How to Use ecliptic in a Sentence

ecliptic

1 of 2 adjective

• Earth is at the center of the coin; the nodes are the two points on the coin's rim that are on the same ecliptic plane as Earth.
  — Joe Rao, Space.com, 11 July 2018
• Even more fun fact: These eight all travel along roughly the same route, known as the plane of the ecliptic.
  — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Oct. 2022
• The ecliptic – path of the sun, moon and planets, marked in green on our chart – cuts through the Winter Circle.
  — Todd Nelson, Star Tribune, 21 Mar. 2021
• The mission will search for exoplanets in the ecliptic, which is the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun.
  — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 24 Oct. 2020
• The Moon’s orbital path around the Earth is tilted 5° to the ecliptic, but intersects it twice each month.
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2022
• Instead the moon’s orbit is inclined to the ecliptic plane by about five degrees.
  — Simon J. Lock, Scientific American, 2 July 2019
• The Moon orbits roughly on the same plane as the Sun—the ecliptic—which is high in the day and low in the night as seen from northerly latitudes at this time of year.
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 25 June 2021
• All star signs are signs of the zodiac—constellations on the ecliptic, a line in the sky that the Sun appears to follow.
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 3 Sep. 2021
• During that second year, the probe will also observe areas around the ecliptic, the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun.
  — Mike Wall, Scientific American, 12 Aug. 2020
• Its position in the ecliptic—the plane of the Solar System—also provides a link to the Western zodiac.
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 24 Jan. 2022
• The observing swathes will overlap at the south and north ecliptic poles, which are points perpendicular to the plane of Earth’s orbit.
  — Alexandra Witze, Scientific American, 6 Apr. 2018
• This time of year the full moon is at the intersection of the ecliptic and celestial equator, and because of that the full moon’s path among the stars is nearly parallel to the horizon.
  — Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 15 Sep. 2019
• That two planets can appear to almost collide is made possible by the fact that all the planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun on the same ecliptic plane.
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 26 Apr. 2022
• Fomalhaut lies way south of the ecliptic, which, on sky charts, depicts the sun’s annual path in front of the constellations of the zodiac.
  — Paul Douglas, Star Tribune, 27 Sep. 2020
• The ecliptic is high in summer when the Sun rises in the northeast and sets in the northwest (meaning longer, hotter days) and low in winter when the Sun rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest (meaning shorter, colder days).
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 7 Nov. 2021
• Instead of orbiting the star along the ecliptic, or the plane parallel to its equator, Solar Orbiter will have a highly inclined orbit that will give us a first glimpse of the solar poles.
  — Nola Taylor Redd, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Aug. 2020
• Predicting the positions of the planets along the ecliptic was very difficult for early astronomers.
  — Tony Freeth, Scientific American, 15 Dec. 2021
• The orbit of Mercury is inclined 7 degrees relative to the ecliptic, more than twice the inclination of any other planet.
  — Jeffrey Wilkerson, Discover Magazine, 3 Feb. 2016
• This reasoning eliminates any Lagrange points outside of this plane of the ecliptic (the imaginary plane containing Earth’s orbit around the sun).
  — Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 29 Apr. 2022
• When the sun formed it was already accompanied by a swirl of gas and dust orbiting in that ecliptic plane that the planets and most asteroids would eventually occupy.
  — Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2020
• And Mercury’s orbit intersects with the ecliptic twice during each revolution around the sun, currently in early May and November.
  — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 7 Nov. 2019
• Proximity to ecliptic path is a crucial factor in decisions.
  — Eric Adler, Mark Davis and Diane Stafford, kansascity, 13 Aug. 2017
• Targets in intermediate ecliptic latitudes fall between those extremes.
  — Lee Billings, Scientific American, 11 July 2022
• Earth is at the center of the coin; the nodes are the two points on the coin's rim that are on the same ecliptic plane as Earth.
  — Joe Rao, Space.com, 11 July 2018
• Even more fun fact: These eight all travel along roughly the same route, known as the plane of the ecliptic.
  — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Oct. 2022
• The ecliptic – path of the sun, moon and planets, marked in green on our chart – cuts through the Winter Circle.
  — Todd Nelson, Star Tribune, 21 Mar. 2021
• The mission will search for exoplanets in the ecliptic, which is the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun.
  — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 24 Oct. 2020
• The Moon’s orbital path around the Earth is tilted 5° to the ecliptic, but intersects it twice each month.
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2022
• Instead the moon’s orbit is inclined to the ecliptic plane by about five degrees.
  — Simon J. Lock, Scientific American, 2 July 2019
• The Moon orbits roughly on the same plane as the Sun—the ecliptic—which is high in the day and low in the night as seen from northerly latitudes at this time of year.
  — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 25 June 2021

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ecliptic

2 of 2 noun

• The planets and the moon follow roughly the same path through the sky, which is called the ecliptic.
  — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 27 Feb. 2020
• The ecliptic is the plane of the solar system on which all the planets orbit the sun, and the moon travels nearby.
  — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 27 Feb. 2020
• The moon would have formed in the plane of Earth’s equator, with its orbit also tilted far from the ecliptic.
  — Simon J. Lock, Scientific American, 2 July 2019
• The Aquariids constellation is Aquarius, hence the shower’s name, and lies on the ecliptic, the sun’s path in the sky.
  — Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 4 May 2023
• The moments when Pluto transitions across the ecliptic are called nodes.
  — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 13 July 2018
• According to NASA, solar eclipses occur only if the moon is within 0.5 degrees of the plane of the ecliptic, a line passing through the center of the sun and the earth.
  — Tom Skilling, chicagotribune.com, 11 Aug. 2017
• The ecliptic also depicts the approximate monthly path of the moon in front of the zodiac.
  — Paul Douglas, Star Tribune, 27 Sep. 2020
• Until now, almost all of the solar-watching spacecraft have orbited in the ecliptic, or the same plane that the planets travel around the sun.
  — Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2020
• Twice a year, the moon’s orbit crosses that sun-Earth plane, which astronomers call the ecliptic, but that doesn’t usually coincide with the new moon.
  — Scott Dance, baltimoresun.com, 11 Aug. 2017
• By the modern definition, New Moon occurs when the Moon and Sun are at the same geocentric ecliptic longitude.
  — Fox News, 21 Feb. 2020
• In this case, Pluto is passing from above the ecliptic to below it, which makes this specific point Pluto’s descending node.
  — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 13 July 2018
• Only rarely does Mercury reach maximum elongation when the ecliptic is at a steep angle to the horizon, so that it can be spotted against a fairly dark sky.
  — Geoff Gaherty, Scientific American, 30 Nov. 2012
• The spacecraft carries four telescopes that together will survey a strip of sky extending from the solar system's pole to its equator, known as the ecliptic.
  — Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 19 Apr. 2018
• This craft will spend the next two years performing fly-bys of Venus and Earth, using the gravity of both planets to kick itself into an unusual orbit that will take it well above the ecliptic, the plane in which all of the sun’s planets orbit.
  — The Economist, 13 Feb. 2020
• The planets and the moon follow roughly the same path through the sky, which is called the ecliptic.
  — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 27 Feb. 2020
• The ecliptic is the plane of the solar system on which all the planets orbit the sun, and the moon travels nearby.
  — Kristen Rogers, CNN, 27 Feb. 2020
• The moon would have formed in the plane of Earth’s equator, with its orbit also tilted far from the ecliptic.
  — Simon J. Lock, Scientific American, 2 July 2019
• The Aquariids constellation is Aquarius, hence the shower’s name, and lies on the ecliptic, the sun’s path in the sky.
  — Taylor Nicioli, CNN, 4 May 2023
• The moments when Pluto transitions across the ecliptic are called nodes.
  — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 13 July 2018
• According to NASA, solar eclipses occur only if the moon is within 0.5 degrees of the plane of the ecliptic, a line passing through the center of the sun and the earth.
  — Tom Skilling, chicagotribune.com, 11 Aug. 2017
• The ecliptic also depicts the approximate monthly path of the moon in front of the zodiac.
  — Paul Douglas, Star Tribune, 27 Sep. 2020
• Until now, almost all of the solar-watching spacecraft have orbited in the ecliptic, or the same plane that the planets travel around the sun.
  — Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2020
• Twice a year, the moon’s orbit crosses that sun-Earth plane, which astronomers call the ecliptic, but that doesn’t usually coincide with the new moon.
  — Scott Dance, baltimoresun.com, 11 Aug. 2017
• By the modern definition, New Moon occurs when the Moon and Sun are at the same geocentric ecliptic longitude.
  — Fox News, 21 Feb. 2020
• In this case, Pluto is passing from above the ecliptic to below it, which makes this specific point Pluto’s descending node.
  — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 13 July 2018
• Only rarely does Mercury reach maximum elongation when the ecliptic is at a steep angle to the horizon, so that it can be spotted against a fairly dark sky.
  — Geoff Gaherty, Scientific American, 30 Nov. 2012
• The spacecraft carries four telescopes that together will survey a strip of sky extending from the solar system's pole to its equator, known as the ecliptic.
  — Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 19 Apr. 2018
• This craft will spend the next two years performing fly-bys of Venus and Earth, using the gravity of both planets to kick itself into an unusual orbit that will take it well above the ecliptic, the plane in which all of the sun’s planets orbit.
  — The Economist, 13 Feb. 2020

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024