NASA announces new 13th zodiac sign and alters dates, so this is your new one

2020 is doing the most folks. Sorry astrology fans. You may have been reading your star wrong.

woman holding white and orange ceramic mug — So yeah this is wrong – Photo by fotografierende on Pexels.com

Nasa has announced a new star sign Ophiucus for those born between 29 November and 17 December. Because of this all the other signs have to be moved to fit the new discovery to fit in the new one. That means for example, our very own Larry Kwirirayi, who although with a sackful of scepticism answered to being a Pisces, now has to tell people he is an Aquarius.

So what has changed. Well when the Babylonians came up with the signs 2,500 years ago they saw Ophiucus but they had a problem with it because it did not fall neatly into the 12 slices they desired. Says Nasa:

To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact the sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12.

What is more, there is this:

The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the Sun spends different lengths of time lined up with each one. The line from Earth through the sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only seven days.

So that means that there are no 12 neat slices meaning we have new dates. Add to that the skies have shifted because the earth’s movement isn’t exactly linear. So the positions of constellations will have changed when viewed from the earth over the last 2,500 years.

The shift is seismic. It means about 86% of us may have had been reading our horoscope wrong. Oh dear.

The constellation, which comes from Greek words meaning “serpent bearing” is commonly represented by a man wrestling a snake.

These new dates are as follows.

Capricorn: Jan 20 – Feb 16
Aquarius: Feb 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11 – April 18
Aries: April 18 – May 13
Taurus: May 13 – June 21
Gemini: June 21 – July 20
Cancer: July 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

That said, your star sign needn’t necessarily change. Star signs are neatly folded Babylonian inventions, 30 degrees and are not necessarily related to the science of constellations. So you can go ahead and live in the context of well, knowing that the universe is different from you by ignoring the above. In essence that reality does not matter.

2020 is doing the most folks.