Elon Musk becomes probably the richest man in the world. The world’s technological giants flex their muscles in the arenas influential on social discourse and political activism. More satellites than ever; more cell phones than ever; more people to indulge the delights of science and technology than ever.
Also, more to delude in astrological enquiries too. Apparently, the ancient Babylonians had a 13th sign, eventually rejected. There were numerous reports about the introduction of the 13th astrological sign by NASA.
This is not true. Even on the larger point, astrology is not true, either, and stands on a premise of base falsehoods. Astrology became astronomy. Now, we should dispense with it, but haven’t done it. Nonetheless, some of the interesting parts come in modern news and in ancient omissions.
On the former, there has been an ongoing hoax about NASA supporting astrology, even adding the newest sign, Ophiuchus. This would be the 13th sign to the standard 12 seen to this day. Apparently, it has been ongoing for about a decade, the hoax.
NASA has posted in its blog on dispensing with this hoax. However, it continues to make the internet cycle, nonetheless. NASA clarifies in not creating the 13th sign, let alone legitimating it. NASA doesn’t study, research, or promote astrology because it is a pseudoscience, not a science.
On the latter, Ophiuchus is the real 13th sign as one of the 13 major constellations of the Zodiac within ancient Babylonian astrology. However, Ophiuchus was rejected because the Babylonians sat on a 12-month calendar.
Each of the signs, aside from Ophiuchus, was assigned a month. This is the association between the number 12, the Babylonians, the 12 months of the year, and 12 (not 13) signs of the Zodiac coming from the ancient Babylonians.
NASA has clarified on this point several times now. This is the danger of hoaxes, false information, misinformation, and pseudoscience in general. It deludes a wanting-to-believe set of the public. Those all-too-ready to imbibe nonsense grounded in a lack of sense about science or the world.
Western Zodiac is based on real constellations with shapes from Greek mythology behind them. The association between these real constellations and claims about temperament are base falsehoods.
NASA explained as follows:
The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the sun spends different lengths of time with each one. The line from Earth through the sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only 7 days. To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12. Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time.
With files from CNN. Â
Photo by Nastya Dulhiier on Unsplash
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