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NASA on the Ophiuchus star sign: 'No, we did not change the zodiac'
Have you been seeing reports about NASA discovering a 13th zodiac sign called Ophiuchus?
Apparently, this was based on a 2016 NASA research that resurfaces every few years, and the space agency has been forced to clarify what exactly is the deal with this.
"We see your comments about a zodiac story that re-emerges every few years. No, we did not change the zodiac," NASA said on its Twitter.
???? We see your comments about a zodiac story that re-emerges every few years. No, we did not change the zodiac.
— NASA (@NASA) July 17, 2020
When the Babylonians invented the constellations 3,000 years ago, they chose to leave out a 13th sign. So, we did the math: https://t.co/DQOs5VSjT7 pic.twitter.com/WlblguobGT
So what's the deal with the 13th zodiac, the Ophiuchus?
On its blog, NASA said it has always existed, but the Babylonians just decided to leave it out.
The Babylonians, who lived over 3,000 years ago, already had a 12-month calendar based on the phases of the moon. According to NASA, they divided the zodiac into 12 equal parts, and assigned a constellation to each.
"But even according to the Babylonians’ own ancient stories, there were 13 constellations in the zodiac. So they picked one, Ophiuchus, to leave out. Even then, some of the chosen 12 didn’t fit neatly into their assigned slice of the pie and crossed over into the next one," NASA said.
"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," it added.
In conclusion, NASA said, "We didn’t change any zodiac signs…we just did the math."
—JCB, GMA News
