Interactive Astronomy

Celestial Ecliptic

Celestial geography | Celestial compass| Celestial ecliptic | Celestial precession | Celestial sphere

Ecliptic 

This is the path where the sun travels and may vary slightly throughout the year as the Earth rotates around the sun at a tilted angle. As all the planets lie on a plane roughly parallel to that of the sun, the planets all seem to be close to the line of the ecliptic as the sun travels across the sky from East to West. As Singapore is close to the Equator, the ecliptic is always close to overhead. The next time you see a bright, unblinking object near the ecliptic, you know that it is most likely a planet.

The zodiac constellations are the constellations that lie along this path. You can easily remember them with the rhyme:

The Ram (Aries), the Bull (Taurus), the Heavenly Twins (Gemini). 

Next to the Crab (Cancer), the Lion stands (Leo);

The Virgin (Virgo), the Scales (Libra), the Archer (Sagittarius) and the Sea Goat (Capricornus)

The Man who pours out Water (Aquarius), the Fish with Glittering 
Tails (Pisces)

 

Celestial geography | Celestial compass| Celestial ecliptic | Celestial precession | Celestial sphere

 

 

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