Seven wanderers, one road
The Sun, Moon and planets never leave a narrow band of sky. Here that band is laid out as a racetrack: watch who meets whom, who is up tonight, and who is running backwards.
Questions people ask
What is the Wanderers’ Lane?
The Sun, Moon and five naked-eye planets never leave a narrow band of sky called the ecliptic. The Wanderers’ Lane lays that band out as a straight track, so you can watch who meets whom, who is visible tonight, and who is moving backwards against the stars.
What does it mean when a planet is "running backwards"?
That is retrograde motion: because Earth and the outer planets orbit the Sun at different speeds, a planet can briefly appear to reverse direction against the background stars as Earth overtakes or is overtaken by it. It is a real, predictable effect of relative motion, not a change in the planet’s actual orbit.
Is this astrology?
No. Every position on this page comes from real orbital mechanics (the Astronomy Engine library), the same kind of calculation used for spacecraft navigation. It shows where the Sun, Moon and planets actually are and when they actually meet — it does not interpret that as meaning anything about your life.
What counts as a conjunction here?
A conjunction is the moment two bodies share the same position along the ecliptic track, not simply that they look close together in the sky (that is a separate event called an appulse). The almanac lists the real conjunction moment.