Cauda Draconis
The Dragon’s Tail. v. Moon’s Node. DeVore, Nicholas. Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1947.
Astronomy
Cazimi
An Arabian astronomical term applied to the center of the Solar disc. It is employed to describe a planet located within an arc of seventeen minutes (17′) of the Sun’s longitude: or by some authorities within half a degree of the Sun’s center. It is then said to be “in the heart of the Sun.” … Read more
Celestial Sphere
If one pictures the sphere we call the Earth, enlarged to embrace the visible heavens, the resulting concept can be called the celestial sphere. If it is a true sphere, any circle drawn around it can be termed a circumference. To locate any particular circle as a circumference, implies the selection of some point of … Read more
Belts of Jupiter
A varying number of dusky belt-like bands or zones encircling the planet Jupiter, parallel to its equator. It suggests the existence of an atmosphere, the clouds forced into a series of parallels through the rapidity of rotation, the dark body of the planet showing through relatively clear spaces between. DeVore, Nicholas. Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: … Read more
Babel, Tower of.
A temple dedicated to the study of the planets, which were supposed todivulge the secrets of life and guide human destiny DeVore, Nicholas. Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1947.
Azimuth
A point of the horizon and a circle extending to it from the zenith; or an arc of the horizon measured clockwise between the south-point of the horizon and a vertical circle passing through the center of any object
Axial Rotation
The diurnal motion of the Earth around its axis; also similar motion on the part of any other celestial body. v. Solar System.
Axis, Inclination of.
The equators of rotating bodies appear never to parallel their orbits. Hence there is an inclination of the axis when considered in reference to the plane of the orbit. Within the solar system these inclinations arc, at this epoch, as follows: Mercury 72°, Venus 60°, the Earth 23½°, Mars 25°, Jupiter 3°, Saturn 26°, Uranus 102°, Neptune 155°, Pluto unknown. The inclination of the Sun’s axis to the plane of the Earth’s orbit is about 7°. Its inclination to the plane of its own orbit is unknown, because the Sun’s orbit is itself unknown. It is claimed by some that there is an additional motion of the Earth’s axis amounting to 50″ a century, making an orbit of about 2½ million years, in the course of which the North Pole and the South Pole successively point to the Sun instead of as at present to the Pole Star. This theory is advanced by way of explanation for successive Ice Ages.
Asteroids
DeVore, Nicholas. Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1947.
Astrolabe
A mechanical device, predecessor to the sextant, whereby mariners determined the time of day by the Sun, of the night by the stars, and the height and depth of mountains and valleys. The astrolabe of Christopher Columbus was on display at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial. The oldest known example, called “The Mathematical Jewel,” is of Persian origin. It was made by Ahmad and Mahud, sons of Ibraham (q.v.) the Astrologer of Isfahan, and is in the Lewis Evans collection in the Old Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, England. The invention is attributed by some to Hipparchus (q.v.) but others credit it to the Arabs, some 400 years prior.