the.com/celestial equator
Earth's equator, ego-projected onto the sky, dividing the heavens into two hemispheres of smugness.
means The imaginary circle in the sky formed by projecting Earth's equator outward onto the celestial sphere, splitting the heavens into northern and southern halves.
from From Latin caelestis ('of the sky,' from caelum, 'heaven') plus aequator ('one who equalizes,' from aequare, 'to make equal, level'). The equator itself was named for equalizing day and night at the equinoxes; astronomers then borrowed the term wholesale, projecting Earth's own belt-line outward onto the stars — a very old habit of mapping the sky in terms of ourselves.
- tilt from ecliptic
- 23.4 degrees, same as Earth's axial tilt
- crossing points
- marks the equinoxes where sun crosses it
- zero declination
- astronomers use it like latitude zero in sky
- not fixed
- slowly shifts due to Earth's precession over millennia