Week of February 15-21, 2026
Back in the earliest days of human history, long before even I was born, skywatchers noticed that the moon and planets drifted from month to month among the stars. Even more interestingly, they found that these wandering lights never strayed from a narrow arc across the sky.
With little understanding of the workings of the cosmos, they interpreted these wandering lights as either envoys of the gods carrying messages to and fro or, perhaps, the gods themselves. They devised 12 stellar groupings (the zodiac) to mark this path, and assigned mystical properties to each as well as to the planets that appeared to pass through them.
Night after night, they watched and plotted these celestial dances in hopes of gleaning the wishes and thoughts of the gods. This, of course, is the origin of astrology, which has not changed terribly much in methods and purpose over the millennia, except that today it has become a multimillion-dollar business.
Modern stargazers who do understand the workings of the universe know that there is nothing mystical at all about this region of the heavens. It represents the path along which the planets journey in front of the more distant stars. Astronomers call it the "ecliptic" because it's along this arc that the sun and moon also appear to travel, and, therefore, the only locations in the sky where eclipses can occur.
Head outdoors after dark this week and you'll see half of the year's zodiacal constellations spread over the southern sky. In the west, Pisces, the fishes, appear shortly after sunset, but set soon after darkness falls. To the east of Pisces comes Aries, the Ram. Unfortunately, there are no really bright stars among this grouping, so your best chance of finding them will come under a dark, un-light-polluted sky.
After Aries comes Taurus, the bull, with its bright star Aldebaran, and Gemini, the twins, and its equally bright "twin" stars Castor and Pollux.
Finally, low in the eastern sky, we struggle to spot a dim, nondescript constellation. Cancer, the crab, is one of the smallest and faintest of all celestial patterns.
Once you find the zodiacal band, you'll be able to keep watch of the planets' motions as did the ancients. Right now, look for faint Saturn not far from the stars of Pisces low in the west after dark, and brilliant Jupiter glistening among the stars of Gemini high in the east. Uranus and Neptune also lie along this band, but you'll need a telescope to find them.
Later this week and next, you'll be able to watch as the moon swings along this path as well. This should not surprise you; it, too, is part of our solar system and travels along roughly the same arc. I say "roughly" because the moon's orbit is actually tipped by about 5 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic, so it does appear to stray slightly above and below it.
As the seasons change, you'll be able to follow the zodiac into the spring sky and find some of its constellations located there. By summertime, you'll be greeted by an entirely new cast of zodiacal characters.
Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Half of the year's zodiacal constellations will be visible in the southern sky after dark this week.
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