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On Earth, such changes likely caused past ice ages. It is to science what the game “Monopoly” is to the real estate market.Īstrology diverts attention away from the very real influences of the planets, primarily their gravitational effects on one another that cause real changes in the shapes, sizes and tilts of their orbits. However the subject has no basis in science. Over the course of 25,800 years, it will eventually return to Aries and the cycle will begin again.Īs a game, astrology and its predictions of fate and personality can be fun. 2700, when it will move into Aquarius and so on. Due to precession, it moved into Pisces around 100 B.C., where it is now and will remain until A.D.
![sidereal astrology chart sidereal astrology chart](https://i2.wp.com/masteringthezodiac.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Example-Transit-Chart.png)
In ancient times, the vernal equinox – or the first day of spring – was in Aries. Though slow, precession was discovered with the naked eye by Hipparchus of Nicaea around 150 B.C. This movement alters the view of the zodiac from Earth, making the constellations appear to slide to the east, roughly a degree per human lifetime. The wobble causes the Earth’s axis, which is the center line around which it rotates, to swing in a slow circle over the course of 25,800 years.Ī wobbling Earth causes the dates of the zodiac to shift from those established in ancient times. The gravity of the Moon and Sun pull on the bulge, which causes the Earth to wobble like a top. As a result of its rotation, the Earth bulges slightly at the equator, not unlike how a skater’s skirt fans out as she spins. The main reason astrological signs fail to line up with the zodiac, though, is a wobble in the Earth’s rotational axis called precession. This is one of the reasons astrological signs do not line up with the constellations of the zodiac. For example, the Sun passes through the constellation Scorpio in just five days, but takes 38 days to pass through Taurus. In actuality, this is not the case, as the constellations vary a great deal in shape and size. PNGGuru, CC BY-NCĪstrology suggests that each sign of the zodiac fits neatly into a 30-degree slice of sky – which multiplied by 12 adds up to 360 degrees. The Sun is in Leo here, which means at night, you’d see Aquarius. How could they, since they are truly random scatterings of stars? They are meant to represent, not to portray. It is a disappointment to many that the constellations only rarely look like what they represent. They are collectively called the zodiac and consist almost entirely of animal figures, like the ram (Aries), crab (Cancer) and lion (Leo). Over the course of a year, the Sun appears to pass through a belt of sky containing 12 ancient constellations, or groupings, of stars. The science of astronomy is now at odds with one of the basic organizing principles in astrology – the dates of the zodiac. But once Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo realized the planets orbit the Sun, rather than the Earth, and Newton discovered the physical laws behind their behavior, astrology and astronomy split, never to be reunited. It was intermingled with the science of astronomy back then – in fact, many astronomers of old made scientific observations that are valuable even today. The practice of astrology, which predicts one’s fate and fortune based on the positions of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets, dates back to ancient times. I was born a Capricorn (please don’t judge me), but the Sun was in the middle of Sagittarius when I was born.Īs a professor emeritus of astronomy, I am often asked about the difference between astrology and astronomy.