diurnal motion

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. the apparent daily motion, caused by the earth's rotation, of celestial bodies across the sky.

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diurnal motion British  

noun

1. motion that occurs during the day or daily, such as the diurnal rotation of the celestial sphere

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

diurnal motion

Cassini, moreover, set up an altazimuth in 1678, and employed from about 1682 a “parallactic machine,” provided with clockwork to enable it to follow the diurnal motion.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7 "Arundel, Thomas" to "Athens" by Various

When you speak of the sun's motion, you mean, I suppose, his apparent motion, produced by the diurnal motion of the earth?

From Conversations on Natural Philosophy, in which the Elements of that Science are Familiarly Explained by Thomas P. Jones

Maury’s wonderful investigations were not in the line of sailing a ship so as to take advantage of the earth’s diurnal motion, and could not have been suggested by such an idea.

From The True Benjamin Franklin by Sydney George Fisher

In fact, he speaks of the diurnal motion of the earth as 'an opinion which we can demonstrate to be most false;' doubtless having in his thoughts some such arguments as misled Tycho Brahe.

From Myths and Marvels of Astronomy by Richard A. (Richard Anthony) Proctor

II.—The stars and their diurnal motion 10 Finding the stars—Their apparent motion—Latitude—Direction of the meridian—Sidereal time—Definitions.

From A Text-Book of Astronomy by George C. Comstock