The description and use of the globes and the orrery: To which is prefix'd, by way of introduction, a brief account of the solar systemHarris, Joseph
History
The description and use of the globes and the orrery: To which is prefix'd, by way of introduction, a brief account of the solar system
Harris, Joseph
Astronomical models; Globes
2. All circles conceived to pass through the Poles of the world,
intersecting the equinoctial at right angles, are, with respect to
any point in the Heavens, called _Hour Circles_; and the _Circles
of Ascension_, because the ascension of the Heavenly bodies, from a
certain point, are by them determined.
These circles are also, with regard to places upon Earth, called
_Meridians_.
[Sidenote: The _Brass Meridian_.]
The _Meridians_ are commonly drawn upon the Terrestrial Globe thro’
every 15 degrees of the equinoctial, thereby making an Hour difference
betwixt the places through which they pass. On the Celestial Globe
there are commonly drawn but two of these _Meridians_, crossing the
equinoctial in four points equidistant from one another, thereby
dividing it into four quadrants; but the intermediate ones are here
supplied, and also upon the Terrestrial Globe, by the brass circle on
which they are hung, which, is therefore called the _Brass Meridian_,
and sometimes only the _Meridian_, it serving for this purpose to all
the points upon either Globe.
[Sidenote: The _Hour Circle_.]
There is also a little brass circle fixed upon this meridian, divided
into 24 Hours, having an index moveable round the axis of the globe, to
be turned to any particular Hour. The use of this circle is to shew the
difference of time betwixt any two meridians, and is therefore called
the _Hour Circle_.
[Sidenote: _Parallels of Declination._]
3. All circles parallel to the equinoctial are, with respect to any
point in the Heavens, called _Parallels of Declination_. So that,
[Sidenote: _Declination North_ and _South_.]
4. The _Declination of any Point_ in the Heavens (as of the _Sun_, a
_fixed Star_, or the like) is an arch of the meridian passing through
that point, and intercepted betwixt it and the equator; and if the
said point be to the (Northward/Southward) of the equator, it is
called (_North_/_South_) _Declination_.
[Sidenote: _Tropics_ and _Polar Circles_.]
Of the parallels of declination, four are eminently distinguished by
particular names, _viz._ The two _Tropics_, and the two _Polar Circles_.
[Sidenote: _Tropic of Cancer; of Capricorn._]
The tropics are on different sides of the equator each 23 degrees and
29 minutes distant from it; that which lies in the Northern Hemisphere,
is called the _Tropic of Cancer_, and the Southern one, the _Tropic of
Capricorn_.
These circles are the limits of the Sun’s greatest declination, and are
called tropics, because whenever the Sun arrives to them, he seems to
return back again towards the equator.
[Sidenote: _Arctic Circle._]
[Sidenote: _Arctic Pole._]
[Sidenote: _Antarctic Circle._]
[Sidenote: _Antarctic Pole._]
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