In ancient times, people believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and the Sun rotated around our planet. Today we know that the Sun is in the center of the Solar System and every planet orbits our star. They also observed the sky and connected the stars with lines drawing pictures known as constellations. They were convinced that those constellations were important symbols telling stories about their gods and myths and were very useful in order to know about people personality and predict their future too.
As a result of the motion of the Earth around the Sun, our star appears to pass in front of different constellations. This apparent path of the Sun on the celestial sphere marks the ecliptic; the constellations through which the sun passes define the zodiac. Consequently, all the zodiac constellations lie along the ecliptic.
Babilonians, about 3.000 years ago, had a 12 month calendar, so they decided to divide the zodiac into twelve equal parts. For them, there were twelve zodiac constellations and this is the origin of the twelve signs listed in the horoscope that everybody knows. For example, if you were born under the sign of Leo, it means that the Sun was in this constellation in that moment and, of course, every year at your birthday.
But... is it true? Recently some newspapers said that NASA have changed the astrological signs for first time in 2000 years; consequently, lot of people now have a different zodiac sign. In my opinion, this is not a great problem for people who don't believe in horoscope, but what happens with the other people? Has their luck changed?
I think that this is a very interesting matter that we can investigate. An to begin with, just some easy questions:
What do you know about zodiac? What is your zodiac sign? Can the stars really predict the future or describe what are people like based on their birth date? Please, write your answers as a comment.
(Spanish version)
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| The ecliptic. By Tauʻolunga - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=935439 |
Babilonians, about 3.000 years ago, had a 12 month calendar, so they decided to divide the zodiac into twelve equal parts. For them, there were twelve zodiac constellations and this is the origin of the twelve signs listed in the horoscope that everybody knows. For example, if you were born under the sign of Leo, it means that the Sun was in this constellation in that moment and, of course, every year at your birthday.
But... is it true? Recently some newspapers said that NASA have changed the astrological signs for first time in 2000 years; consequently, lot of people now have a different zodiac sign. In my opinion, this is not a great problem for people who don't believe in horoscope, but what happens with the other people? Has their luck changed?
I think that this is a very interesting matter that we can investigate. An to begin with, just some easy questions:
What do you know about zodiac? What is your zodiac sign? Can the stars really predict the future or describe what are people like based on their birth date? Please, write your answers as a comment.
(Spanish version)
Hola soy Julia Gómez Molina.
ResponderEliminarSobre el signo del zodiaco, se que se trata de 12 constelaciones que antiguamente recorrían el sol durante el periodo de un año. En concreto cada constelación recorría una distancia de 30 grados de longitud eclíptica. Pese a recorrer la misma distancia, debido al movimiento elíptico de la tierra, cada una de ellas presentaba un tiempo distinto para recorrerlos.
El signo zodiacal proviene del Griego y quiere decir `rueda de animales´. Actualmente hay 13 constelaciones del zodiaco que son: Aries, Tauro, Géminis, Cáncer, Leo, Virgo ,Libra, Escórpio, Ofiuro, Sagitario, Capricornio, Acuario y Piscis.
En este caso mi signo del zodiaco es Escorpio que es del 23 de octubre al 21 de noviembre.
Según la RAE:
1º) Ciencia es el "conjunto de conocimientos obtenidos mediante la observación y el razonamiento, sistemáticamente estructurados y de los que se deducen principios y leyes generales con capacidad predictiva y comprobables experimentalmente".
2º) Astrología es el "estudio de la posición y del movimiento de los astros como medio para predecir hechos futuros y conocer el carácter de las personas".
Esto significa que la astrología no es una ciencia, ya que su capacidad de predicción no puede comprobarse experimentalmente:
- No hay ninguna explicación conocida que pueda sustentar los principios astrológicos.
- No ha sido demostrado que los planetas influyan en el carácter y el devenir de los seres humanos. Por el contrario, se ha demostrado que la astrología no tiene capacidad predictiva.
- La astrología continúa estancada en ideas obsoletas que no se han actualizado de acuerdo con los conocimientos científicos adquiridos a lo largo de los siglos, lo cual da lugar a inconsistencias insalvables.
Buen comentario, Julia. Me ha gustado mucho la comparación entre el concepto de ciencia y el de astrología para demostrar que esta no es una ciencia. Espero más comentarios.
ResponderEliminar