Orbital Node - Symbols and Nomenclature

Symbols and Nomenclature

The symbol of the ascending node is (Unicode: U+260A, ☊), and the symbol of the descending node is (Unicode: U+260B, ☋). In medieval and early modern times the ascending and descending nodes were called the dragon's head (Latin: caput draconis, Arabic: ra's al-jauzahar) and dragon's tail (Latin: cauda draconis), respectively., p. 141;, p. 245. These terms originally referred to the times when the moon crossed the apparent path of the sun in the sky. Also, corruptions of the Arabic term such as ganzaar, genzahar, geuzaar and zeuzahar were used in the medieval West to denote either of the nodes., pp. 196–197;, p. 65;, pp. 95–96. The Greek terms αναβιβάζων and καταβιβάζων were also used for the ascending and descending nodes, giving rise to the English words anabibazon and catabibazon.;, ¶27.