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Image Credit: Ian Walsh
Astronomy v Astrology
Most of us are familiar with the word “zodiac” and perhaps you are aware that astrologers would say that your date of birth falls under the influence of one of the “signs of the zodiac”. What astrologers are referring to is the period of time during which, the Sun appears to be “in” a given constellation. These constellations lie in a plane defined as “the apparent path of the sun” and known as “the ecliptic”.
All of this is scientific fact backed up by thousands of years of observations. What is not fact is that these “signs” have any influence on a person’s character, other than that acquired by being born in a particular season: in the cold, short days of Winter when babies are wrapped up and kept indoors for much of their early days or the long, warm days of Summer when they are able to be taken outside to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine.
Modern-day astrologers use what is known as “Tropical Astrology” and will happily tell you that this is an idealised concept of the sky and bears no relation to the stars. So they just make it all up then? At one time, In the 1980’s, the highest paid journalist in Fleet Street was a newspaper astrologer. And we all know that journalists get paid for telling stories! “Tropical Astrology” uses 12 constellations of the zodiac, one for each month of the year, although the constellation dates don’t match the calendar dates. Each of these constellations has been attributed dominion over 30 degrees of sky to roughly correlate with the months.
However, if the sky is measured and plotted it can easily be seen that these constellations are not all the same size in the sky. In fact only three of them are even close to the ascribed size; the Sun spends 31 days in Gemini, 32 days in Sagittarius and 28 days in Capricornus. The Sun spends rather less time (or rather more) in all of the other constellations, with 45 days in Virgo and only 7 days in Scorpius. This must mean that there are days when the Sun is not in any of the accepted zodiacal constellations, and this is true. The track of the ecliptic , when plotted, clearly passes through 13 constellations (and skirts 12 more), Four of these were actually included in ancient Babylonian astrological and astronomical texts. The 13th constellation of the zodiac, which the Sun spends 18 days in every year, is Ophiuchus. The late Sir Patrick Moore used to say “Perhaps they didn’t know what an Offyook was.”
The Moon and planets, which also roughly follow the ecliptic path, being inclined above and below it by up to 15 degrees, also spend much time not in any accepted zodiacal constellation.
Moreover, due to the phenomenon known as the “precession of the equinoxes” the “First Point of Aries” which marks the Spring Equinox is actually, now in the constellation of Pisces. This is due to the real motion of the Earth through space and its reaction to the forces upon it. The corresponding “First Point of Libra” marking the Autumnal equinox has not been located in that constellation since 73BCE.
Furthermore, Mediaeval astrology was founded on 7 “planets”, including the Sun and Moon, neither of which is a planet at all and yet this pseudo-science, or superstition, continues to this day having adopted three new planets, then dropped Pluto but still does not include any of the Dwarf planets in its calculations. Even the giant planet, Jupiter, is so distant that its gravitational effect on the Earth is miniscule, cannot have any appreciable influence on us, whatsoever.
People will often say that even Isaac Newton made astrological forecasts for wealthy patrons, and this is true. Scientific research was even less well-paid then than it is now. And Newton knew he could make money from astrology when he couldn’t make ends meet doing science. Where do you think the phrase “There’s one born every minute” comes from?
The diagram shows the comparison between the modern “Tropical Astrology” constellations and the actual astronomical constellations throughout the year. It was first constructed by Torbay Astronomical Society member, Ian Walsh, in 1984. I write this article knowing that many of you are more likely to read your horoscope than this article. If you do read it, I suggest you compare what the horoscope says to the positions of the planets on the chart, especially with the outer adjusted constellation ring which includes Ophiuchus. You can then make a more informed decision for yourselves.
Sky Notes
Sky Schedule
Please note all times given in this article are in GMT so remember to add an hour to get the time in BST which started on Sunday 29h March.
Mercury: The smallest planet is too close to the Sun to be seen until the end of this month.
Venus: Venus can be seen. close to the western horizon. It is so bright that it is unmistakable.
Mars: Mars is too close to the Sun to be seen this month
Jupiter: The giant planet is visible against the background stars of Gemini setting shortly after midnight.
Saturn: The ringed planet can be found rising in the East just before dawn.
Uranus: These planets are not visible this month.
Neptune: These planets are not visible this month.
Meteor Shower: The Eta Aquariid shower peaks on the 6th of May but, at this time of year, the radiant point sits on the Eastern horizon and reaches its highest point in the sky during daylight. Radio astronomers can track these meteors which are interesting because they are very fast moving (over 40 miles per second) and are associated with Comet Halley.
The Ea Lyrid shower is active from 3rd to 14th with peak activity on 8th. However this is a minor shower and is only expected to produce about 3 meteors an hour.
Noctilucent Clouds: It may seem anachronistic for astronomers to be interested in clouds, but these rare apparitions are best seen at this time of year. Noctilucent clouds are so high (over 80 km) in the atmosphere that they are able to reflect sunlight even when the Sun is well below the horizon. The tiny ice crystals that make up the clouds reflect bluish-white light that stands out against the gloaming sky. They are typically seen 1 ½ to 2 hours after sunset low in the Northwest or before sunrise low in the Northeast.
Moon: The Full Moon occurs on May 1st with Last Quarter Moon on May 9th. New Moon follows on 16th and First Quarter Moon on June 23rd. There will be a second Full Moon in May on 31st. This second Full Moon occurs because the Lunar month (the time it takes to orbit the Earth once) is a little under 27 days. Furthermore the cycle of the lunar phases occurs 12.37 times in a year, so every 2.8 years there is a 13th Full Moon and two Full Moons will occur within one month. This second Full Moon (or 13th Full Moon) is called the “Blue Moon”.
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