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

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 Comstock, George C.

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

Astronomical observations on the rotation of the planets round their axes, made with a view to determine whether the earth's diurnal motion is perfectly equable.

From Sir William Herschel: His Life and Works by Holden, Edward Singleton

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 Jones, Thomas P.

Otherwise, we should still believe, as, till some few centuries ago, the world did believe, that the diurnal motion was in the sun, and not in the earth.

From Hints on Horsemanship, to a Nephew and Niece or, Common Sense and Common Errors in Common Riding by Greenwood, George