The new Zodiac

The new Zodiac: "

Early this week, I started seeing a little traffic to a post I wrote way back in March of 1999 called The new Zodiac.

An interesting calendrical tidbit: the Zodiac that everyone is familiar with today is actually based upon the movement of the sun through the constellations of 2500 years ago. Today, due to shifts in the earth's rotation and orbit, the sun moves through 13 constellations, not just 12.

The thirteen constellation is called Ophiuchus. As I'm writing, Ophiuchus is the #1 trending topic on Twitter right now and there are dozens of news articles on the topic in outlets like Time, Huffington Post, and The Washington Post. Patient Zero of this most recent round of new Zodiac reporting is this January 9 Minneapolis Star-Tribune article in which the updated Zodiac is listed as:

Capricorn: Jan 20 - Feb 16

Aquarius: Feb 16 - Mar 11

Pisces: Mar 11 - Apr 18

Aries: Apr 18 - May 13

Taurus: May 13 - Jun 21

Gemini: Jun 21 - Jul 20

Cancer: Jul 20 - Aug 10

Leo: Aug 10 - Sept 16

Virgo: Sept 16 - Oct 30

Libra: Oct 30 - Nov 23

Scorpio: Nov 23 - Nov 29

Ophiuchus: Nov 29 - Dec 17

Sagittarius: Dec 17 - Jan 20

Wikipedia has a slightly different calendar for 2011:

Aries: Apr 19 - May 14

Taurus: May 14 - Jun 21

Gemini: Jun 21 - Jul 21

Cancer: Jul 21 - Aug 11

Leo: Aug 11 - Sept 17

Virgo: Sept 17 - Oct 31

Libra: Oct 31 - Nov 21

Scorpio: Nov 21 - Nov 30

Ophiuchus: Nov 30 - Dec 18

Sagittarius: Dec 18 - Jan 21

Capricorn: Jan 21 - Feb 17

Aquarius: Feb 17 - Mar 12

Pisces: Mar 12 - Apr 19

Which calendar to believe? Who knows, but one thing is for sure: astrology remains a steaming pile of horseshit.

Tags: astrology   astronomy"