Some astrology fans were not happy when news broke about a new star sign, Ophiuchus, that apparently reshuffled the zodiac.
Ophiuchus, the alleged new and 13th member of the zodiac family, has always been a part of the sun’s path and has been known for thousands of years – ever since the Ancient Greeks first discovered it. Its name is a mixture of two Greek words meaning serpent and bearing. Ophiuchus is depicted as a large powerful man who holds a large snake who goes by Serpens, which happens to be a neighbouring constellation. So unfortunately, Ophiuchus is not a new discovery.
However, if Ophiuchus were to be an official star sign, it would be settled between Scorpio and Sagittarius from November 29th to December 17th.
Twitter saw mixed reactions, where some expressed discontent:
From Sagittarius to Ophiuchus ??I'm not happy I love being Sagittarius
— ?Gift Dlamini?? (@GiftDlamini5) July 23, 2020
And some did not mind the idea of having a birthday fall under the supposedly new star sign:
I’m Ophiuchus now, so I’m very glad I didn’t get that Sagittarius tattoo which I considered once
— Jim (@JRSimpson97) July 27, 2020
Those who may be excited about their new star sign might have to reconsider checking their so-called “new” horoscope next month. NASA’s tweet confirmed that the zodiac remains unchanged by breaking down the math behind the creation of the constellations.
? We see your comments about a zodiac story that re-emerges every few years. No, we did not change the zodiac.
When the Babylonians invented the constellations 3,000 years ago, they chose to leave out a 13th sign. So, we did the math: https://t.co/DQOs5VSjT7 pic.twitter.com/WlblguobGT
— NASA (@NASA) July 17, 2020
Posting to Tumblr, NASA also explained the difference between astrology and astronomy. NASA studies astronomy, the scientific study of everything in outer space. Astrology on the other hand, is the belief that the positions of stars and plants can influence human events.
Rumours of a 13th star sign all came to light due to a resurfaced 2016 blog post by Space Place. Space Place is a NASA website targeted at educating children of space and Earth science. The article explained that The Babylonians lived over 3000 years ago and divided the zodiac into 12. They picked 12 constellations to simultaneously fit their 12 month calendar. However, given there were 13 known constellations, they decided to leave one out – Ophiuchus. The Babylonians ignored the fact that the Sun moves through more than 12 constellations including Ophiuchus, for about 18 days of the year. So there is no discovery by NASA, they simply just recounted historical fact.
It does not seem like Ophiuchus will join the zodiac family, so for now you’re still a Gemini or Scorpio or whatever you choose to be.
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