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I have been trying to find the answer and trawling books, sites etc. I thought it would be a straight forward question since a lot about astronomy depends on points of view. As everything is in motion paths and orientations change, we use equatorial mounts to counter this in viewing/astrophotography. It seemed a logical assumption that there were common terms to allow a common frame of reference when comparing observations. I'm very much a newbie to astronomy and am slowly learning.
My main immediate reason for trying to define the path terms is because I'm going to make and frame some prints of my photos of the transit and wanted to print labels for the different paths. Even on sites and in books devoted to the transit of venus the two apparent path shapes are described but not really named anything.
The best labels I've been able to come up with are the "horizon view" and the "equatorial view". Horizon view because it's the shape of the curved path in relation to the horizon when observing. Equatorial view because you rotate with the equatorial to essentially stay "fixed" in relation to the roll of the sun giving the straight path. Maybe "ecliptic view" is more appropriate, I'm not sure. I was hoping I'd get a flood of responses with those same labels to know I was on the right track. I've still got a bit more work to do on my transit photos before I make my prints and I'm still searching for answers and learning. The transit has really inspired me to just get outside and start observing, it's really enjoyable.
cheers
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