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Seriously? This again?

Over the weekend I started seeing links to articles claiming that NASA has changed the signs of the zodiac. I knew immediately what this was about, even as I was scratching my head about a) how this is news, and b) how short people鈥檚 memories are.

I found a few articles about this NASA 鈥渘ews鈥� here and there; that has the headline, 鈥淵our Astrological Sign Just Changed, Thanks To NASA鈥�. The first paragraph alone is burdened with quite a few scientific errors:

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to be dramatic, but NASA just ruined our lives. For the first time in 3,000 years, they鈥檝e decided to update the astrological signs. This means that the majority of us are about to experience a total identity crisis. Apparently, these changes are due to the fact that the constellations are not in the same position in the sky that they once were, and the star signs are about a month off now, as a result. To further confuse things, there is now a new, 13th sign, called Ophiuchus, which those born between November 29 and December 17 are lucky enough to have to learn to pronounce.鈥�

Cripes. No, no, and no. First off, NASA did not 鈥渦pdate the astrological signs鈥�. Second, the constellations haven鈥檛 changed. And third, Ophiuchus is an ancient constellation, identified by the Greeks thousands of years ago.

So what鈥檚 the deal? Well, before we even get started, keep this in mind: astrology isn鈥檛 science; it鈥檚 nonsense. It鈥檚 been tested 10 ways to Sunday and every time it fails. Even astrologers have come up with tests for it, and it has failed those. Astrology doesn鈥檛 work.

Despite that, lots of people believe in it. That鈥檚 why I wrote .

Zodiacal confusion

So what鈥檚 the deal with this recent silliness? It has to do with the zodiac. As I wrote :

鈥淭he planets, including the Earth, orbit the Sun on pretty much the same plane (from the side, the solar system鈥檚 planets鈥� orbits look flat). From the Earth, it looks like the Sun moves around us once per year. The path it takes across the sky is the same year after year, and we call this the ecliptic. The planets all move across the sky in that same path, too.

鈥淪o, like clockwork, the Sun passes into the same constellations at a certain time every year. You know the names of these constellations: Sagittarius, Libra, Scorpius, Aries, Gemini鈥� the constellation of the zodiac, or, if you prefer, the zodiacal constellations.鈥�

These 12 zodiacal constellations have been recognised in one way or another around the world, though most countries (and ) have adopted a modified version of them known to the ancient Babylonians and Greeks.

The thing is, there are more than 12 constellations the sun can pass through. Some are smaller, or have fainter stars, so they get ignored. The biggest is Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer, which is a huge constellation taking up quite a bit of celestial real estate, and in fact the sun spends more time in Ophiuchus than Scorpius. Scorpius has brighter stars and an obvious scorpion-like shape, so it gets better press.

So no, NASA didn鈥檛 add in Ophiuchus or change the zodiac or anything like that. Ophiuchus has been around this whole time, but has been ignored by astrologers. They鈥檙e the ones who should take the blame for all this, not actual scientists who don鈥檛 even think astrology is worth wrapping fish in anyway.

Worse, there aren鈥檛 really 13 zodiacal constellations. By some counts, . Not only that, but Earth wobbles like a top, very slowly, and over centuries . If you were born in late March in ancient Greece, you would have been an Aries. Today, you鈥檇 be a Pisces.

Given that astrology is based on all this, shouldn鈥檛 astrologers at least get their basic facts straight before trying to influence your life?

Not news

Finally, why is this suddenly news? This is the final irony here. This new foofaraw got started, apparently, due to an article on a NASA site for kids called SpacePlace. I like this site a lot and refer quite a few parents and teachers to it. It has simple explanations written at a level for children to understand, and it鈥檚 fun and accurate.

The SpacePlace article, , has been around a while but was updated in January 2016, which may have caught some astrology believer鈥檚 eye. The article 鈥� well worth your time to read 鈥� talks about how the zodiac constellations are defined, and how, over time, they鈥檝e changed (as I described above). Apparently, someone didn鈥檛 read it very carefully, or didn鈥檛 understand it, and wrote that NASA had changed the zodiac. So, yeah. Wow.

But this isn鈥檛 even the first time this sort of thing has happened. .

You can鈥檛 keep a good piece of pseudoscience down. It鈥檚 like a zombie, always rising again.

You know what also rises? The sun. And when it does, it鈥檒l be because Earth is spinning, and orbiting it, and we鈥檒l see the stars and planets and moons doing their thing. And we鈥檒l study them with science and learn their ways, and if people who believe in astrology want to keep looking to the past, well, let 鈥檈m. As long as they promise to remember it.

And that reminds me: in one sense, astrology is correct. There is a group of people whose lives are affected by the stars and planets: astronomers. And if I can help spread that particular love, then I鈥檒l be more than happy to.

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