Chart basics · Beginner
Ecliptic
The Sun's apparent yearly path around the sky, which is the plane of Earth's orbit seen from Earth.
As Earth orbits, the Sun appears to move once around the sky against the background stars in a year, always along the same great circle: the ecliptic. The Moon and planets stay close to it because their orbits lie near the same plane. Zodiac positions are measured along it, as ecliptic longitude.
- The astronomy
- The ecliptic is tilted about 23.44° to the celestial equator; that tilt is what gives Earth its seasons.
Sources
- International Astronomical Union: Constellations (FAQ) (opens in a new tab) academic
- NASA Space Place: What causes the seasons? (opens in a new tab) technical
- Astrodienst AstroWiki: Ecliptic (opens in a new tab) practitioner
Written for Cool Moon Facts in its own words. An astrology source documents what astrologers believe or practise; it does not establish that astrology works.