Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
|
See also:EPICYCLE (Gr. upon, and KuKXos, circle) , in See also:ancient See also:astronomy, a small circle the centre of which describes a larger one . It was especially used to represent geometrically the periodic apparent See also:retrograde See also:motion of the See also:outer See also:planets, See also:Mars, See also:Jupiter and See also:Saturn, which we now know to be due to the See also:annual revolution of the See also:earth around the See also:sun, but which in the Ptolemaic astronomy were taken to be real . |
|
|
[back] EPICURUS (342–270 B.C.) |
[next] EPICYCLOID |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.