Unlucky for some: How hitherto unknown 13th sign of zodiac Ophiuchus could be why your stars never seem right

By Daniel Bates, Mail Online
Last updated at 12:05 AM on 15th January 2011

Horoscope horror because Earth has 'wobbled' out of alignment with the moon
Most who thought they were Virgo are actually Leo - but only in the East

If your horoscope has never made any sense to you, there may be a good reason why - it could be out of date. Astronomers have called for the zodiac signs to be overhauled because they no are no longer accurate.

The ancient Babylonians based zodiac signs on the constellation the sun was ‘in’ on the day a person was born. But during the thousands of years since, the moon's gravitational pull has made the Earth shift on its axis and created a one-month shift in the stars' alignment. Astronomers are now proposing to move all the star signs back one month and introduce a 13th star sign, Ophiuchus, to help readjust the zodiac calendar.

The change will come as a shock to many who will discover they have been reading the wrong star sign their entire lives - and will not necessarily be happy with their new ones. Those under dominant and creative Leo could now find themselves a Cancer, which means they are moody and sensitive. A passionate Scorpio could become a more diplomatic and balanced Libra whilst if you were a Taurus, you could now find yourself a stubborn Aires.

The change was suggest by Professor Parke Kunkle, who teaches astronomy at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Astronomers study space and the stars from a scientific viewpoint whilst astrologers write horoscopes and claim that celestial bodies can give clues to personality traits.

Professor Kunkle said that those who read theirstar signs could have been reading the wrong one their whole lives and should readjust accordingly. ‘When astrologers say that the sun is in Pisces, it's really not in Pisces,’ he said.

STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SIGN

There are two major systems that control our zodiac signs - tropical astrology and sidereal astrology. Tropical astrology is based on Earth's relationship with the Sun and the four seasons. It preserves the seasonal associations of the star signs worked out by early astrologers by laying out new horoscopes against a first-millennium sky.

‘Historically, people looked at the sky to understand the world around us. But today I don't think people who are into astrology look at the sky very much.’ The signs of the zodiac have roots in mythology and relate to the legend of how the 12 Olympian gods took animal shapes to flee the monster Typhon who was causing havoc on Earth. They date back to Roman and Babylonian times and are based on the ecliptic, which is the path of the sun over the celestial sphere, or imaginary path around the Earth for a year.

In the beginning your star sign was indeed determined by the constellation in the sky that the sun lined up with at the time of your birth. Since then, however, astrologers have adopted a mathematically equal division of the sky, so the position of the constellations is no longer relevant.

The proposed 13th star sign, Ophiuchus, is a constellation in space and existing prints of its symbol indicate it is a heavily muscled individual holding a snake to the sky. Those born under Ophiuchus are said to have lofty ideals, enjoy longevity and are inventive. Those who are currently Scorpio or Saggitarius could make the switch.

The Earth 'wobbles' on its axis, so the star constellations we see change over a cycle of 26,000 years. So it is irrelevant that the solsticial points (tropics) have drifted from one constellation to another over time as the relationship is symbolic.

Tropical astrology is mainly practised in North America and Europe. The alternative is Sidereal astrology which is the Hindu system and is also practised by some western astrologers. It is based on Earth's relationship with the stars and therefore zodiac signs against the actual sky.

An adjustment is made for the 'precession of the vernal equinox'. This is the gradual shift in the orientation of Earth's axis of rotation, which traces out a cone once every 26,000 years. Therefore the dates of the zodiac signs change.

In The Ayr

Friday 14 January 2011