in astronomy, the circle in the heavens otherwise known as the celestial equator. When the sun is on the equator, there is equal length of day and night over all the earth; hence the name equinoctial. Equinoctial gales are storms which are observed generally to take place about the time of the sun's crossing the equator, that is, at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, in March and September. Equinoctial points are the two points wherein the celestial equator and ecliptic intersect each other; the one, being in the first point of Aries, is called the vernal point; and the other, in the first point of Libra, the autumnal point. These points are found to be moving backward or westward at the rate of 50" of a degree in a year. See PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES.