The 12 signs of the zodiac, as mentioned in a horoscope, are inextricably linked to the Earth’s motion through the sky. The constellations that point out the path that the sun appears to take during the year provide us with these indicators. Dates in a horoscope may appear to match to when the sun travels through each constellation. They don’t always agree, though, because astrology and astronomy are two separate systems. Plus, a closer look at the Earth, the sun, and the stars reveals that the zodiac is more complicated than you might think!
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The sun’s motion through the constellations
The sun appears to pass in front of numerous constellations as Earth revolves the sun. The sun’s position in relation to distant background stars drifts in an easterly direction from day to day, much how the moon appears in a little different spot in the sky each night. It’s not as if the sun isn’t moving. Its movement is totally fictitious, owing to Earth’s own rotation around our star.
The sun appears to be in front of, or “in,” different constellations throughout the year. The sun appears in Gemini one month and Cancer the next. The dates in the newspaper’s horoscope indicate when the sun is in a specific astrological sign. For example, the sign Aries is represented by the period between March 21 and April 19. However, your astrological sign does not always indicate which constellation the sun was in when you were born.
Why the zodiac constellations don’t always align with astrological signs
We need to know a little bit more about how the Earth moves to explain why constellations no longer coincide with their respective signs. We must also discuss how we measure time.
Time is a fiendishly difficult concept to grasp, especially if we insist on using the sun and stars as our point of reference. For better or worse, our calendar is based on the seasons. The day the sun appears at its most northerly point in the sky is June 21 – the approximate date of the summer solstice north of the equator and the winter solstice south of the equator. The North Pole is most inclined towards the sun at the June solstice.
The fact that the North Pole does not always point in the same direction as the background stars complicates things. Our world whirls around like a top. The Earth, like a top, wobbles! The North Pole traces a circle on the celestial sphere due to the Earth’s wobble. The wobbling is slow; it takes 26,000 years to complete one rotation. However, as time passes, the effect becomes more pronounced.
The direction of the Earth’s axis drifts somewhat throughout the course of one orbit around the sun. This means that the location of the solstice along our orbit changes by a very modest amount. The solstice occurs around 20 minutes before one full trip in front of the background stars!
Our drifting calendars
Because we base our calendar on the solstices and equinoxes (and astrologers on the signs), the Earth does not complete an orbit in a single year. The tropical or seasonal year is really a fraction of a second shorter than one full orbit (sidereal year). This means that the sun’s position relative to the stars on any given day say, June 21 wanders a very small amount each year.
However, after 2,000 years, the sun will be in a completely other constellation!
The sun was nearly halfway between Gemini and Cancer on the June solstice 2,000 years ago. The sun was between Gemini and Taurus on the June solstice fourteen years ago. In the year 4609, the June solstice point will move from Taurus to Aries, leaving Taurus behind.
When humanity formed the present Western zodiac some 2,000 years ago, the signs were roughly aligned with their respective constellations. However, the steady wobble of the Earth’s axis has led the solstice and equinox locations to shift around 30 degrees westward relative to the constellations in the intervening ages. Signs and constellations are currently around one calendar month off. They’ll be approximately two months away in another two thousand years or so.
Modern constellations and the zodiac
To make matters even more complicated, unlike astrological signs, constellations are not all the same size and shape. For the most part, the stars that make up a constellation are not physically related. They’re simply based on patterns that our forefathers noticed when they looked up at the sky, trying to make sense of it all.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established the constellations as sky regions, not only star patterns, in 1930. They established the boundaries we use today as a result of this. These current constellations are based on those introduced in the second century CE by Greek astronomer Ptolemy. He, in turn, took them from Babylonian scriptures dating back thousands of years. Throughout history, several societies have seen patterns in the sky that are unique to them. Some constellations are shared by many cultures (Orion is a good example), but not all.
There are actually 13 constellations that lay along the path of the sun, based on the present borders. Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, sits between Sagittarius and Scorpius and is not mentioned in any horoscope. The signs stay stable in relation to the solstices and equinoxes, while the solstices and equinoxes shift westward in relation to the constellations or backdrop stars.
While the zodiac isn’t a fantastic predictor of love, fortune, or health, it is an excellent tool for better understanding the sun’s, Earth’s, and even the cultures that have come and gone on our small planet. The zodiac signs, which are drawn from constellations that line the path of the sun in the sky, trace Earth’s orbit and wobble and serve as a reminder of astronomy’s humble beginnings.
Bottom line: While you may identify the term zodiac with astrology, it also has a prestigious role in astronomy. The 12 constellations that make up the zodiac are located along the sun’s annual motion across the sky.
What is the significance of the zodiac sign?
Our values and goals assist to determine who we are as people. Our personality in society is shaped by our choices, interests, dreams, and goals. Astrology has long played a crucial role in establishing your personality, choices, and goals on this planet. Every individual is distinct, and hence has different aims and objectives. As a result, we’ve compiled a list of zodiac signs to assist you in determining and comprehending your life’s mission.
Is it true that your zodiac sign has an impact on you?
Is astrology accurate? Reading horoscopes is a popular pastime, but is there any scientific evidence that they are accurate?
When you’re enticed by a familiar interruption and your willpower weakens, problems can occur.
Every day, up to 70 million Americans consult their horoscopes. At least, that’s what the American Federation of Astrologers claims. According to a Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life poll conducted twenty years ago, 25% of Americans believe that the positions of the stars and planets have an impact on our daily life. In 2012, the General Social Survey indicated that 34% of Americans think astrology is “extremely” or “kind of scientific,” and that the percentage of individuals who think astrology is “not at all scientific” has decreased from two-thirds to about half.
Astrology is the concept that astronomical phenomena, such as the stars over your head when you were born or the fact that Mercury is retrograde, have the potential to influence our daily lives and personality traits. Of course, this is distinct from astronomy, which is the scientific study of celestial objects, space, and the physics of the cosmos.
A particular branch of astrologyforecasting a person’s future or providing advice on everyday activities through horoscopesis gaining in popularity. The Cut, for example, recorded a 150 percent rise in horoscope page views in 2017 compared to 2016.
Clearly, a lot of people are trying to figure out how to read the stars for guidance. Understanding the positions of the stars is the foundation of astrology, which appears to be a scientific discipline in and of itself. Is there any scientific evidence that astrology has an impact on our personalities and lives?
But, since I still have five minutes of this six-minute podcast to fill, let’s take a look at how astrology has been put to the test.
Is there any significance to your zodiac sign?
This isn’t the first time astrology has had a moment like this, and it won’t be the last. For thousands of years, the practice has existed in various forms. More recently, the New Age movement of the 1960s and 1970s included a heavy dose of astrology. (Some refer to the New Age as the “Age of Aquarius,” referring to the 2,000-year period after the Earth’s passage through the Aquarius sign.)
While astrology didn’t go completely in the decades between the New Age boom and nowyou could still get horoscopes in the back pages of magazinesit “got back to being a little bit more in the background,” says Chani Nicholas, an astrologer in Los Angeles. “Then there’s something that’s happened in the last five years that’s given it an edge, a relevancy for this time and place that it hasn’t had in 35 years.” The millennial generation has taken it and run with it.”
Many of the people I spoke to for this article felt that, while the stigma surrounding astrology still exists, it has faded as the discipline has gained traction in online culture, particularly among young people.
“We’ve seen a reframing of New Age activities over the last two years, very much tailored toward a Millennial and young Gen X component,” says Lucie Greene, global director of J. Walter Thompson’s Intelligence Group, which studies and predicts cultural trends.
Broadly’s horoscopes have “grew really dramatically,” according to Callie Beusman, a senior editor. The Cut’s president and editor-in-chief, Stella Bugbee, claims that a typical horoscope article on the site received 150 percent more traffic in 2017 than the previous year.
Astrology is well-suited to the digital age in some aspects. If you feel like plunging into a Google-research rabbit hole, there’s a low barrier to admission and practically infinite depths to plumb. More jokes about Saturn returns, less “Hey baby, what’s your sign?” pickup linesthe availability of more in-depth knowledge online has given this contemporary wave of astrology a certain sophistication.
A quick refresher: Astrology is not a science, and there is no proof that one’s zodiac sign has anything to do with personality. However, the system has its own logic. The positioning of the sun, moon, and planets within 12 sectors of the skythe zodiac signsgives meaning to astrology. Even if you’re not an astrology fan, you’re probably aware of your sun sign, the most well-known zodiac sign. It’s determined by the position of the sun on your birthday. However, the position of the moon and each of the other planets at the time and place of your birth adds more shades to the portrait of you that your “birth chart” paints.
Horoscopes are designed to inform you about what the planets are doing now and in the future, as well as how this impacts each zodiac sign. Susan Miller, the popular astrologer who developed the Astrology Zone website, advises, “Think of the planets as a cocktail party.” “You could have three individuals chatting at the same time, two people arguing in the corner, and Venus and Mars kissing.” I need to figure out what’s going on in those monthly talks for you.”
“Astrologers are continually attempting to break down these massive concepts into manageable chunks of information,” Nicholas explains. “These days’ kids and their memes are the ideal setting for astrology.”
Astrology uses the planets and zodiac symbols to express complex ideas about personality, life cycles, and relationship patterns. That shorthand also works well online, where symbols and shorthand are frequently used.
Bertram Malle, a social cognitive scientist at Brown University, wrote me in an email, “Let me state first that I consider astrology a cultural or psychological phenomenon,” not a scientific one. However, “full-fledged astrology,” which goes beyond sun-sign horoscopes in newspapers, “provides a powerful lexicon to express not only personality and temperament, but also life’s obstacles and chances.” To the extent that one just learns this vocabulary, it may appeal as a rich means of portraying (rather than explaining or forecasting) human feelings and life events, as well as highlighting some potential coping routes.”
In times of stress, people frequently consult astrology. According to a short 1982 research by psychologist Graham Tyson, “those who contact astrologers” did so in response to pressures in their life, especially stress “related to the individual’s social duties and relationships.” “Under high stress, the individual is willing to employ astrology as a coping mechanism, even though he does not believe in it under low stress.”
Millennials have been the most stressed generation since 2014, according to American Psychological Association survey data, and they are also the group most likely to claim their stress has increased in the past year since 2010. Since 2012, Millennials and Gen Xers have been much more anxious than previous generations. Since the 2016 presidential election, Americans have been experiencing greater stress as a result of the political turmoil. According to the APA’s 2017 survey, 63 percent of Americans are “extremely concerned” about their country’s future. Reading the news stresses out 56% of individuals, with Millennials and Gen Xers being substantially more likely than older people to say so. Political infighting, climate change, global problems, and the prospect of nuclear war have all been prominent in recent news. If stress makes astrology look more appealing, it’s no surprise that more people are interested in it now.