Still Taurus is the background of the Sun just the same, and so when the almanac says the Sun is in Taurus you will know that the Sun is directly between the Earth and Taurus.
The same thing is true of all the planets. Take Mars, for example; whenever Mars is in that part of its orbit so that we can see it at night, as shown at [B, Fig. 172], we also see the constellation back of it—in this case it is Libra, the Balance—and since a planet and a fixed star look exactly alike to the naked eye it is easy to think of Mars as being in that constellation; and it is the same with all the other planets.
The Constellations of the Zodiac.—The Constellations of the Zodiac and the Signs of the Zodiac are two very different things. Long ago, when the zodiac was invented, the constellation of Aries, the Ram, was in the first of the 12 spaces and he and the sign of this space were of course at that time the same.
Owing to a peculiar motion of the Earth, called precession, the signs of the zodiac have moved backward during the last 2,000 years and the sign of Aries, which used to be in the constellation of Aries, is now in the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes.
Aquarius, the Water Man.—A constellation of autumn: Aquarius is always pictured in the almanacs as pouring water from a pitcher.
All the stars of this constellation are faint and scattered and none of them are in a line with the ecliptic. Aquarius got his name from the Romans, who called him the Waterman because when the Sun enters the sign Aquarius in January there are usually heavy rains in Italy and in the long ago people thought the stars had a lot to do with the weather, and everything else on Earth, for that matter.
Fig. 175.—Constellations of Aries the Ram.
Pisces, the Fishes.—This constellation is now in that part of the zodiac whose sign is ♈ (Aries). It is not an interesting constellation to look at with the naked eye, for its stars are faint and they stream out in two lines over nearly two signs of the zodiac.