“Tell me about the new 13th zodiac constellation”, shouted my 8 year old student Miles when I was teaching astronomy to him.
For the record, I’ve studied astrophysics (for only 6 month though) and hosted planetarium shows in Santa Barbara. Since that time I have been tutoring astronomy to docents of students all over California. Now you can imagine how stunned I was when Miles asked me about the new 13th zodiac constellation and I couldn’t answer the question. To avoid you the troubles of a similar mute response I am addressing all my fellow astronomy tutors in California in this article about the 13th constellation.
The new 13th constellation is called Ophiuchus. It is situated between Sagittarius the archer and Scorpius the scorpion. Time wise, the Ophiuchus starts at the end of November (November 29th to be precise) and ends on December 17.
The astrological notion of the zodiac constellations (Cancer, Leo, Virgo, etc) dates back to the ancient Babylonians. They introduced the system of 12 zodiac constellations in accordance with their 12-month calendar. But the ancient Babylonian astronomers ignored the fact that the sun moves through 13 constellations, and not just 12.
In our time, the astronomers at NASA decided to correct the Babylonian’s mistake and to include the missing 13th constellation – the Ophiuchus. Whether the astrologers will adopt the new zodiac system remains to be seen. But to we scientist and teachers should know about Ophiuchus.
For those who enjoy reading their horoscopes they might have to look it up under a different symbol now. Here are is the list of the corrected 13 zodiacs signs and their dates.
| Capricorn the sea goat | January 20 – February 16 |
| Aquarius the water-bearer | February 16 – March 11 |
| Pisces the fish | March 11 – April 18 |
| Aries the ram | April 18 – May 13 |
| Taurus the bull | May 13 – June 21 |
| Gemini the twins | June 21 – July 20 |
| Cancer the crab | July 20 – August 10 |
| Leo the lion | August 10 – September 16 |
| Virgo the virgin | September 16 – October 14 |
| Libra the scales | October 14 – November 23 |
| Scorpio the scorpion | November 23 – November 29 |
| Ophiuchus the serpent-bearer | November 29 – December 17 |
| Sagittarius the archer | December 17 – January 20 |
If you have more questions feel free to ask one of our excellent astronomy tutors.
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