File:Earths orbit and ecliptic.svg is a vector version of this file. It should be used in place of this PNG file when not inferior. File:Earths orbit and ecliptic.PNG → File:Earths orbit and ecliptic.svg For more information, see Help:SVG. In other languages Alemannisch ∙ العربية ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ български ∙ বাংলা ∙ català ∙ нохчийн ∙ čeština ∙ dansk ∙ Deutsch ∙ Ελληνικά ∙ English ∙ British English ∙ Esperanto ∙ español ∙ eesti ∙ euskara ∙ فارسی ∙ suomi ∙ français ∙ Frysk ∙ galego ∙ Alemannisch ∙ עברית ∙ हिन्दी ∙ hrvatski ∙ magyar ∙ հայերեն ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ Ido ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ ქართული ∙ 한국어 ∙ lietuvių ∙ македонски ∙ മലയാളം ∙ Bahasa Melayu ∙ norsk bokmål ∙ Plattdüütsch ∙ Nederlands ∙ norsk nynorsk ∙ norsk ∙ occitan ∙ polski ∙ prūsiskan ∙ português ∙ português do Brasil ∙ română ∙ русский ∙ sicilianu ∙ Scots ∙ slovenčina ∙ slovenščina ∙ српски / srpski ∙ svenska ∙ தமிழ் ∙ ไทย ∙ Türkçe ∙ татарча / tatarça ∙ українська ∙ vèneto ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ 中文 ∙ 中文（中国大陆） ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ 中文（马来西亚） ∙ 中文（新加坡） ∙ 中文（臺灣） ∙ +/−

 

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I’m not an expert (I came here to see what “ecliptic” meant), but based upon the article (e.g., “The ecliptic is the apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere” and “The ecliptic is the path the Sun appears to trace through the stars”), it appears to me that the error in this picture is that they’re showing a small depiction of the “earth revolves around the sun” viewpoint within the “sun revolves around the earth” viewpoint. The former should be removed and the sun should be shown to be on the “great circle,” the circle on which (per the “sun revolves around the earth” viewpoint) the Sun appears to move as it “orbits the Earth.” Trying to illustrate two conflicting ideas in a drawing presented as representing one of those two ideas is counter-productive to the use of a drawing to help clarify the point.

I would add that it’s not clear to say that “The ecliptic is the apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere.” That’s only the apparent path if your presumption is that the earth and stars are stationary and the sun is revolving around the earth. It’s been quite a while since that was the first thought that entered one’s mind as the explanation for the sun’s movement across the sky, so that isn’t a description that quickly conveys the desired idea to the modern reader. Given that I'm not an expert on the subject and might be missing something, however, I hesitate to just jump in and edit someone else's article. I'm just adding comments that may help others figure this out in less time.