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The astrological signs used these days are 2000 years out of date.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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