The Zodiac is locked to the tilt of the earth in this way: Because the earth is tilted the Sun lies in the northern hemisphere for six months and then in the southern hemisphere for six months. The sign of the Sun at a persons birth is called that person's Star Sign. This display shows in which sign of the zodiac the Sun lies at any time. The Zodiac display is centred on the Earth and oriented with the tilt of the earth. The Zodiac, Equinoxes and Solstices and the seasons Solstices and Equinoxes Yearly Clock - or 'Where is the Sun?'īecause the display is locked with north tilting upwards, it acts rather like a clock face in which one revolution of the Earth about the Sun is one year, and each of the constellations approximately map to months of the year with January being when the Sun is mostly in Capricorn and December when the Sun is mostly in Sagittarius, etc. In both views the North Star is kept towards the top of the screen.

This allows you to tailor the view to the hemisphere you are in so that you can more easily relate the planetary positions as shown in this app with what you are seeing in the night sky. A north/south control allows the view to be changed from looking 'down' at the northern hemisphere to looking 'down' (or is it 'up'?) at the southern hemisphere. Unlike other online orreries in which you can look at the solar system from all angles, this site always shows the same view to try and help you keep your orientation. During the summer months of the southern hemisphere, the south pole points towards the Sun and so the Earth is shown above the Sun. During the summer months of the northern hemisphere the north pole is pointing more towards the Sun and so the Earth is shown below the Sun. This means that the Earth's north pole is (currently) pointing towards the top of the screen, and the south pole towards the bottom. The app is arranged so that the view is fixed to the stars and that Polaris is always off the top of the screen (and not shown). Earth's TiltĪs you may know, the Earth's axis is tilted over by 23.4 degrees and the Earth's North Pole currently points at the star known as Polaris - the North Star. So be aware that just because the app may occasionally show a planet and a dwarf planet to be very close to each other in the plan view, they may, in fact, be separated by a large perpendicular distance. This is because their orbital planes are tilted with respect to the ecliptic - by more than 40 degrees in some cases. Solar System Map of Current Planetary Positionsīoth apps show a solar system map - a 'plan view' of the planets laid out in the plane of the ecliptic (the flat plane in which all the main planets move about the Sun).ĭwarf planet positions are also shown - but it should be realised that these objects often rise far above and below the plane of the ecliptic. If you have our mobile version enabled then we'll be showing you a simpler view of the solar system showing you the current planetary positions with the option of moving up to 30 days forwards or backwards.

If you have our desktop version enabled on your computer, then the application shown above plots the position of the Earth and planets using data from this NASA's JPL website and is accurate between 3000 BCE and 3000 CE. Our live Solar System Map - Getting Oriented This online orrery (Note: an orrery is a machine that shows planetary positions) will hopefully help you to understand what's going on out there. If you've ever sat outside at night and got into an discussion about whether that bright star is actually a planet, and if it is - 'Which planet is it?', then this site might help narrow down the options! For others, getting an understanding of where the Earth is in relation to the Sun and moon and planets is just, well, sort of nice to know. For astronomers, it's equally important to know where the planets are so that they can observe them.

For people interested in astrology the current positions and movements of the planets are very important and can give you a clue into how you are feeling and how your day is going to pan out.

Earth orbit around the sun