In this column, we'll focus on the ecliptic, the invisible "racetrack" that hosts the sun, moon and planets. Knowing how it works and where to find it can make you a master planet spotter — you'll ...

As Earth orbits the Sun each year, the Sun appears to cross in front of more than a dozen constellations. As observers on a nearly circular path that takes 365 days to complete, we find the Sun moves ...

A large number of spacecraft have been sent to space over the years to study the star in our solar system, but they all tended to follow the same recipe: they lined up in orbit around the Sun within 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 ...

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 ...