New astrological sign proposed

QMI Agency ^ | January 13, 2011 | TED RATH

[rickmichaels]

Better check your horoscope – according to astronomers, your sign might not actually be your sign.

Scientific star-gazers say the 12 Zodiac signs we have come to memorize as handily as our own birthdays are actually out of date by a few thousand years.

In fact, there should actually be a 13th sign called Ophiuchus between Scorpio and Sagittarius, changing the dates of the other signs as well.

“Precession has shifted our view of the stars significantly over a few thousand years, so the sun is no longer situated in front of certain star groupings on the astrologically appointed dates,” Mary Lou Whitehorne, president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, as well as an astronomy educator and author, explained in an e-mail to QMI Agency.

Precession is the change in the orientation of Earth's axis over the years.

Because of this gradual shift, “things are 'off' by about one month, which is roughly the equivalent to one constellation (or sun sign) of the zodiac” since the times of ancient Greece, when these first signs were created, said Whitehorne.

That means the dates of signs are out of whack and many of us born Virgos could actually be Leos, many Aries are actually Pisces, and so on.

Others – born between Nov. 29-Dec. 17 – should actually be following the little known sign of Ophiuchus, the snake.

While astrologers are well aware of Ophiuchus, don't expect a change in your newspaper horoscopes anytime soon.

“This isn't news. This is nothing,” said Anne Massey, an astrologer and author based in Surrey, B.C.

She said astrological prognosticators have long known about the existence of Ophiuchus, and the shift of how we see stars over time, but that scientists are missing the point.

“This is symbolic – it follows a certain symmetric geometry. It's based on the seasons,” she said. “Astronomers don't observe the skies the same way astrologers do.”

According to a scientists, modern astrologers should be using these dates for the signs of the Zodiac.

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

[Allegra]

Yer now a snake ping.

[NautiNurse]

what do we say NOW when trying to connect?

You could always skip the light chatter and go straight for the throat by discussing politics and religion.

[ETL]

As the Earth moves around the Sun, the Sun 'appears' to be in a different zodiac constellation every month.

[Larry Lucido]

This precession procession process proceeds from procivlities which precede our progressive age.

[Larry Lucido]

I was a Virgo but I lost my virgonity with this cute Pisces I met.

[Vaquero]

Meanwhile, at the Cotillion

as God is my witness, I'll never vote conservative again!!

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Been doing that...do you think that’s why my social circle is now down to 4?

[txhurl]

Just act like Sarah.. she’s an Aquarius, too. So was Reagan.

So are Oprah and Travolta, barf.

[Walmartian]

I know a lot of phisces. Their names all end with “d”.

[bboop]

The astronomers seem to want their day of glory. First it was saying that Pluto was not a planet. WRONG! We’re not buying it. Now this? They should stick to star-gazing.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Actually the word “astrology”, should mean “study of the stars” and “astronomy”, “naming of the stars”. Around the time of Kepler, astrononmy, began to branch off very distinctly from astrology. For 4,000 years astrology was the “junk science” that kept astronomy funded. It was a lot easier to get an Imperial Science Foundation grant for something that promised to predict floods and plagues, riots, rebellions and invasions than for something that merely promised to satisfy some boffins’ intellectual curiosity.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I’d lay the change in sun signs at the foot of the Romans, the Julian Calendar, the Chaldeans and Pope Gregory. If we employed a sidereal, rather than a tropical calendar, then sun signs would (by definition) remain the same over the centuries.

We ought to go back to old ways of determining seasons by the heliacal rising of prominent stars. Problem solved!

[txhurl]

One more Aquarian it seems?

[swatbuznik]

What? I’m a Libra now? Dang, I was so much cooler as a Scorpio.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Yer now a snake ping.

That boy has Slytherin House written all over him.

[DuncanWaring]

Same here.

If one can legally change their name, can a birthday be changed too?

Maybe I’d lop off a few years while I’m at it.

[goseminoles]

I’m capritarious. Screw them!

[Rebelbase]

Economic stimulus for palm readers and seers.

[Hatteras]

Ophiuchus... What are today’s lucky lotto numbers for Ophiuchusians?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I was born on October 10, and according to astrological lore, I should be a Libra. However, the sun has not been in Libra on that date since 752 AD (according to NASA JPL Horizon website.) Between 639 and 751 AD the sun would be in either Libra or Virgo on that date, settling in Virgo on October 10, 752 AD, where he will continue to appear on that date until 3698, when he steps into Leo. From 3698 until 3796 he hops between Leo and Virgo on that date, finally moving into Leo for over a millenium in 3797.

I find it interesting that people invest such stock in ancient astrological sun signs that have been out of date for a millenium and a half. Of course from around 400 AD to 1400 Europeans had lost the recipe for astronomy and would not have been aware of the precession of equinox again until the rediscovery of Ptolemy during the Renaissance. (It is not easy to know which house of the zodiac the sun is in. The ancient Babylonian priests, the Chaldeans, figured it out by observing lunar eclipses. Long story.)