analemma

The Sailor's Word-Book

A projection of the sphere on the plane of the meridian, taken in a lateral point of view, so that the colours become circles, whilst those whose planes pass through the eye become right lines, and the oblique circles ellipses. On globes it is represented by a narrow double-looped formed figure, the length of which is equal to the breadth of the torrid zone, and is divided into months and days, to show approximately the solar declination and the equation of time.

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