Ecliptic

OK, that's not what it is. April Fools. It's just a close-up of the bulk tank. Does remind me of the April Fools joke I played while in college. I worked as an observational assistant for the astronomy department. That meant at night, the students from Astronomy 101 would go to the top of the science building and learn how to use telescopes, identify constellations, find planets, etc. My job was to set up the telescopes, show them how to use them to find different objects, answer questions, point out things of interest in the sky that night. The class was usually filled by students who just wanted to get a science credit out of the way. This night the lab was meeting on April Fool's Day. It was cold and the professor was downstairs. One of the students using a telescope asked me if she could see the ecliptic tonight. The ecliptic is an imaginary line the path of the sun follows. I gave in to my baser instincts and instead of reminding her that it's not a physical thing, I pointed into the sky. "It's that faint line in the sky just passing over to the east.  Can you see it?" The coed peered out into the sky and (to my surprise) exclaimed, "Yes, I can!" Unfortunately, she excitedly reported this to the professor who was just returning. I received a stern look from my teacher as he set the student straight. (Still think it was funny, though.)