ASCENSION

ASCENSION,Ascensio, a rising, or moving See ASCENT, ASCENDANT, ASCENDING, etc. Ascension is particularly used for that miraculous Elevation of our Saviour, when he mounted to Heaven in the Sight of his Apostles. Hence also, Ascension Day, a Festival of the Church, held ten Days before Whitsuntide, in Memory of our Saviour’s Ascension. See FEAST. Ascension, in Astronomy, is either right or oblique. Right ASCENSION. See RIGHT ASCENSION. To find the Right Ascensions of the Sun, Stars, etc., trigonometrically, say, as Radius is to the Cosine of the Sun’s greatest Declination, so is the Tangent of the Distance from Aries or Libra, to the Tangent of Right Ascension. To find the Right Ascensions mechanically by the Globe. See GLOBE. The Arch of Right Ascension, is that Portion of the Equator intercepted between the beginning of Aries, and the Point of the Equator which is in the Meridian: Or it is the Number of Degrees contained therein.—This coincides with the Right Ascension itself—The Right Ascension is the same in all Parts of the Globe. We sometimes also say, the Right Ascension of a Point of the Ecliptic, or any other Point of the Heavens. See Descension. Oblique ASCENSION. See OBLIQUE ASCENSION. To find the Oblique Ascensions of the Sun, either trigonometrically, or by the Globe. See ASCENSIONAL DIFFERENCE, and GLOBE. The Arch of Oblique Ascension, is an Arch of the Horizon intercepted between the beginning of Aries, and the Point of the Equator which rises with a Star or Planet in an Oblique Sphere.—This coincides with the Oblique Ascension itself—The Oblique Ascensions change according to the Latitude of the Places. The Difference between the Right and Oblique Ascensions, is called the ascensional Difference. See ASCENSIONAL.