This line, referred to as the ecliptic, represents the plane in which the planets orbit, seen from our position within the plane itself.

Eclipses don't happen every month because the moon orbits Earth on an orbital path that's slightly different from the ecliptic (the sun's path through our daytime sky). Although that orbital path ...

In a statement accompanying the photo, ESO notes that the planets do not follow the same arc of the Milky Way, but instead follow an imaginary line known as the ecliptic. The ecliptic traces the ...