Earth's orbit defines the ecliptic, a line on the celestial sphere inclined 23.5° to the celestial equator, reflecting Earth's axial tilt. The Moon's orbit is inclined 5.1° to the ecliptic. The Moon's ...

The ecliptic is the path the sun, moon, and planets take across the sky as seen from Earth. It defines the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun. The name "ecliptic" comes from the fact that ...

Of the imaginary coordinate lines that astronomers and navigators use in mapping the sky, perhaps the most important one is the ecliptic, the apparent path the sun appears to take through the sky as a ...

OVER the course of a year, the sun traces a path in the sky. This invisible line, called the ecliptic, isn’t created by the sun moving, but instead by Earth travelling around the sun. The solar system ...

Because they’re not located exactly in the same orbital plane as Earth, the moon and planets usually are not found exactly on the ecliptic line, but rather within several degrees of it. Thus, instead ...

We’re getting a great gift in our skies this holiday season with three bright planets — Saturn, Jupiter and Mars — decorating our evening skies. We also have some nice celestial conjunctions, or what ...