opposition

opposition in astronomy, alignment of two celestial bodies on opposite sides of the sky as viewed from earth. Opposition of the moon or planets is often determined in reference to the sun. Only the superior planets, whose orbits lie outside that of the earth, can be in opposition to the sun. When a planet is in opposition to the sun, its elongation is 180°, it exhibits retrograde motion , and its phase is full. This is a good time to observe a planet, since it rises when the sun sets and is visible throughout the night, setting as the sun rises.

opposition The occasion when a body in the Solar System lies opposite the Sun in the sky, and hence has a celestial longitude of 180°. At opposition, a body is highest in the sky at midnight and is visible all night. It is the best time for observing the outer planets, since they are then at their closest to Earth. The inner planets, Mercury and Venus, cannot come to opposition.

opposition. The concept of a loyal parliamentary opposition grew slowly for two reasons. As long as the monarch played an active part in government, opposition was bound to be tainted with disloyalty: though the opposition to Charles I in the 1640s claimed to be loyal and conservative, it ended by cutting his head off and abolishing the monarchy. Secondly, the existence from 1688 until 1760 of an active Jacobite cause retarded the concept since some of the Tories in opposition undoubtedly wished to overthrow the regime itself. Nevertheless, the concept made progress in the 18th cent. and was helped by the fact that successive princes of Wales, who could scarcely be accused of treason, went into opposition to their father's government. Monarchs continued to find the concept suspect and the protestations of loyalty insincere: George III observed in 1778 that ‘men who have been active in opposition rarely make useful servants to the crown’—a phrase which reveals a slightly old-fashioned attitude. Charles Fox, on the other hand, declared in 1783 that a ‘systematic opposition to a dangerous government is, in my opinion, a noble employment for the brightest faculties’. The phrase ‘His Majesty's Opposition’ was first used jocularly by Hobhouse in 1826 and was so useful that it took root. The validity of the concept was subsequently recognized in a variety of ways. From 1937 the leader of the opposition received an official salary and is now provided with an official car and chauffeur: the chief opposition whip and two assistant whips also receive salaries. He is accorded prominence in public ceremonies, such as the Armistice Day commemoration. All parliamentary parties have since 1975 received some public funding. Governments sometimes offer confidential information to opposition spokesmen, who are frequently wary lest it blunt their attacks. The concept of opposition is close to the heart of parliamentary democracy, not merely in curbing government, resisting encroachments upon liberty, and keeping ministers on their toes, but as a stabilizing factor by offering to the most embittered of citizens hope that governments do not last forever.

J. A. Cannon