BWAHAHAHA! MSNBC article on how bullshit astrology is!

[laconicsax]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41062376/ns/technology_and_science-science/?GT1=43001

Wobbly Earth means your horoscope is wrong

Stars shifted over 2,000 years so horoscope signs are nearly a month off

If you look to your horoscope for a preview of your day, look again: You're probably following somebody else's supposed fate.

Thanks to Earth's wobble, astrological signs are, well, bunk. (Or even more bunk than you might expect.) Astrological signs are determined by the position of the sun relative to certain constellations on a person's day of birth. The problem is, the positions were determined more than 2,000 years ago. Nowadays, the stars have shifted in the night sky so much that horoscope signs are nearly a month off. [Read: http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/etc/horoscope-2011-astrology-sign.html">Why Your Horoscope for 2011 Is All Wrong]

...

Despite the complete lack of scientific and observational evidence for astrology, 25 percent of Americans http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/etc/091210-americans-believe-god-astrology-and-ghosts.html">still believe in it, a recent Pew survey found. So here are the "real" dates of astrological signs, according to astronomers:

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. 23-29.
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.
Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.

The list includes Ophiuchus, a formation the ancient Babylonians discarded because they wanted 12 star signs, not 13. That's yet another example of how astrologers cherry-pick and ignore astronomical observations, Rao said.

:rofl: Love it!

[Heddi]

1. Oh that makes sense! Previously I thought they made the mold for "piscean" after me

Now I realize I was a true Aquarian through and through. I mean I always felt aquarian, but I didn't want to get into an argument with someone about it.

[laconicsax]

2. A leading astrologer responds:

http://glo.msn.com/relationships/zodiac-shock-1534099.story?GT1=49006

Ophiuchus is a constellation, just like Orion or the Big Dipper — it's not new,” he says. “The problem with giving Ophiuchus, a constellation near Scorpio, a spot in the zodiac is that the time has been borrowed or stolen from Leo, Scorpio and Pisces. Observe how Scorpio, for example, only gets seven days of the year in this new model. It's imbalanced.”

Basically, Dr. Craig says, every sign in the current, accepted zodiac has the "same amount of 'sky' assigned to it." There are 12 signs with 30 degrees each. The new model, however, just doesn't work: He says it creates "unequal distribution of the elements and qualities of the signs."

"It's like saying, 'Let's change the clock. Now we have 13 hours on the clock and 26 hours in the day.' You can do that, but you sure are going to confuse the hell out of people," he says.

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Umm...the Big Dipper isn't a constellation, it's an asterism like the Summer Triangle or the Great Square of Pegasus. This guy is clearly an expert in his field!

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. No, 'the Big Dipper', ie Ursa Major, is a constellation

see http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/88constellations.html

[trotsky]

4. The distinction may be that the "Big Dipper" isn't an original constellation...

but instead just a subset of Ursa Major. A simpler shape for our simpler modern minds. :)

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Sounds like a bit of nitpicking

The first use of 'the Big Dipper' given in the OED:

"1856 ‘M. A. Henderson’ Song of Milgenwater 31 He, so fiercely, kicked his foot out, That he hit the constellation, Thimbel-nubbin, or Big Dipper."

[Odin2005]

10. The big Dipper is actually a very old Asterism.

During the Middle Ages it was refereed to by many people as a plow or dipper.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. It still is called the Plough

'Big Dipper' is an American term. And 'The Plough' refers to both the seven stars and the 'complete constellation' - from the Oxford English Dictionary:

4. Astron. the Plough n. (the name of) a distinctive group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major. Also: the constellation itself.Other names include Great Bear, and (formerly) Charles's Wain, Septentrions, Seven Stars, Triones; (in North America) Big Dipper, Great Dipper, and Dipper.

[Odin2005]

13. Interesting, thanks!

[laconicsax]

6. Nope, asterism.

As trotsky pointed out, the constellation is Ursa Major. The Big Dipper is part of that constellation.

It's the same as saying that the Great Square of Pegasus is a constellation when it's really just part of Pegasus.

The reason why the Big Dipper is widely recognized is that it's the brightest stars in the constellation.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. And in common usage, The Big Dipper is a constellation

as shown in the first recorded usage of it. I made it through O level Astronomy without ever coming across 'asterism' - it's a technical difference worthy of train-spotters.

[laconicsax]

8. Which sort of comes back to my original point.

Shouldn't someone whose profession involves the night sky know the difference?

[charlie]

9. The good part

isn't scientists calling astrology bunk.

It's scientists telling astrologers, "yer doing it wrong." Here, let me turn those binoculars around, you'll see better.

[Deep13]

12. It's called seasonal precession...

and it's no mystery to actual astronomers. Anyway, the whole thing is very geocentric since the constellations depend on our unique position in space to look the way they do.