Greetings, fellow dialists,
Bill Thayer wrote:
>For the March equinox astronomers occasionally use the astrological
>symbol for Aries. (Note that this is non-septentriocentric, of
>course.) Logically, the September equinox would be the glyph for
>Libra, but I can't remember seeing it used that way.
> Astrologically, Aries is the sign, not the constellation, and in
>fact is defined as... the 30 degrees along the ecliptic that follow
>the point of the March equinox.
>
This accords with the practice of astro-navigators aka nautical
astronomers . This declining band shares with sundialists the belief
that the sun goes round the earth each day. Astro-navigators freely use
the symbol for Aries, the ram, for the March equinox (see any astro-
navigation textbook) but invariably call it, not Aries but The First
Point of Aries. Aries itself, as Bill notes, occupies not a point but 30
degrees along the ecliptic. Similarly they use the symbol of the scales
for the First Point of Libra, indicating the September equinox but this
is rarer. It strikes me that these two symbols could usefully appear on
a dial plate.
Frank 55N 1W
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Frank Evans
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