<P> The motions as described above are simplifications . Due to the movement of Earth around the Earth--Moon center of mass, the apparent path of the Sun wobbles slightly, with a period of about one month . Due to further perturbations by the other planets of the Solar System, the Earth--Moon barycenter wobbles slightly around a mean position in a complex fashion . The ecliptic is actually the apparent path of the Sun throughout the course of a year . </P> <P> Because Earth takes one year to orbit the Sun, the apparent position of the Sun takes one year to make a complete circuit of the ecliptic . With slightly more than 365 days in one year, the Sun moves a little less than 1 ° eastward every day . This small difference in the Sun's position against the stars causes any particular spot on Earth's surface to catch up with (and stand directly north or south of) the Sun about four minutes later each day than it would if Earth would not orbit; a day on Earth is therefore 24 hours long rather than the approximately 23 - hour 56 - minute sidereal day . Again, this is a simplification, based on a hypothetical Earth that orbits at uniform speed around the Sun . The actual speed with which Earth orbits the Sun varies slightly during the year, so the speed with which the Sun seems to move along the ecliptic also varies . For example, the Sun is north of the celestial equator for about 185 days of each year, and south of it for about 180 days . The variation of orbital speed accounts for part of the equation of time . </P> <P> Because Earth's rotational axis is not perpendicular to its orbital plane, Earth's equatorial plane is not coplanar with the ecliptic plane, but is inclined to it by an angle of about 23.4 °, which is known as the obliquity of the ecliptic . If the equator is projected outward to the celestial sphere, forming the celestial equator, it crosses the ecliptic at two points known as the equinoxes . The Sun, in its apparent motion along the ecliptic, crosses the celestial equator at these points, one from south to north, the other from north to south . The crossing from south to north is known as the vernal equinox, also known as the first point of Aries and the ascending node of the ecliptic on the celestial equator . The crossing from north to south is the autumnal equinox or descending node . </P> <P> The orientation of Earth's axis and equator are not fixed in space, but rotate about the poles of the ecliptic with a period of about 26,000 years, a process known as lunisolar precession, as it is due mostly to the gravitational effect of the Moon and Sun on Earth's equatorial bulge . Likewise, the ecliptic itself is not fixed . The gravitational perturbations of the other bodies of the Solar System cause a much smaller motion of the plane of Earth's orbit, and hence of the ecliptic, known as planetary precession . The combined action of these two motions is called general precession, and changes the position of the equinoxes by about 50 arc seconds (about 0.014 °) per year . </P>

The relationship of earth's axis to the plane of the ecliptic
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