Most people are familiar with the 12 “signs” of what’s called the zodiac, an imaginary circle in the sky in which familar constellations appear — Taurus, Aquarius, Pisces, etc. Astrology claims that the paths of planets through the zodiac affect our daily lives. You’re assigned a “sign” based on the constellation the sun is in when you’re born.
The first problem is that there are 13 constellations in the zodiac, not 12. Poor Ophiucus was ignored, yet that’s where the sun is between November 29 and December 17. Those dates you see attached to horoscopes in the newspaper that tell you your sign? They’re wrong. If you’re born near the start or end of the dates for a given sign, you most likely aren’t really the sign you think you are. The sun was in another constellation on your birthday.
Astrologers claim all people on Earth can be divided up into 12 types that are all alike — or so incompatible they can’t get along (!) — and I’ve heard people claiming “I’m just like my friend Jane, we’re both Capricorns”… but when you check their birthdates, you find Jane was actually born when the sun had already crossed into Aquarius. Oops!
It gets worse. Because the Earth wobbles on its axis, where planets appeared in the zodiac when astrology was conceived isn’t where they appear today. Everything’s basically been shifted over by one “sign”. If you were a “Scorpio” a few thousand years ago, you’re now a “Libra”. Not very scientific, all this uncertainty!
Astrology claims that the positions of planets somehow have an effect on our daily lives. But when astrology was “invented”, only 5 planets were visible to the naked eye. Three more waited discovery (and then poor Pluto got demoted). If planetary positions really affected our lives, all those horoscopes written with 3 missing planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) were wrong.
But again, it gets worse. As of April 2014, astronomers have discovered 1,780 planets. What about them? If astrologers got it wrong with 3 missing planets, they’re now off by nearly 2,000. And to cut to the chase… nobody has ever presented evidence that the position of a planet has any outcome on your day — unless you count the fact that the removal of the planet Earth would cause a bad day for everyone
It’s fun and entertaining to put astrology to the test. Read the horoscope in the first photo in this post to various friends and family. Ask if it applies to them. Only those born in a certain month should answer “yes”. You should get “no” from everybody else. Let me know your results and I’ll tell you which sign this is for…
Bad Science Debunked 