It has been common knowledge among astronomers for thousands of years, but due to a recent report, the media lit up about zodiac signs. Many people seem to believe that their zodiac sign has changed. They believe that a new sign, Ophiuchus, has been added, throwing off all the other zodiac signs. This is wrong. In fact, Ophiuchus was one of the original zodiac signs.

Justin Klimchak, senior astronomy student, said, “Mr. Brandt explained that astrology differs from astronomy and that they really haven’t changed according to an astronomy stand point.”

Thousands of years ago, when zodiac signs were originally introduced, there were thirteen. In order to explain it to the masses, the scientists decided to cut it down to twelve in order to simplify it. The scientists explained that there is roughly a new sign every month.

The initial way of determining the zodiac signs was explained by astronomy teacher Mr. Brandt, “The sun, in a given point of the year, will be inside of a constellation. In other words, when I look up at it, I see the sun here. Let’s say, here’s Taurus the bull, and the sun is in it. That’s the way that it was originally done.”

Besides the loss of the sign Ophiuchus, the signs have also changed from how they were originally. Each day the sun moves about one degree with respect to the stars. In other words, each day the stars seem to move about one degree, so over a course of a year they rotate the whole way around.  The sun, which moves through the sky on imaginary line (the ecliptic), is tilted at 23 degrees as it turns. “Over the course of a 2600 year cycle, it wobbles. Like a topspin. So what that means is, every 2200 years they shift by one constellation,” Mr. Brandt explained.

After someone decided to write about this, the media went berserk. People everywhere went crazy, thinking that their sign had changed. In reality, it has been changing and will continue to do so. If you look at it, they are about a month off from their original dates.

In fact, all of the dates are off. To simplify it for the common people, the scientists just explained it as each zodiac lasts for about a month. The truth of the matter is, each zodiac’s length of time is different, depending on how long the sun is in the constellation. For example, Virgo is the longest constellation at 44 days and Scorpio is the shortest at eight days.

As long as people have been looking at their horoscopes in modern times, the horoscopes have been off. For everyone alive now, their “new” sign is the sign they actually have had for their entire life.