ECLIPTIC. 



Although the twelve divisions of the zodiac have thus deserted 

 their proper constellations, they have nevertheless retained their 

 names. It is therefore very necessary to know that there is a 

 great difference between the SIGN ARIES and the CONSTELLATION 

 ARIES. The former merely signifies the first 30 of the ecliptic or 

 of the zodiac, counting from the place of the sun on the 21st of 

 March. The other signifies a certain group of stars, through 

 which at present the sun passes in the month of February ; and 

 a like observation will be applicable to the two senses attached to 

 Taurus, Gemini, and the other zodiacal names. 



74. The name ZODIAC is derived from the Greek word faslov 

 (Zodiori], a little animal, the fancied figures of the constellations 

 being generally animals. 



75. The circle of the heavens called the Ecliptic, along which 

 the sun holds its annual course, lies along the middle of the 

 celestial zone of the zodiac, and within this zone the planets are 

 generally confined. Most of them never depart from the path of 

 the sun, even so far as the extreme limits of the zodiac. There 

 are, however, a few of the smaller planets, called planetoids or 

 asteroids, discovered by the labours of modern observers, which do 

 depart beyond the limits of the zodiac to the extent of many 

 degrees, and which are hence often called ultra-zodiacal planets.. 



The ECLIPTIC derives its name from the fact that eclipses, 

 whether of the sun or moon, can never take place except when 

 the moon is in or very near to the ecliptic. The moon, however, 

 like the planets, never departs beyond the limits of the zodiac, 

 her distance from the ecliptic never exceeding five degrees, that 

 is about ten times her own apparent diameter. 



76. The apparent daily and yearly motions of the sun on the 

 heavens are not at all the only celestial phenomena which are 

 foretold in the almanacks. The diurnal motions, such as the rising, 

 southing, and setting, and the monthly changes, of the moon, to say 

 nothing of eclipses and other phenomena, is one of the chief 

 purposes of the almanack to describe with the most minute 

 precision, a precision which never fails to correspond with the 

 phenomena when they take place. 



But, besides the moon, all good almanacks give the positions in 

 which the more conspicuous of the planets are presented, so as to 

 become objects of easy and common observation. Thus, by the 

 aid of an almanack, any person properly informed of the import of 

 the terms in which the appearances and motions are described, 

 can easily identify them when they present themselves. 



The better class of almanacks also indicate the position in 

 which, at each season of the year, the more remarkable con- 

 stellations are seen during the night. 



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