.New Zodiac Sign: Ophiuchus. Many are tuning into today as the news this week is that the standard zodiac signs may be out of date.

Ophiuchus is a rarely used astrological sign, not included in most versions of the Zodiac.



It is also known as Serpentarius.

Astronomer Parke Kunkle told NBC News this week that the Earth's changing alignment in the last 3,000 years has prompted new consideration of the sign into standard zodiacs.

In fact, the sign you are born into now are different than what you've been led to believe your entire life.

Kunkle said: "This is not something that happened today. This has gone on for thousands of years," says Kunkle.

"Because of this change of tilt, the Earth is really over here in effect and Sun is in a different constellation than it was 3,000 years ago."

About the Zodiac

In astronomy, the zodiac (Greek: , zdiakos) is the ring of constellations that lines the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The paths of the Moon and planets also lie roughly within the ecliptic, and so are also within the constellations of the zodiac. In astrology, the zodiac denotes those signs that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude. As such, the zodiac is a celestial coordinate system, or more specifically an ecliptic coordinate system, taking the ecliptic as the origin of latitude, and the position of the sun at vernal equinox as the origin of longitude.

It is known to have been in use by the Roman era, based on concepts inherited by Hellenistic astronomy from Babylonian astronomy of the Chaldean period (mid-1st millennium BC), which, in turn, derived from an earlier system of lists of stars along the ecliptic. The construction of the zodiac is described in Ptolemy's Almagest (2nd century AD).

The term zodiac derives from Latin zdiacus, which in its turn comes from the Greek (zdiakos kuklos), meaning "circle of animals", derived from (zdion), the diminutive of (zon) "animal". The name is motivated by the fact that half of the signs of the classical Greek zodiac are represented as animals (besides two mythological hybrids).

Although the zodiac remains the basis of the ecliptic coordinate system in use in astronomy besides the equatorial one, the term and the names of the twelve signs are today mostly associated with horoscopic astrology.

The New 13 Sign Zodiac Dates

Under the revised zodiac, the following dates would apply:

Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18- May 13
Taurus: May 13- June 21
Gemini: June 21- July 20
Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20



Astrologers and Astronomers Weigh In

When astronomers in 2006 declared that Pluto was no longer a planet, the world gasped -- and then obeyed. School textbooks were re-written, and scientific discovery ruled the day.

Then this week, a Minnesota astronomy professor took on something even more sacred -- our horoscopes.

The astrological calendar was all wrong, he said in public comments that set the Internet aflame.

People might think they're a Pisces (compassionate, imaginative), but often they're really an Aquarius (witty, clever) -- at least based on an exact reading of the earth's orbit.

Or maybe, if you were born between Nov. 29 and Dec. 17, you're actually a strange new zodiac sign: Ophiuchus, the serpent holder.


Read more: http://www.thirdage.com/news/new-zodiac-sign-ophiuchus-new-zodiac-dates_1-14-2011#ixzz1B1loCCFS