Ecliptic, the apparent annual path of the sun through the heavens. There are as many stars in the sky in the daytime as at night, only we cannot see them. The sun is in company with stars all the time, only we cannot see them. By a careful study of the heavens we shall see that the stars that apparently travel, rise, and set with the sun in December were not his companions in November and will not be his attendants in January, but will be with him in December again. The stars in a belt running entirely around the heavens in a great circle take turns in accompanying the sun; or, put in another way, the sun seems to go around this belt once a year. As a matter of fact the earth goes around the sun, but, by watching the stars, it seems to us that the sun is passing around the heavens. When one rides in a train, a telegraph pole, a distant tree, or a hill seems to pass along the landscape, when in reality the tree and the landscape are at rest, and the observer is moving. So in our case, the sun and heavens are at rest,--we are moving. The line which the sun seems to follow round and round each year is called the ecliptic. A belt of stars lying along both sides of the ecliptic is called the zodiac. See ZODIAC; CONSTELLATION; STARS.