: the great circle of the celestial sphere that is the apparent path of the sun among the stars or of the earth as seen from the sun : the plane of the earth's orbit extended to meet the celestial sphere
Examples of ecliptic in a Sentence
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Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Sep. 2024
Regulus is one of the four bright stars often closely visited by the moon and planets because it’s aligned with the ecliptic—the solar system's plane.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
Jamie Carter, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024
Eclipses happen because the moon’s orbital around Earth intercepts what astronomers call the ecliptic—the apparent path the sun takes through our daytime sky.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 2 Sep. 2024
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Adjective
From our point of view, Aldebaran lies in the ecliptic, or the path along the sky that the sun, moon and planets appear to take.
—Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Sep. 2024
Regulus is one of the four bright stars often closely visited by the moon and planets because it’s aligned with the ecliptic—the solar system's plane.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
Noun
The two locations where the moon crosses the ecliptic are called nodes.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024
Eclipses happen because the moon’s orbital around Earth intercepts what astronomers call the ecliptic—the apparent path the sun takes through our daytime sky.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes, 2 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ecliptic
Dictionary Entries Near ecliptic
Cite this Entry
“Ecliptic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecliptic. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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