If you’re one of the unlucky few who got a tattoo of your revised star-sign after NASA claimed in 2016 that they ‘discovered the existence of a 13th star sign’ and shuffled the dates around to suit – or booked a tattoo removal because your old star sign tattoo was null and void with the new dates – I am personally so sorry to you. Hear all the details below:
Just as a refresher for people who teeter on the fence of this Astrology game – in the tropical zodiac, we recognise 12 star signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. These are the ones that you would’ve seen in memes on IG and horoscopes in magazines.
This was until 2016 when NASA – the same people who might’ve fak*d the moon l*nding – shared that we should recognise a 13th star sign, a ‘new’ star sign, Ophiuchus because it exists as a constellation in the ecliptic.
The ecliptic basically starts with a hypothetical line from the earth and points to the sun and out into space – and then as the earth orbits the sun, the hypothetical lines moves through space and touches the different constellations as it goes past.
Throwing it all the way back to 5th century BCE, Babylonian texts described the positions of the Sun, Moon and the planets as 12 equally-spaced signs, with each one assigned to a zodiacal constellation.
The Babylonians were aware of Ophiuchus way back when, but the reason we recognise 12 signs in the tropical zodiac is not because of the amount of constellations, but based on the phases of the moon.
There are 88 constellations in this ecliptic, and if the Babylonians were to include all the constellations, it’d be a pretty big nightmare for tattooists around the world.
Basically, you’re fine. Your star sign is your star sign and NASA should lowkey just butt out – this is Astrology not Astronomy, babes.
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