Pronouncing Ophiuchus and other Zodiac quandaries
Make room for #13!
Singles and the bar scene just got a lot more confusing. “What’s your sign?,” the saddest pickup line in the history of mankind, suddenly doesn’t have a clear answer. In short, for many of you, you aren’t who you thought you were. According to astronomers, recent news came out that because the Earth is in a much different position to the Sun, the astrological signs we followed for centuries are… wrong. Simply, “the Earth’s wobble on its axis has created a one-month bump in the alignment of the stars” according to astronomer Parke Kunkle.1
Throwing another wrench into fortune tellers who use the stars and your sign, an old friend is back named Ophiuchus. It seems that the Babylonians only wanted 12 signs in their Zodiac calendar2, so they just set Ophiuchus aside and reworked the dates of the other signs to accommodate. Hardly scientific. For the record, everything I have researched indicates that Ophiuchus is pronounced “Oh-FEE-uh-cuhs,” but if anyone has a different pronunciation with solid documentation, post it in the comments.
The updated Zodiac calendar is listed below:
- Capricorn – Jan 20 to Feb 16
- Aquarius – Feb 16 to Mar 11
- Pisces – Mar 11 to Apr 18
- Aries – Apr 18 to May 13
- Taurus – May 13 to Jun 21
- Gemini – Jun 21 to Jul 20
- Cancer – Jul 20 to Aug 10
- Leo – Aug 10 to Sep 16
- Virgo – Sep 16 to Oct 30
- Libra – Oct 30 to Nov 23
- Scorpius – Nov 23 to Nov 29
- Ophiuchus – Nov 29 to Dec 17
- Sagittarius – Dec 17 to Jan 20
You might notice some overlap on the dates. According to LiveScience.com, the dates can vary slightly each year, so this gives everyone a little leeway in case you’re a “cusper” and don’t like your sign.3
One last note: astronomer Parke Kunkle is getting a lot of press and has sometimes been misrepresented as being the one who did the research on this, but Kunkle makes it very clear that he simply looked at centuries-old data and commented to LiveScience. In fact, a little research reveals that LiveScience.com wrote an article on this very topic way back in 2007, but for some reason, Kunkle’s recent comments have made this triviality the most talked about subject since K$sha’s latest single.
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Read on:
SignCompatibilityHoroscope.com (kind of negates the entire premise of this site now)
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To view a sky map of the 13 constellations, http://www.stardial.us. Click on DEMO and use the arrow to find your date of birth. If opposites attract, use the arrow to find your opposite. Also, eBay keyword StarDial is entertaining. Enjoy!