Science / Astrology Glossary

New Moon: Lunation; the beginning of a lunation cycle and of the waxing phase. Moon conjunct Sun.

Ninth House: Also known as the House of Philosophy. It represents religion, travel, foreign countries, in-laws, higher education, publishing, import/export and ethics.

Nocturnal: From the Latin nocturnus, of night. Refers to the lower (northern) hemisphere of a horoscope, the 'night' section, that part of the heavens that falls below Earth's horizon.

Nocturnal Arc: The time expressed in right ascension that it takes a planet or degree of the zodiac to move from its setting point on the horizon to its rising point.

Nocturnal Signs: Signs whose natural positions are in the nocturnal or northern hemisphere of a horoscope: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo and Virgo. Also called northern signs.

Nodal Chart: An equal house chart, which places the Moon's South Node at the Ascendant, used primarily by medical astrologers to diagnose health problems. In this context, the South Node and Ascendant re . . . View Full Definition

Node: The point of intersection of a planet's orbit and the ecliptic.

Nodes: The two points in a planet's orbit which intercept the Earth's path around the sun (otherwise known as the ecliptic).

Nonagesimal: The point 90° from the Ascendant. The highest point of the ecliptic above the horizon.

Nonile: A ninth harmonic aspect based on division of 360° by 9 (40°). A minor aspect, the nonile is seldom used by modern astrologers. It was once given a fatalistic connotation.

Nova: Literally new star; applied to stars that suddenly appear with great brilliance then fade; an exploding star.

Numerology: An ancient science that offers insight into the personality by assigning numeric values to names and birth dates, calculating numerological values and then interpreting the results.

Oblique Ascension: A measurement determined by the angle (ascensional difference) between the point on the celestial equator rising with a planet rising at a point not at the equator.

Oblique Desension: The angular complement of oblique ascension; i.e., 180° minus the oblique ascension arc.

Obliquity Of The Ecliptic: The angle between the plane of the ecliptic and the plane of the equator. It now measures about 23°27', and is decreasing at the rate of one minute in 128 years.

Occidental: Literally western; said of a planet that rises and sets after the Sun.

Occidental Houses: Correctly, houses that lie in the western (occidental) portion of a horoscope, houses four through nine. Sometimes used to describe first and third quadrant houses (one, two, three, seven, e . . . View Full Definition

Occultation: From the Latin occultatio, a hiding; an eclipse of a planet. The term eclipse is usually applied to an occultation that hides the Sun or Moon from Earth's view; occultation describes eclipse . . . View Full Definition

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28