I am not a graphic artist and am therefore would really appreciate any responses in layman's terms. Need to make an orbit around a sun and want the circle to go behind the sun appropriately.

http://imageshack.com/a/img401/9105/rkn1.png

Hi.

The problem seems similar in this topic:
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16157

I see you have used some transparency in that orbit.

A solution would be, to convert the ellipse to path (Ctrl+Shift+C),
then add new nodes to it at above the characters T and 6, then
duplicate it (Ctrl+Shift+D), and unconnect the nodes below that two new nodes, then move the object to the bottom (End).
After that, select the original orbit shape and unconnect the nodes above the previous two nodes, then select the text part and raise them to the top (Home).

That will make it look good with the sun, but not exactly with the text as presented in that linked image.

Ja, like the example linked, I'd duplicate the sun and clip it with a path that follows the sun's edges where the orbit crosses.

In layman's terms: take a piece of the sun and paste it over the orbit.



Feel free to download this image and open in inkscape to pick it apart.

There are more ways to skin a cat, so chime-in if you like.