Signs and times have changed

What's your actual astrological sign?

The astrological signs used these days are 2000 years out of date.
The reason is due to the slow, 25,800 year wobble (precession) of
Earth's rotation axis.

The traditional linking of birthdays and birth signs suggests the sun
spends about 30 days crossing each of the 12 zodiacal constellations.
The truth is that there are really 13 constellations that the sun "drifts"
through along it's path in the sky (the ecliptic). 
Another truth is that they are not equal in duration. 
They vary from 6 days to 45 days.

Below is a table describing the actual 13 zodiacal constellations.
The reason the column "Actual (2000 AD)" includes the same
ending day of one as the beginning day of the next is that the
movement of the sun from one constellation to another
happens during the day, not at the actual end of the day. 
In the old, traditional one each sign has the same time span.


Constellation Traditional (false)  Actual (2000 AD)  Actual Days Long
Capricornus    Dec 22 to Jan 21            Jan 21 to Feb 16          26
Aquarius     Jan 22  to Feb 21               Feb 16 to Mar 11         24
Pisces      Feb 22 to Mar 21                  Mar 11 to Apr 18         38
Aries       Mar 22 to Apr 21                   Apr 18 to May 13         25
Taurus       Apr 22 to May 21               May 13 to June 22         40
Gemini      May 22 to June 21               June 22 to July 21         29
Cancer       June 22 to July 21              July 21 to Aug 10          20 
Leo          July 22 to Aug 21                 Aug 10 to Sept 16         37
Virgo        Aug 22 to Sept 21               Sept16 to Oct 31           45
Libra        Sept 22 to Oct 21                Oct 31 to Nov 23           23
Scorpius   Oct 22 to Nov 21                 Nov 23 to Nov 29            6
Ophiuchus   Not included                    Nov 29 to Dec 18           19
Sagittarius   Nov 22 to Dec 21             Dec 18 to Jan 21            34

Someone could use the actual zodiac to produce an up-to-date astrological chart
to continue to fool the gullible.  The drawbacks are that it would be much more
complicated with all the different time durations and the "bad" number 13 would
have to be used.

Much of this information comes from the magazine "Sky and Telescope" June/98

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