Nomenclature thumb|300px|Precession of a gyroscope. In a similar way to how the force from the table generates this phenomenon of precession in the spinning gyro, the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth's equatorial bulge generates a very slow precession of the Earth's axis (see §Cause). This off-center push or pull causes a torque, and a torque on a spinning body results in precession. The gyro can be analyzed in its parts, and each part within the disk is trying to fall, but the rotation brings it from down to up, and the net result of all particles going through this is precession. The term "Precession" is derived from the Latin praecedere ("to precede, to come before or earlier"). The stars viewed from Earth are seen to proceed from east to west daily (at about 15 degrees per hour), due to the Earth's diurnal motion, and yearly (at about 1 degree per day), due to the Earth's revolution around the Sun. At the same time the stars can be observed to anticipate slightly such motion, at the rate of approximately 50 arc seconds per year (1 degree per 72 years), a phenomenon known as the "precession of the equinoxes".
nomenclature thumb|300px|precession of a gyroscope in a similar way to how the force from the table generates this phenomenon of precession in the spinning gyro the gravitational pull of the sun and moon on the earth's equatorial bulge generates a very slow precession of the earth's axis (see §cause) this off-center push or pull causes a torque and a torque on a spinning body results in precession the gyro can be analyzed in its parts and each part within the disk is trying to fall but the rotation brings it from down to up and the net result of all particles going through this is precession the term "precession" is derived from the latin praecedere ("to precede to come before or earlier") the stars viewed from earth are seen to proceed from east to west daily (at about 15 degrees per hour) due to the earth's diurnal motion and yearly (at about 1 degree per day) due to the earth's revolution around the sun at the same time the stars can be observed to anticipate slightly such motion at the rate of approximately 50 arc seconds per year (1 degree per 72 years) a phenomenon known as the "precession of the equinoxes"