Babylonians observed these constellations for a long time, determined the ecliptic through observation, and divided the ecliptic into 12 equal parts, each equal part was 30 degrees, which was called 1 segment. The sun travels around the ecliptic in 12 months/cycle, so it travels on the ecliptic every month 1 segment. In the eyes of the ancients, the sun was Apollo, and its resting place must be a magnificent palace. Therefore, they called the 1 section of the ecliptic 1 palace.
In this way, the section 12 on the ecliptic becomes the "zodiac". The names of the zodiac signs are the same as those of the 12 constellation near the ecliptic, namely Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Lion, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.
The earth moves around the sun. From the earth, the sun moves slowly on the starry background, only once a year, and returns to its original position. The route that the sun "walks" in this way is called the ecliptic.
Extended data
The apparent path on the celestial sphere, which seems to move among stars, is obviously the path that the planet passes through every year. More specifically, it is the intersection of a sphere (celestial sphere) and the ecliptic plane; Geometrically, it is the average orbital plane containing the earth's orbit around the sun.
The ecliptic plane should be a stable ecliptic plane, which is perpendicular to the sum of angular momentum of all planetary orbital planes, and Jupiter should be the most influential. The ecliptic plane is inclined about 65438 0.5 relative to the constant ecliptic.
In fact, it can be simply understood as the plane of the earth's rotation, and the above 12 constellation is called the zodiac 12 constellation, which is more vividly understood.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Golden Zodiac
Baidu encyclopedia-ecliptic