There are eighty-eight constellations in the entire celestial sphere, of which there are fourteen constellations on the ecliptic. These fourteen constellations are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and Leo , Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Cetus, and Pisces. Among them are twelve constellations that we use in astrology, while the other two constellations only occupy a small part of the actual position of the ecliptic, like Ophiuchus, which only has one foot in the ecliptic. Only part of the head and tail of Cetus swims into the ecliptic, unlike the other twelve constellations, which are almost all included in the ecliptic.
So, there are not only twelve constellations in the zodiac, nor only thirteen constellations, strictly speaking, there are fourteen constellations! A while ago, some media reprinted and reported what a foreign astronomy amateur said, pointing out that "Ophiuchus" should be added to the twelve constellations of astrology, which made everyone confused. It's not who is who. . However, what I am curious about is that the astronomy community has always tried its best to separate itself from the astrology community. Why did an amateur who is just astronomy come to the astrology community? The most ridiculous thing is not that these people criticize without trying to understand astrology. On the contrary, Some people who claim to be experts in astrology also speak plausibly about the personality of Ophiuchus. Especially the Japanese, who immediately launched a book on related personality, which is really baffling.
However, no matter how many constellations there are on the zodiac, this does not affect the foundation of astrology at all.
As mentioned above, the fourteen constellations of the ecliptic as we know them are actual astronomical phenomena, and this is by no means a new discovery. In the third millennium BC, the Babylonian constellations may have been produced. Before the 13th century BC, the Babylonians divided the stars near the ecliptic into sixteen groups, and in the 13th century BC, they changed to the twelve zodiac. constellation. Around 650 BC, there were already thirty-six constellations in the cuneiform script {Creation Quotations}, which were in the northern sky, the ecliptic and the southern sky. In the fifth century BC, the "Synoptic Calendar" of the Athenian astronomer Agutemon recorded the constellations of Aquarius, Aquila, Canis Major, Southern Crown, Swan, Dolphin, Lyra, Orion, Pegasus, Arrow and so on. Hyades, Puleades and other stars. This is similar to the actual function of using constellations to judge seasons in ancient China {Xia Xiaozheng}.
In addition, the constellation poem written by the poet Aratus around 270 BC recorded a total of forty-four constellations, which is almost the same as the Chinese "Bu Tian Ge" resemblance. In poetry, there are nineteen constellations in the northern sky: the Big Bear, the Little Bear, the Shepherd, the Dragon, the Fairy King, the Fairy Queen, the Fairy, the Fairy, the Triangle, the Pegasus, the Dolphin, the Charioteer, the Wuxian, the Lyra, the Swan, and the Eagle. , Sky Arrow, Beimian, Giant Snake. There are thirteen zodiac signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, and Pure Aster. There are twelve in the southern sky: Orion, Dog, Lepus, Southern Ship, Whale, River Wave, Southern Fish, Temple of Heaven, Centaur, Hydra, Giant Lord, and Crow.
Then Hipparchus, an astronomer in the Greco-Roman period in the second century BC, merged Preaster in the thirteen constellations of the Aradus zodiac into Taurus to form the twelve constellations. , in addition, Ophiuchus is separated from Serpents, and Jackal is separated from Centaur, for a total of forty-five constellations.
Most of the names of the constellations in the celestial sphere are related to Greek myths and legends. In the middle of the second century AD, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy divided the sky into forty-eight constellations in his Astronomical Collection. This constellation also uses the forty-five constellations of Hipparchus, but adds the Pony and the Columbine in the northern sky, and divides the Canis in the southern sky into the Big Dog and the Little Dog. As astronomical observation technology continued to improve in later generations, more star groups were discovered and named. In fact, this kind of naming of constellations can be seen in various cultures. For example, ancient China also had its own naming system. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that international astronomical organizations (astronomy was separated from astrology in the 17th century), in accordance with ancient legends and customs, and in commemoration of people, things, and objects in mythology, classified 80 celestial spheres into celestial spheres. The eight constellations were named respectively and are still used today. However, neither Ophiuchus nor Cetus were named at the beginning of the 20th century, but were recorded in poetry as early as the 2nd century BC.
In astronomy, the English word for a constellation is "Constellation", which means "constellation" or "star group"; while the English word for a constellation in astrology is "Sign", which means "mark", "Mark", "Symbol". There is such a translation in the English-Chinese dictionary: "Signs of Zodiac". There is also the same free translation in the "English-Chinese Astronomy Vocabulary", and in the English-English dictionary it is explained in more detail: "One of the twelve equal" divisions of the Zodiac." meaning "twelve equal parts of the Zodiac."
For a dictionary, a reference book that is so important to mankind all over the world and must be accurate, it distinguishes the "zodiac signs" in astronomy so clearly from the "zodiac signs" in astrology. Why is it so professional? Are astronomers still looking for trouble with astrology? Although astronomy and astrology have the same origin, they have already taken different paths.
After all, the constellations on the ecliptic are the first to be noticed by people, because the planets in the solar system, the sun and the moon that we know well all travel along the ecliptic. Similarly, of the eighty-eight constellations in the entire sky, only the twelve evenly distributed constellations on the ecliptic are the most meaningful to astrology.
In fact, from the current point of view, the sky in astrology and astronomy is not the same. Astronomy observes all astronomical phenomena, while astrology regards stars as symbols; the ecliptic plane is divided into twelve equal parts, and each equal part is named after a constellation. Therefore, no matter what changes or new discoveries are made in the actual celestial bodies, they will not change the status of the twelve constellations of the astrological zodiac.
Explain in detail; we regard the ecliptic plane as a circle and divide it into twelve equal parts, that is, divide the 360 ??degrees of a circle into twelve parts, and each A section is the thirtieth degree, with the equinox as the starting point for the twelve equal parts.
Why use the vernal equinox as the starting point? Because people in ancient times regarded spring as the beginning of the year, when all things wake up and grow, and a new beginning unfolds. The vernal equinox is the intersection point where the ecliptic and the earth's equator intersect. Because the ecliptic and the equator are two circles with different angles intersecting on the spherical surface, there must be two intersection points. One is named the vernal equinox, and the other opposite to the vernal equinox is named the autumnal equinox. .
About two thousand years ago, the twelve constellations were based on the vernal equinox as the starting point, and the order was named after the constellation of the ecliptic at that time. Although the range of the zodiac constellations in astronomy is different, astrology is It was named after the constellation that occupied the largest position among the twelve equal parts at that time. In other words, it was just a pronoun. If "Aries" at that time was named after the "first constellation", it might not be as good as it is now. So many questions.
When it was first named, astronomical observation and knowledge were not developed. At that time, it was even believed that the earth was the center of the universe, and that our world was a flat surface. It was like a ship sailing into the distance and disappearing. This was because it reached the center of the world. It fell off at the end. Therefore, it is not known at all that the precession phenomenon caused by the tilt of the earth's axis will cause the vernal equinox to gradually and slowly move in the direction of Pisces. Now the vernal equinox is about to move from Pisces to Aquarius. Therefore, the position of the starry sky now is different from the position of the starry sky when it was named. Even the position of the North Star has been changed.
But as far as astrology is concerned, the position of each equal part will not change due to the precession phenomenon, nor will the name be changed because of this. I have explained before that the names of these constellations are actually just pronouns. . However, modern astronomers still continue to criticize astrology based on the changes caused by the precession of the earth itself, but they do not know the true definition of astrology, which makes them laughable.
Once, Halley said to Newton: "I don't care about astrology." And Newton said: "But, dear Sir Halley, you have not studied it, I have."
Human beings are like this, always criticizing things they don’t really understand. Therefore, before we fully understand the situation, it is best to take an objective stance and view everyone and everything fairly. So far, only a small part of astrology has been scientifically confirmed, but there are many things in this world that were once considered unscientific before they became scientific. And the spirit of science is not to find answers for everything. Scientific theories and evidence? So why not treat it fairly with an open mind?
Of course, scientists still view astrology as a quasi-scientific perspective. Even psychology has used it out of context to discuss the personality analysis that astrology can give people. In fact, it seems to be applicable to everyone. However, these are only one-sided studies, and there are no studies done in cooperation with astrologers. This is a pity. In fact, it is not just astrology, but also many numerology.
In fact, what astrology discusses is the influence of stars on people, and the stars in the sky do have an influence on people. For example, the moon in the sky affects the tides of the earth, and the stars in the human body do It is also about 70% liquid, and these will also be affected by this. What's more, isn't the moon's cycle similar to the female cycle? Two U.S. Air Force scientists conducted an experiment in which they used an artificial moon to affect menstrual periods. They selected 20 women, all of whom had short menstrual periods, and then asked each of them to turn on their bedrooms three nights before ovulation. The lights were left on all night, and as a result, the women's second menstruation occurred on the fourteenth day after laying eggs.
Modern astronomy is so developed thanks to previous scholars, such as Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and others. Most of these people were astrologers at that time and in the contemporary era, but later generations believed that they were observing His achievements in the starry sky were extraordinary, and he was honored as an astronomer in later generations. These are not astrology trying to flatter itself, history is history, and there is no need to hide it deliberately.
Therefore, don't worry about "Ophiuchus" and "Cetus", and don't worry about the position and date deviation caused by the "precession phenomenon". Astrology is just astrology, and the twelve constellations are just a Synonyms, their meanings have long been distinguished from the current astronomical situation, they are twelve "Signs".
Therefore, let astrology and astronomy each have their own beautiful starry sky!