Saturday, January 22, 2011
Resources for Questions about Astrology by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Following on from the Zodiac Kefuffle, (see also here and here), the Astronomical Society of the Pacific has updated its long-popular article examining astrology from an astronomical perspective. It also has a resource guide for looking at a wide range of astronomical pseudo-science at:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html
Monday, January 17, 2011
Find Your Zodiacal Constellation – A Teachable Moment.
Left panel, northern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 daylight saving time on Monday January 17 showing the stars that form some of the zodiacal constellations (similar views will be seen elsewhere in the southern hemisphere at the equivalent local time. Right panel, stars with constellation figures overlain (click to embiggen).
One of the reasons that the recent zodiac kerfuffle became a news item is that, amongst other things, most people don’t know that the star sign in their daily newspaper horoscope is not actually associated with the constellation of the same name (and hasn’t really been so since around 1600) and most people can’t find their zodiacal constellation in the sky.
But this is a teachable moment. Most people do know their star sign, and although astrology is rubbish it would be fun to try and find your star sign in the sky. Finding a number of the zodiacal constellations can be difficult as they are dim and hard to see in our light polluted skies, but it’s worth the effort.
If you go outside tonight at 10pm local daylight saving time, Southern hemisphereians can see five of the 12 Zodiacal constellations (Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer). Tonight (January 17), if you look due north you will see a bright red star which forms part of a V shaped group of stars. This is the head of the constellation Taurus, the bull. To the right you will see the Moon. It is between the two stars that from the tips of the bulls horns. To the left you will see a small pretty cluster of stars, the Pleiades (well worth viewing in binoculars). The diagram above shows what you should see, and has the constellation figure shown as well on the right (for northern hemispherians, look south, the constellations will appear upside down to the depictions shown here).
Diagram showing the zodiacal signs in relationship to the constellations, The yellow band is the zodiacal sign location, and the red block is the zodical sign of Taurus in the newpaper horoscopes (click to embiggen).That’s the constellation of Taurus, but not the zodiacal sign of Taurus. The horoscopes you read in the papers start the astrological zodiacal signs from the position of the sun at the Vernal Equinox (in the northern hemisphere). Due to the precession of the equinoxes, as the Earths axis of rotation changes its direction like a spinning top, the location of the Vernal Equinox has shifted by 23 degrees over the last 2000 years. As well, the astrological zodiacal signs are not associated with the boundaries of the constellations, but are slabs of sky 30 degrees long by 14 degrees wide[1].
So the zodiacal sign of Taurus (indicated by symbolic bulls horns (♉), now covers the constellation of Aries (and a bit of the tail of Cetus, the whale, and the left leg of the bull). In fact the three brightest stars of Aries lie entirely outside the chunk of sky that makes up the zodiacal sign of Taurus. In the diagram the zodiacal constellation band is shown in yellow, and the zodiacal sign of Taurus in red.
The constellation of Taurus is covered by the zodiacal sign of Gemini (symbolized by two parallel lines (♊) . The Constellation of Gemini is to the right of the constellation of Taurus in the north-east, the bright stars Castor and Pollux (the twins) being easily visible (tomorrow night, January 17, the Moon will be in Gemini, and on the 19th it will be in cancer). The zodiacal sign of Cancer (symbolized by stylised crab claws (♋)) covers the constellation of Gemini (excluding the star Castor), bits of the constellations Orion, Auriga and a sliver of Cancer.
And so it goes; the constellations that symbolize the zodiacal signs are no-longer associated with associated with those signs. Not that it matters, the properties of the zodiacal signs are purely imaginary constructs, but it is worthy of reflection that the zodiacal sign of the mighty, charging bull is now represented by an unprepossessing collection of faint stars (as is spectacular Scorpio).
Still, getting out in the fresh air and seeing the constellation that gave your zodiacal sign its name over 2000 years ago is a good excuse for some sky watching.
[1] There are 4 different major forms of astrology, some set the zodiacal signs by the vernal equinox, some don’t, the newspaper ones do.
Labels: astrology, constellations, science, zodiac
Sunday, January 16, 2011
A Horoscope I'd like to see
A horoscope I’d like to see:
(This follows on from my article on the recent Astrology kerfuffle and was written (but not used) in 2005 for Australian Sky and Space. The positions are correct for 2005, but Mars has obviously moved by now)
Even though the Sun passes through the classical constellation Ophiuchus, it is not included in the astrological zodiac. Also Cetus, where several planets can spend some time, is excluded (most recently Mars was briefly in Cetus). As well, Pluto wanders a bit further from the Zodiac than the others due to its high eccentricity, but the constellations it wanders into are excluded from the astrological zodiac. And what about asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and Plutinos? Astrologers are divided over whether to include them in charts, and although you can find astrological predictions on the internet that do include these objects, your average horoscopes exclude them. And what about space probes? Size and mass is no obstacle to astrological relevance, surely these messengers of human curiosity and hope should be included? Sadly, they are not.
I think it is a great shame that these constellations and objects are excluded from western horoscopes, they would be far more colourful than the wishy-washy current versions that suggest that Mars may be making you a little more aggressive. So I have written the kind of horoscope I would like to see.
Camoleopardis, the Giraffe
You may have to stick you neck out on this occasion. With Voyager 1 in your sign, you have a restless urge to go boldly where no hominid has gone before, but you only get as far as the video store before the bow shock hits. On the 12th of September 2013, a piece of shuttle booster will fall in the garden of all maiden aunts of Camoleopardians.
Ophiuchus, the Serpent bearer
You will find yourself tied up in knots today. The influence of Quaoar would normally help you find a creative way out of the loop, but Varuna will rain on your parade. You may, or may not, have a life changing decision to make on an odd numbered bus. Flipping a coin may, or may not, assist you to come to a decision of some kind.
Serpens: The serpent
You may be feeling a little bit snaky today, if not positively Stygian, and the influence of Pluto in this constellation will make you feel colder and glummer than before. At 12:15 am on Tuesday the hot water heater of all Serpians will explode, making cold showers inevitable.
Cetus: The Whale
With Mars in conjunction with Sedna, International Whaling Commission Members should beware of angry Inuit trying to sell blubber sandwiches. On Friday all Cetians will find a harpoon embedded in their fishpond, even if they didn’t have a fishpond to start with.
Some explanation:
Sedna is the Innuit goddess of the sea, and protector of seals and whales. Quaoar is a North American creation deity and Varuna a water deity. The Kuiper Belt objects named after them really were in the constellations named in 2005 when I wrote this, as was Voyager and Pluto. Mars was in Cetus at the same time as Sedna .
(This follows on from my article on the recent Astrology kerfuffle and was written (but not used) in 2005 for Australian Sky and Space. The positions are correct for 2005, but Mars has obviously moved by now)
Even though the Sun passes through the classical constellation Ophiuchus, it is not included in the astrological zodiac. Also Cetus, where several planets can spend some time, is excluded (most recently Mars was briefly in Cetus). As well, Pluto wanders a bit further from the Zodiac than the others due to its high eccentricity, but the constellations it wanders into are excluded from the astrological zodiac. And what about asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and Plutinos? Astrologers are divided over whether to include them in charts, and although you can find astrological predictions on the internet that do include these objects, your average horoscopes exclude them. And what about space probes? Size and mass is no obstacle to astrological relevance, surely these messengers of human curiosity and hope should be included? Sadly, they are not.
I think it is a great shame that these constellations and objects are excluded from western horoscopes, they would be far more colourful than the wishy-washy current versions that suggest that Mars may be making you a little more aggressive. So I have written the kind of horoscope I would like to see.
Camoleopardis, the Giraffe
You may have to stick you neck out on this occasion. With Voyager 1 in your sign, you have a restless urge to go boldly where no hominid has gone before, but you only get as far as the video store before the bow shock hits. On the 12th of September 2013, a piece of shuttle booster will fall in the garden of all maiden aunts of Camoleopardians.
Ophiuchus, the Serpent bearer
You will find yourself tied up in knots today. The influence of Quaoar would normally help you find a creative way out of the loop, but Varuna will rain on your parade. You may, or may not, have a life changing decision to make on an odd numbered bus. Flipping a coin may, or may not, assist you to come to a decision of some kind.
Serpens: The serpent
You may be feeling a little bit snaky today, if not positively Stygian, and the influence of Pluto in this constellation will make you feel colder and glummer than before. At 12:15 am on Tuesday the hot water heater of all Serpians will explode, making cold showers inevitable.
Cetus: The Whale
With Mars in conjunction with Sedna, International Whaling Commission Members should beware of angry Inuit trying to sell blubber sandwiches. On Friday all Cetians will find a harpoon embedded in their fishpond, even if they didn’t have a fishpond to start with.
Some explanation:
Sedna is the Innuit goddess of the sea, and protector of seals and whales. Quaoar is a North American creation deity and Varuna a water deity. The Kuiper Belt objects named after them really were in the constellations named in 2005 when I wrote this, as was Voyager and Pluto. Mars was in Cetus at the same time as Sedna .
Labels: astrology, scepticism, science, zodiac
A Storm in a Zodiacal Teacup
The Sun in the constellation Ophiuchus on December 12.A recent article by astronomer Parke Kunkle has had the twitterverse and astrologers in an uproar by pointing out that Sun no longer enters the constellations associated with the zodiac due to precession of the equinoxes.
Tropical Astrologers are boasting that Kunkle is wrong, and their system is better than that of Sidereal Astrologers, because their constellations are defined by the Vernal Equinox, and yar-boo-sucks to those silly astronomers.
However, in Tropical Astrology the zodiacal sign Aries (the Ram) actually points to the constellation we call Pisces. Now, most people couldn't find their own constellation in the sky, but I'm sure they would be perplexed to know that Astrological Aries is the constellation known to and ourselves and the ancient Greeks as Pisces (also, the vast majority of horoscopes that people are familiar with are Sun Sign horoscopes which Tropical Astrologers look down on in the first place). So Parke Kunkle is correct, the Zodiacal signs most westerners are familiar with are not associated with the constellations they are named after.
Yes, zodiacal constellations and actual constellations are two entirely different things. The astrological signs of the zodiac may bear the same names as modern constellations but have little correspondence to either modern constellations or constellations as ancients such as Ptolemy knew them. Both Astrological Tropical and Sidereal zodiacal signs are sections of the sky 30 degrees long and 14 degrees wide, centred on the Suns path. No matter how big or small the actual constellation, the sign associated with that constellation is one twelfth of the length of the Suns yearly journey. Again, we will pass silently over the fact that the tropical zodiac signs are named for constellations that no longer reside in their 30 degree swath due to precession of the equinoxes.
The other thing exercising the astrologers is whether Ophiuchus should be part of the zodiac. Now, boundaries for the astronomical constellations have varied quite a bit since the time of Ptolemy (whose astronomical constellations had very different boundaries to the zodiacal constellations) , but both the modern constellation of Ophiuchus and the ancient Greek one defined by Ptolemy had Ophiuchus crossing the ecliptic, as do all the other constellations of the Zodiac. Now we have an astrologer fulminating:
"This is an old hoax. Historically, Ophiuchus has never been listed as a constellation in the sidereal zodiac. It is a constellation out there, but it’s off the ecliptic (that is, it’s not along the path of the Sun through the sky). I’ve read that Ptolemy mentions it in his literature as an off-zodiac constellation, meaning that the Sun never travels through it...."Sorry mate, the Sun does travel through it (and has done so since Ptolemy described it back around 100 AD, and probably even earlier based on the Farnese Atlas see the image above), as does the Moon and planets, in fact the Sun spends more time in Ophiuchus than it does in Scorpius. It's good that astrologers are so familiar with the sky they get their predictions from.
What's more, several astrologers have suggested that Ophiuchus should be incorporated into the zodiac (see here, here and here). So I wouldn't call the proposal for Ophiuchus to be a Zodiacal constellation a "hoax", Mr. Astrologer.
Labels: astrology, scepticism, science, zodiac
Sunday, August 22, 2010
A Ceiling Full of Sky
This is the ceiling of the entrance hall to the University of Copenhagen's Ceremonial Hall (click to embiggen).It's an astronomical theme, zodiacal figures surround the central figures (you really need to embiggen them to get a good view) which are .... well, I don't actually know. I think that it's the Moon attended by Venus, but I could be wrong. There wasn't any information in the entrance way itself about the ceiling (that I saw), and there seems to be nothing online.
It didn't help that most of the University was destroyed in 1801 by English bombardment, so the information of the ceiling may have been lost.
But hey, it looks great though.
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
