The ecliptic is the apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere as seen from the Earth's center, and also the plane of this path, which is coplanar with the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. The path of the Sun is not normally noticeable from the Earth's surface because the Earth rotates, carrying the observer through the cycle of sunrise and sunset, obscuring the small motion of the Sun against the background stars. Sun's apparent motion The motions as described above are simplifications. Due to the movement of the Earth around the Earth-Moon barycenter, the apparent path of the ...