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TagsBY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
If you're one of the 25% of Americans who still believes in astrology, then you're sweating Ophiuchus (aka Serpentarius) and your daily horoscope right now.
Though known for millennia, the big O ("off-ih-YOU-kuss") became news this week after astronomer Parke Kunkle began talking about precession and differing views of what's where in the sky — all of which may drastically alter the dates of astrological signs while increasing their number by one.
"Precession" refers to "the wobble in the Earth's axis caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon to the Earth's equator," says a CSMonitor.com story. As the Earth's position shifts, so does our perspective of the night sky.
Over thousands of years — a complete rotation takes 26,000 years — what people take for granted today, like the North Star as the one most closely aligned with Earth's North Pole, will change. Flash forward a few thousand years, and a different star will line up with the Pole.
Astronomers like Kunkle know all about this ongoing shift of celestial positions. About 2,000 years ago, however, the astrologers who came up with the 12 zodiac signs we still use didn't build that in. Meanwhile, the "stars have shifted in the night sky so much that horoscope signs are nearly a month off," CSMonitor.com reports.
This is bad news for those who take their daily horoscopes seriously ("despite the complete lack of scientific and observational evidence for astrology," as the Monitor put it). Now, if astronomers' information about what's where and when in the night sky are to be taken into account, the "real" dates of astrological signs will have to change.
That's because the signs are determined by the sun's position relative to certain constellations on a person's day of birth. Ophiuchus would have to be added when it's situated behind the sun between November 29 and December 17. (See revised astrological signs list at end.)
Greek for "serpent-bearer," Ophiuchus is a large constellation located around the celestial equator. One of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the second century, it's usually represented as a man grasping the snake which in turn is represented by the constellation Serpens.
But that's neither here nor there when you're wondering which sign you were born under, whether horoscope columns will all change, and which horoscope you'll read and rely on now.
Revised dates of astrological signs
Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18- May 13
Taurus: May 13- June 21
Gemini: June 21- July 20
Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20
Freelance writer Pat Summers also blogs at AnimalBeat.blogspot.com.
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for me its not a big deal whether my zodiac will be changed to Ophiuchus in fact the traits of an ophiuchan reflects more of me.. So i guess the change isn't bad at all..[november30]
DONT SPEAK, YOU MAKE YOURSELF LOOK IGNORANT
I have been a pisces for 54 years now...i don't plan on changing either...i am not an AQUARIUS...thank u very much. [February 27]
But still, people flipping out because their sign changed? Chill. You can ignore it if you're that attached. I know I am. I feel like a Gemini, so I'll stay a Gemini. It doesn't really matter. This will just fade away in a few weeks anyways. So either way, this is a crock.
Don't fix what isn't broken!
As far as I'm concerned I'm still a Cancer, born on July 19th. The stars were in that alignment the year I was born; the only people who'll have different astrological signs are ones born this year, after the change. So the first babies of 2011 are Sagittarius or Capricorn. I'll still be reading Cancer horoscopes.
It's an interesting article about an intriguing phenomenon, though.
This horoscope change is absolutely ridiculous because there is no need for another zodiac. The origionals were there long before and it was never an issue, so for it to be changed now is irrelevant.
I am a Pisces, not an Aquarius [February 22nd]