Latest Ecliptic Stories
People living in the northern hemisphere will be able to go out any night this week an hour after sunset and see Venus, Saturn and Mars. The planet Venus will be located slightly north of west, in the constellation Gemini. To the left of Venus appearing in the constellation Leo, skywatchers will be able to spot Mars. Then, further to the left of Mars will be Saturn shining in the western part of the constellation Virgo. All three planets will appear across a 71-degree angle in the...
A Johns Hopkins astronomer is a member of a team briefing fellow scientists about plans to use new technology to take advantage of recent, promising ideas on where to search for possible extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy.Richard Conn Henry, a professor in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins' Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, is joining forces with Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute and Steven Kilston of the Henry Foundation Inc., a...
Latest Ecliptic Reference Libraries
Zodiac -- The Zodiac (from Greek zoon, "animal") is an imaginary belt in the heavens extending approximately 8 degrees on either side of the Sun's apparent path, and including the apparent paths of the Moon and the major planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Imaginary divisions of the zodiac represent, in astronomy, constellations, and in astrology, signs. There is a zodiac in western astrology, a different one in Vedic astrology, and a very different one in Chinese astrology....
Ecliptic -- The ecliptic is the geometric plane that contains the orbit of the Earth. The orbits of most planets in the Solar System lie very close to it. Seen from the Earth, this is the great circle on the celestial sphere that contains the different positions of the Sun relative to the background stars throughout the year, and most planets can be seen close this circle. The zodiac also lies along the plane of the ecliptic. Because there are about 365.25 days in a year and 360...
