Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces are the 12 zodiac constellations, and you’re definitely familiar with them thanks to astrology.
In This Article...
Is Ophiuchus a rare astrological sign?
Aries is the second rarest zodiac sign, followed by Sagittarius, both of which are fire signs, according to Stardust.
According to Stardust, the first sign of the zodiac is Aries, which has a spark of creativity that “gets everyone going and moving.” According to Stardust, Sagittarius, the third rarest zodiac sign, “falls during the autumn season and are renowned to be adventurous and free-spirited.”
What are the names of the seven primary constellations?
We chose seven of the most well-known constellations from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres for this infographic: Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Orion, Canis Major, Centaurus, Crux, and Carina. You can simply locate any of these constellations in the sky using our short suggestions. Any amateur astronomer who wants to learn about notable constellations and asterisms will find our infographic useful. If you like this infographic, please share it with your friends! It can also be found on our Instagram account. The #infographics StarWalk hashtag is where you’ll find it (and our other infographics). For more information about stargazing, follow us on Instagram!
What are the three zodiac signs that are extremely rare?
Some may consider this sign to be the rarest because it is rarely utilized, but when most people ask which signs are the most and least common, they truly mean within the range of the 12 zodiac signs we are most familiar with.
Despite the fact that Aquarius is the least common zodiac sign, there are many renowned Aquarians.
Shakira, Corazon Aquino, Toni Morrison, Laura Dern, and more… Alicia Keys, Paul Newman, Jackie Robinson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Galileo Galilei, Shakira, Corazon Aquino, Toni Morrison, Laura Dern, and more…
What is the spirit animal of Ophiuchus?
Were you born between the 30th of November and the 18th of December?
On your birthday, the sun will most likely pass in front of the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.
I’m almost expecting to hear someone say:
You’re entirely correct. Because Ophiuchus is a constellation rather than a zodiac sign, this is the case. Continue reading to learn more about the differences between astrological signs and astronomical constellations, when and where to look for Ophiuchus, the deep-sky gems it holds, its mythology, science, and more.
Signs versus constellations
On August and September evenings, the Serpent Bearer stands tall in the south to southwest sky from Northern Hemisphere latitudes. Ophiuchus is closer to above from the Southern Hemisphere. Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpionis, is also close by.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) drew up the official boundary lines for all 88 constellations in the 1930s. Rasalhague, Ophiuchus’ brightest star, and Antares, Scorpius’ brightest star, are labeled in the photo below of the constellation Ophiuchus. Rasalhague is a bright star that marks Ophiuchus’ head, although it pales in comparison to Antares, the star that depicts the Scorpion’s beating heart.
Ophiuchus is in a bad way. Despite the fact that the ecliptic passes through him, no one ever claims him as a birth sign. After all, the zodiac band stretches 8 degrees north and south of the ecliptic, with a total width of 16 degrees. The constellations aren’t evenly distributed along this area in our sky, either. Everyone who reads astrological advice online is familiar with the zodiac signs. There are 12 zodiac signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and so forth. However, there is no Ophiuchus.
However, the moon and planets pass through Ophiuchus on a regular basis. Likewise, the sun. From roughly November 30 to December 18, the sun is in front of Ophiuchus.
Around November 21, or anytime the sun is exactly 30 degrees west of the December solstice point, the sun is said to enter the sign of Sagittarius. On the December 21 solstice, the sun enters the sign of Capricorn. So, regardless of the sun shining in front of the constellation Ophiuchus from November 30 to December 18, the sun passes through the sign Sagittarius for the month leading up to the December solstice.
By the way, in around 72 years, the December solstice point advances one degree westward in front of the zodiacal constellationsor backdrop stars. By the year 2269, the December solstice point will have finally moved into the constellation Ophiuchus.
When and where to locate Ophiuchus
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere is the ideal time to see Ophiuchus (Southern Hemisphere winter). Late July and early August in the Northern Hemisphere show this constellation high in the southern sky during twilight and early evening. On fall evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, it can be visible in the southwest sky.
This relatively large constellation lies to the north of Scorpius the Scorpion and to the south of Hercules the Hero in the sky. If you’re familiar with the brightest star in Scorpius, Antares, try star-hopping to Ophiuchus from this crimson beauty. The star Rasalhague appears on Ophiuchus’ skull (Alpha Ophiuchi).
In tradition and in the sky, Ophiuchus is associated with the Serpent constellation.
If you have a dark sky, you might notice that this is one constellation that looks exactly how it should: a large man holding a snake.
Ophiuchus is derived from two Greek words that signify serpent and holding.
Deep-sky objects in Ophiuchus
Take your binoculars and scan Ophiuchus, which lies in the Milky Way band and has numerous deep-sky wonders, on a night when the moon isn’t visible. For example, Ophiuchus has a lot of globular clusters. M10 and M12 are the two simplest globular clusters to see with conventional binoculars, as seen in the chart above. They seem as weak puffs of light via binoculars, but with a telescope, you can see these globular clusters for what they are. They’re massive stellar metropolis with hundreds of thousands of stars that span a hundred to a few hundred light-years in diameter.
The Pipe Nebula, a massive interstellar cloud of gas and dust spreading across nearly 7 degrees of sky, is another big deep-sky favorite. That’s about the width of three to four fingers at arm’s length. This dark nebula is located in southern Ophiuchus at a distance of 600 to 700 light-years and can be viewed with the naked eye in a dark, transparent sky. The Pipe Nebula is located to the east of Antares and to the north of Shaula and Lesath. The above chart shows these two stars (but not the Pipe Nebula).
Ophiuchus in myth and star lore
Ophiuchus represents Asclepius, the Greek deity of medicine and doctors, in Greek mythology. He is always shown with a large serpent or snake in his hand. A snake’s venom can either kill or cure, depending on how it’s utilized. Asclepius is claimed to have manufactured a healing elixir from Serpens the Serpent’s venom, Gorgon’s blood, and an unknown herb. Until the god of the underworld, Pluto, appealed to the king of the gods, this potion granted humanity immortality. Pluto urged Zeus to rethink the consequences of death’s death.
We have no idea how Pluto made his case. Maybe he just said that what never lives never dies, and that no mortal can have one without the other. Sophocles may have summed up the myth’s core theme when he said:
It is preferable to die and sleep the never-waking slumber than to live after the soul’s life has passed.
In his Four Quartets, poet T.S. Eliot may have mirrored the notion of the ever-living story:
We perish in the company of the dying:
We are born with the dead in our midst:
In any case, according to legend, Zeus seized the elixir, exiled Asclepius from Earth, and enshrined the great physician in the celestial realms. Today, the Staff of Asclepius, a symbol of the World Health Organization and other medical organizations, pays homage to this myth and mirrors the magnificent celestial shape of Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer constellation.
Ophiuchus in history and science
A supernova explosion of a star within our own Milky Way galaxy hasn’t been seen in almost 400 years. However, in the year 1604, a supernova known as Kepler’s Supernova blasted into the scene, allowing for 18 months of naked-eye sight. It sparkled in the southern hemisphere of Ophiuchus, not far from the Pipe Nebula.
Tycho’s Supernova, which lighted up Cassiopeia in 1572, was followed by Kepler’s Supernova in 1604. The Aristotelian notion of an unchangeable world outside the orbit of the moon was shattered by these supernovae, which sent shock waves through Europe’s elite. Tycho Brahe measured the 1572 supernova’s parallax, proving that it was not an atmospheric phenomenon. In reality, the supernova flashed well beyond the orbit of the moon. Shortly after, in 1604, Kepler’s Supernova seemed to hammer home the point once more.
Furthermore, in 1577, Tycho Brahe estimated the distance of a comet and discovered that it was also farther away than the moon. Aristotelians wanted to believe comets were gases burning in the atmosphere, but Tycho disproved Aristotle’s unchanging universe theory once more.
Bottom line: For nearly two weeks each year, the sun passes through the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, making Ophiuchus an unofficial member of the zodiac. Learn the difference between astrological signs and astronomy constellations, as well as how to find Ophiuchus.
What are the signs that I’m an Ophiuchus?
These indicators, on the other hand, are not well calibrated. Using a celestial planisphere, we can observe that the Sun is in one of the lesser-known constellations, Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer or snake charmer, between November 30 and December 18. Those born between these dates are obligated to be born under the zodiac sign of Ophiuchus.
If we continue to observe the link between the location of the Sun and the background of stars, we will notice that very little corresponds to the horoscope-based calendar of signs:
TABLE: Actual zodiac signs, as defined by the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) constellation boundaries established in 1930.
Why does Ophiuchus not appear in the horoscope as a zodiac constellation? Why aren’t the dates the same? The reason for this is that when the horoscope was created 2,500 years ago in ancient Babylon, the Sun crossed over each of the zodiac constellations on different dates than it does today, around four weeks sooner.
According to modern scientists, the Sun enters Aries on April 19 every year like clockwork. The Sun, however, is like a clock that lags about a quarter of an hour each year due to the Earth’s axial precession. Over many years, the delay has grown to the point where the Sun now enters Aries almost a month after the Babylonians recorded the date and the horoscopes predict.
Theoretically, each person’s horoscope correlates to the sign that comes before the one that their present horoscope denotes. This, however, is not the case. The Sun only spends a week crossing Scorpio, and a month and a half in Virgo; these passage times are the same now as they were 2,500 years ago, and differ greatly from the Babylonian astrologers’ arbitrary division of one month for each sign of the horoscope, which omitted Ophiuchus in favor of a rounder number of 12 signs, as in the 12-month calendar.
Babylonian astrologers were able to determine when summer would arrive and when the best time to harvest would be by using that calendar. The social authority this gave them prompted them to broaden their forecasts to include things like the outcome of a fight or an individual’s characteristics based on their zodiac sign.
Can you have two zodiac signs?
No, not at all. People born on the zodiac cusp are unique individuals whose date of birth combines the energy and attributes of two distinct signs together, forming a separate astrological personality with blended qualities, rather than formally being born under two signs.
Is there such a such as a black zodiac?
The Black Zodiac is an inverted version of the traditional Zodiac. The more eldritch Black Zodiac, like its celestial version, is divided into twelve arcane signs; but, unlike its celestial counterpart, these signs signify twelve earthbound spirits required to obtain entry to the Ocularis Infernum.
The Black Zodiac has a thirteenth ghost, the Broken Heart, in addition to the twelve usual ghosts. Because this spirit was deliberately sacrificed in an act of pure love rather than pain, it is the final ingredient in the spell that fully activates Basileus’ Machine.
