That's Capricorn, is it?

[essentialsaltes]

I've seen a lot of people tweeblogposting about their zodiacal signs changing. Seems to be related to this story stating that "Astronomers have restored the original Babylonian zodiac by recalculating the dates that correspond with each sign to accommodate millennia of subtle shifts in the Earth's axis."

I hate to break it to you, kids, but this precession of the earth's axis has been known about since at least the 2rd century BCE. Clever dude named Hipparchus made a pretty good measurement of it at the time, even. Ditto for Ptolemy, who literally compared his data with records from Babylon to perform pretty much the same calculation being breathlessly reported in the news today. For centuries, smart-ass astronomers have been pointing this out to astrologers, and for the most part, they just don't care.

Comments

From Sagitarius to Ophiuchus

[karteblanche.livejournal.com]

Here's a fun little piece about what the astronomer really said to the Star-Tribune:

http://io9.com/5733004/your-zodiac-sign-may-have-changed-this-week

While not an follower of astrology, I have always liked the idea of my sign, Sagitarius. Using the 13-sign zodiac, I am under the "new" sign Ophiuchus. Of course this means I am now compelled to join an Imhotep cult. "Such is the power that astronomers wield over all our fates."

notes your appropriate icon with approval

[essentialsaltes.livejournal.com]

Nice. Dr. Pookie is also a snake-handler.

[dustchick.livejournal.com]

This story has been irking me all day, although I did enjoy seeing Ophiuchus trend on Twitter. Nothing new here, move along.