Galactic Equator

The great circle marking the central plane of the Milky Way — the line of the galactic disc as it rings the sky. It crosses the ecliptic at a steep angle, and the two crossing points (the galactic nodes), lying toward the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius and its opposite in Gemini, recur in archaeoastronomy and in several esoteric cosmologies as a celestial axis or gateway.

From Latin galacticus, from Greek galaxias (kuklos), 'milky (circle)', from gala, 'milk'; equator from Latin aequare, 'to make equal'.

• Ecliptic