon; that is, the two points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic. The ascending (or north) node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic hemisphere, while the descending (or south) node is where the Moon enters the southern ecliptic hemisphere.