For the East Asian zodiac, see Chinese zodiac. For other uses, see Zodiac (disambiguation). The Earth's orbit around the Sun causes the apparent motion of the latter along the ecliptic (red). Earth is axially tilted 23.4° relative to this plane; its equator, extended to the stars, is shown in light blue. The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south (a