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Encyclopedia Britannica

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES

This article appears in Volume V22, Page 275 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: POL-PRE

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES , in astronomy, the term assigned to the progressive motion of the

equinox

EQUINOX (from the Lat. aequus, equal, and nox, night)

, because it takes place in a direction from

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

towards west, opposite to that in which planets move, and in which longitudes are measured. The

equinox

EQUINOX (from the Lat. aequus, equal, and nox, night)

being defined as the point of intersection of the

equator

EQUATOR (
Late
- LATE
Lat. aequator, from aequare, to make equal)

and ecliptic, its motion arises from the fact that both of these great circles are in continuous though slow motion. The motion of the ecliptic is due to the action of the planets on the earth, which produces a slow progressive

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

in the position of the plane of the earth's orbit, and therefore of the ecliptic. This motion takes place round a

diameter

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

of the

celestial

CELESTIAL, OR STELLAR

sphere as an

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

or nodal line, which intersects the sphere in two points, which are at present in longitudes about 173 and 353. The direction of the motion around this

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

is such that from the limits 353 through o to 173, which includes the vernal equinox, the motion is towards the south, while, in the remainder of the circle, it is towards the north. At the present time the rate of the motion is 46.7" per century. In consequence of the smallness of the angle, 7, which the axis of motion makes with the line of the equinoxes, its effect on the precession is quite small, now amounting to only 0.14" per annum. Owing to its cause this small part of the precession is called " planetary."
The motion of the

equator

EQUATOR (
Late
- LATE
Lat. aequator, from aequare, to make equal)

is due to the combined action of the sun and moon on the equatorial protuberance of the earth (see ASTRONOMY). Owing to its cause this largest part of the precession is called " luni-solar." Its fundamental law is that the mean

celestial

CELESTIAL, OR STELLAR

pole at each instant (see NUTATION) moves at right angles to the circle joining it to the pole of the ecliptic as that instant. Hence if the pole of the ecliptic were fixed, the celestial pole would revolve around it in a circle at a constant distance equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic. Owing, however, to the slow

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

in the position of the pole of the ecliptic, the motion is only approximately in a circle, and the obliquity
(F. DR.; W. A. L.)
Sophocles represents man's life as woven with a " shuttle of

adamant

ADAMANT (from Gr. aba,uas, untameable)

" (Antigone, 622-624). Stoicism formulated a doctrine of providence or necessity.

Epicurus

EPICURUS (342–270 B.C.)

denies a divine superintendence of human affairs. A powerful influence in Scandinavian religion was exercised by the belief in " the nornir, or Fates, usually thought of as three sisters." In Brahminic thought Karma, the consequences of action, necessitates rebirth in a lower or higher mode of existence, according to guilt or merit. With some modifications this conception is taken over by Buddhism. The Chinese tao, the order of heaven, which should be the order for earth as well, may also be compared. According to Josephus (Antiq. xviii. 1, 3, 4; xiii. 5, 9) the Sadducees denied fate altogether, and placed good and evil wholly in man's choice; the Pharisees, while recognizing man's freedom, laid emphasis on fate; the Essenes insisted on an absolute 'fate. This statement is exposed to the suspicion of attempting to assimilate the Jewish sects to the Greek schools. In Islam the orthodox theology teaches an absolute predestination, and yet some teachers hold men responsible for the moral character of their acts. The freethinking school of the Mo'tazilites insisted that the righteousness of God in rewarding or punishing men for their actions could be vindicated only by the recognition of human freedom.
varies slowly from century to century. At the present time the rate of motion measured on a great circle is about 20" per year; that is to say both the pole and the plane of the equator move through this angle annually. But when measured around the pole of the ecliptic as a centre the motion is about 2.5 times this or, at present, 5o37" annually. This is the pre, ent amount of the luni-solar precession which, if it remained constant, would carry the pole completely round in a period of 25,730 years. But the exact period varies slightly, owing to the motion of the pole of the ecliptic. The combined effect of the luni-solar and planetary precession or the total motion of the equinox is called the general precession. Its annual amount during our time is 50.2564+0.02220" T, T being the time reckoned from 1900 in centuries.

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