Over the last 24 hours, various news outlets have been asserting that NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) have discovered a new 13th star sign that throws the current star system out of kilter.
“Ophiuchus, the supposedly ‘new’ sign was actually discovered over 3,000 years ago but was deliberately ignored by the Babylonians who created the zodiac chart.”
This ‘new’ sign is called Ophiuchus and is known as the serpent-bearer. If you are born between the 29th November and the 17th December, you would be an Ophiuchus. As a result of this addition, all the other star signs would also be different. Myself, born on the 25th October would no longer be a Scorpio, but instead a Virgo- the sign that is usually associated with the end of August.
However, Ophiuchus, the supposedly ‘new’ sign was actually discovered over 3,000 years ago but was deliberately ignored by the Babylonians who created the zodiac chart. They decided to divide the zodiac chart into 12 so that it corresponded exactly with the 12 months of the calendar year, despite the fact that they had recognised 13 constellations instead. In fact, there are as many as 21 constellations in the sky, but they are smaller and therefore their stars do not appear as prominently as the main 12 constellations that make up the astrological signs.
So, this means that if you believe in astrology and are worried that your star sign has changed- it absolutely has not! In fact, NASA has no authority to ‘change’ the zodiac chart because it has nothing to do with astrology; they are astronomers. Astronomy examines the positions and properties of celestial objects, whereas astrology attempts to look at how those positions and properties affect people and events on Earth, known commonly as a ‘pseudoscience’.
Why did this confusion come about anyway? The news that there could be a new star sign that disrupts the well-known zodiac chart is causing panic in a year that is already so unnatural. The panic is all down to a blog post that was published in 2016 on ‘Space Place’- a website run by NASA to explain the facts of space to children. It explains how the Babylonians created the zodiac chart and decided to split it into 12 not 13. The same story of a 13th star sign also circulated back in 2011.
Basically, if you were a Virgo, you still are. If you were a Sagittarius, you also still are. The star signs have not been updated, nothing has shifted, and NASA is most certainly not responsible for the discovery that is thousands of years old.
Amelia Cutting
Featured image courtesy of @jamie452 via Unsplash.