Like the other celestial bodies in the heavens, the sun seems to be moving constantly and besides its daily rise and set it also seems to be changing its position with respect to other stars. This is because our earth moves around the sun at a speed of 18 miles a second in an elliptical path, and it takes about a year to complete its journey. Since we are not conscious of the fact that the earth is moving around the sun, the sun seems rather to us to be moving around the sky to the east little by little each day. So in the course of one year, the sun completes its eastern circuit, and the stars that becomes visible in this way are always changing because of the sun's steady eastward motion. This apparent path of the sun is a great circle of the celestial sphere, which is divided into 360 degrees. Since our year is about 365 days long, the sun appears to move toward the east approximately one degree a day. The yearly path of the sun around the heaven is known as the, ``ECLIPTIC.''

      Inclined at an angle of 23(( ))1(( ))2(( )) degrees to the celestial equator, the ecliptic crosses it at two points 180 degrees apart. At these two points where the ecliptic and equator meet, our day is equal to our night in length.

      The ecliptic is the central line of a band of 16 degrees in width in the heavens, and it is known as ZODIAC. It is divided into twelve parts or signs of 30 degrees each. They are named as follows:ِ

1ِRam 2ِBull 3ِTwins 4ِCrab 5ِLion 6ِVirgin 7ِScale 8ِScorpion 9ِArcher 10ِGoat 11ِWaterCarrier 12ِFish
      It will be noted that the eleven of the twelve names we have just given, refers to members of the animal kingdom; and hence the name ZODIAC which means in Greek, ``the circle of animals.''

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