Over the past week there has been an interesting rumor circling around the internet. According to a magazine released earlier this year in the UK, not only has NASA discovered a thirteenth Zodiac sign, Ophiuchus (just try and pronounce it) but they have also changed the dates of the twelve known zodiac signs. On the flip side, NASA and several other organizations and blogs argue that nothing has been changed and it shouldn't matter because astrology isn't even a real science. This caused a mass panic and confusion amongst those who believe in the Zodiac Calendar- and for good reason.
Although my personality traits according to my Zodiac sign are eerily close to my actual personality — shout out to any fellow Pisces, I try not to be too gullible. Just because I was born at a certain time doesn't mean that my relationships, jobs, and love life will be effected in any kind of way due to where the moon or Jupiter is. But, I'm sure as many of us know it's still super fun to read your horoscope. So when I heard that the dates of the Zodiac Calendar had been changed, it caught my attention. The Earth is a bit different than it was when the Babylonians created these wonderful things we know as our zodiac signs. "Now 3,000 years later, the sky has shifted because the Earth's axis, The North Pole, doesn't quite point in the same direction" says one explanation on the website. Back when the Babylonians created the Calendar in order to make it "perfect" they created twelve zodiac signs, one for each month of the year. Consequently, they straight up ignored this thirteenth zodiac. So, NASA apparently took it upon themselves to fix the situation. In the end, they completely changed the system and screwed with peoples' star charts. According to this information, if you were born between November 29 and December 17, you fall under this new sign Ophiuchus. You are depicted as a man holding a snake and your predominate traits are a penchant for seeking knowledge and being envied by your peers. Here are the "new and improved list of zodiac signs." But, while being admired and envied sounds nice and all, others are arguing a different case.
As reported by a NASA related blog on Tumblr, they've made claims to a different story. "Here at NASA we study astronomy, not astrology. We didn't change any zodiac signs, we just did the math. The Babylonians lived over 3,000 years ago. They divided the zodiac into 12 equal parts – like cutting a pizza into 12 equal slices. They picked 12 constellations in the zodiac, one for each of the 12 “slices.” So, as Earth orbits the sun, the sun would appear to pass through each of the 12 parts of the zodiac. Since the Babylonians already had a 12-month calendar (based on the phases of the moon), each month got a slice of the zodiac all to itself. But even according to the Babylonians’ own ancient stories, there were 13 constellations in the zodiac. So they picked one, Ophiuchus, to leave out. Even then, some of the chosen 12 didn’t fit neatly into their assigned slice of the pie and crossed over into the next one. The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the sun spends different lengths of time lined up with each one. The line from Earth through the sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only seven days. To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12. Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time. So, we didn’t change any zodiac signs…we just did the math."
In the end, it is up to you to decide which Zodiac sign you now fall under. Did you keep your old information or did you find NASA's explanation a little thought provoking? As for me, I'm happily sticking with being a Pisces.
