OPHIUCHUS: Just A Constellation, Not 13th Zodiac Sign?

OPHIUCHUS 13th Zodiac Sign: Prediction for Money and Career

NASA has added a brand-new 13th zodiac sign

NASA have confirmed that the sky today is completely different to how it was almost 3,000 years ago, when the Babylonians first invented the 12 signs of the zodiac. There’s a new star sign – Ophiuchus – in the mix.

“The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the Sun spends different lengths of time lined up with each one,” a NASA spokesperson explained.

The position of the Sun as it’s perceived from the revolving Earth passes through the constellations that formed the zodiac - Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Zodiac signs were originally determined by which constellation the Sun was ‘in’ on the day we were born. But in the more than 3000 years since our zodiac system was invented, constellations have drifted and the sky has changed.

“The line from Earth through the Sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only 7 days. To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the Sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12.

“Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time. Besides the 12 familiar constellations of the zodiac, the Sun is also aligned with Ophiuchus for about 18 days each year.”

Ophiuchus Quick Facts

*The Zodiac is an area of sky that inhabits the area of sky that is 8 degrees either side of the celestial equator.

*The Zodiac in common use refers to the twelve signs that appear when the Sun sets.

*Ophiuchus, the Serpent Wrestler is the thirteenth sign of the Zodiac as the Sun sets in the constellation at the end of November, to the middle of December. As a result of the thirteenth sign, all constellation date ranges are wrong.

*The plantoid Chiron is the governing planet of the sign rather than an actual planet.

*Its element would probably be a fire sign pushing Sagittarius out of the position because the elements go in sequence, Fire, Earth, Air, Water.

*Cetus, the Whale is seen by some as the fourteenth sign of the Zodiac. Only those born between 21st and 28th of March are in that group.

Ophiuchus Element

The twelve official Zodiac constellations can as mentioned above be split into four equal groups of three constellations. Adding in Ophiuchus into the list of Zodiac constellations makes it not possible to divide equally. The Elements follow in sequence, the first element is Fire which Aries is then fire followed by Earth, Air and Water then repeat. The Zodiac elements are:

Fire - Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Earth - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

Air - Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

Water - Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

If Ophiuchus was inserted, it would probably take the place of Sagittarius and ultimately Pisces becomes a fire sign, ironic. This is one of the reasons for arguing against Ophiuchus being a Zodiac astrological sign.

Ophiuchus shares the same characteristics and Predictions as Sagittarius

The constellation, which comes from Greek words meaning “serpent bearing” is commonly represented by a man wrestling a snake.

Unsurprisingly, Ophiuchus shares many of the same characteristics as Sagittarius, and people with its sign are described as healers and light-bearers. However, astrologers have a word of caution for all those assuming their star sign has changed.

Ophiuchus is considered a healer of men, a doctor of medicine, or a scientist who seeks higher education and enlightenment. He’s also an interpreter of dreams, favoured by his father and other authority figures, and expected to achieve a high position in life.

If you’re still not sure that your personality fits your new star sign, of course, it doesn’t matter too much; after all, there’s nobody to stop you reading your old horoscope.

As NASA themselves explain, no one has shown that astrology can be used to predict the future or describe what people are like based only on their birth date.”

They add that the zodiac is “not science” and that it simply offers comfort in a similar manner to “reading fantasy stories”.

The sun is in the sign Sagittarius from November 21 to December 21. But, in the present-day sky, the sun is in front of the astronomical constellation Ophiuchus from about November 30 to December 18. In 2019, the sun enters the constellation Ophiuchus on November 30 at 14:00 UTC (or for the U.S. Central Time Zone: November 30 at 8 a.m. CST). Then the sun enters the constellation Sagittarius on December 18, 2019, at 20:00 UTC – or at 2 p.m. CST.

Whether you’re speaking about astrological signs or astronomical constellations, the zodiac depicts the narrow beltway of stars on the stellar sphere through which the sun, moon and planets travel continuously. The zodiac runs astride the ecliptic – the sun’s yearly pathway in front of the backdrop stars. The band of the zodiac extends some 8 degrees north and south of the ecliptic, spanning a total of 16 degrees in width.

The sun is said to enter the sign Sagittarius around November 21, or whenever the sun is precisely 30 degrees west of the December solstice point. The sun then enters the sign Capricorn on the December 21 solstice. So the sun passes through the sign Sagittarius for the month period before and up to the December solstice, irrespective of the sun shining in front of the constellation Ophiuchus from November 30 to December 18.

By the way, the December solstice point moves one degree westward in front of the zodiacal constellations – or backdrop stars – in about 72 years. The December solstice point will finally move into the constellation Ophiuchus by the year 2269.

Ophiuchus is a constellation, not part of the zodiac?

According to a website Zodiac Books, qualities of an Ophiuchus are:

*“House Ophiuchus represented unity. Its people were spirited, magnetic, impulsive, clever, flamboyant, and at times jealous, power-hungry, and temperamental. At their hearts, they were healers who hoped to one day rid the zodiac of every ill—disease, violence, etc.—and bring everyone closer together.

*“Ophiuchans had a natural affinity for snakes, and there was a special species of serpent, the Zawinder, with whom their House’s Zodai developed a psychic connection. Each Zodai would capture and adopt his own Zawinder, which they would then use to spread messages to others in the swamp.”

Although Ophiuchus is not part of the zodiac, there is a teeny-tiny bit of truth in these viral stories: Ophiuchus is a constellation (although not a “new” one), and the appearance of the constellations in the sky has changed over time. But this is undeniably astronomy, not astrology, and it doesn’t affect your zodiac sign.

In fact, the first recorded mention of Ophiuchus came in 300 BC. It’s always been a part of the Sun’s path in the sky (called the ecliptic), but it’s largely been left out of astrology.

The origins of the zodiac go back approximately 2,500 years when the Babylonians separated the sky into 12 different sections. They studied an apparent relationship between the constellations’ placements in the sky and the movement of the Sun, and thus, the 12 signs were born.They saw the constellation of Ophiuchus, too, but since it didn’t fit neatly into one of these 12 slices, they decided to leave it out of the zodiac—along with dozens of other constellations. So, no, scientists didn’t “just discover it.”

However, the Earth’s wobbly axis means none of the constellations are in the same place they were all those years ago, from our POV on Earth looking up at the sky. That, along with the sheer existence of this not-new constellation, means some people argue that the astrological signs we’ve all come to know and love have altered. (These people are not astrologers.)

Even though Ophiuchus is undoubtedly an observed constellation (located northwest of the center of the Milky Way, in case you were curious), could it have the chance to be an actual member of the zodiac? Well, astronomers won’t comment on that part, considering astrology is not science, and astrologers aren’t buying that our signs have shifted.

Ophiuchus was named as a mixture of two Greek words—“serpent” and “bearing.” So it’s no surprise that the face of the constellation is commonly Asclepius, the god of medicine in ancient Greek mythology, who holds a staff with a serpent wrapped around it (which, fun fact, is also the well-known symbol of the World Health Organization).

The theory behind Astrology being that our destiny lies in the star sign that was in the sky at the time of the birth of astrology. Since they were drawn up over 2000 years ago, the Earth's orbit around the Sun has changed as it does not orbit the same elliptical path any more. This is due to the forces exerted on the Sun by other planets in . As a result of this, the Earth will travel out further from the Sun or come in nearer. Therefore when the Sun now sets, it sets in a different constellation than it did all those years ago. However, the astrology community has not changed with the times. Some astrologers do use the thirteen star sign Zodiac.

There are a number of reasons why they have not updated:

*Thirteen is an unlucky number

*Thirteen can not be split into smaller equal element groups ( Earth, Fire, Water and Air )

*General Reluctance to change

If you've ever wondered why your love life or fortune is going as they had told you in the stars, you now know the reason. This does not mean that you should automatically stop believing in the Zodiac.

Ophiuchus is depicted as an image of exactly what you might expect: a large, powerful man holding a large snake represented by Serpens, a neighboring constellation, which is usually coiled around his waist. Because of this, Ophiuchus is sometimes also called Serpentarius.

OPHIUCHUS: Facts 13th Zodiac Star Sign With Dates, Symbols and Meaning NASA reveals there are actually 13 zodiac signs. What is Ophiuchus Zodiac Star Sign: Dates, Sympols and Traits.