LET. XIII. OF THE EQUATION OF TIME. 2Iy

From this point, the increased velocity of thesun being now the greatest, will carry him be-fore the star ; and, therefore, the same meridianWill, in this situation, come to the star soonerthan to the fun. For whilst the star moves fromc to g, the fun will move through a greater arc,from C toG; and, consequently, the point Khas its noon by the clock when it comes to k ybut not its noon by the fun till it comes to I.And though the velocity of the fun diminilhesall the way from C to A, and the star, by anequal motion, is still coming nearer to the fun,yet they will not be in conjunction till the onecomes to A, and the other to a , and then it isnoon by them both at the same instant.

From this it appears, that the solar noon isalways later than the noon by the clock, whilstthe fun goes from C to A; and sooner whilst hegoes from A to C; and at these two points, thefun and clock being equal, it is noon by themboth at the same time. The point A is calledthe Sun’s Apogee; because when he is in thissituation, he is at his greatest distance from theearth ; and the point C is called his Perigee; onaccount of his being then at his least distancefrom the earth: and a line A E C, drawn throughthe earth’s center, from one of these points tothe other, is called the Line of the Apsides.

It may also be observed, that the distancewhich the sun, at any time, has gone from his

Apogee,