Tag Archives: Astrology

Retrograde Motion: Illusions and Jinxes

Understanding the heavens has proven confusing for countless generations of humans in part because of the illusions caused by our perspective from earth. For millennia, the majority opinion was a geocentric universe, where the sun, moon, planets, and stars revolved around the earth, since they all seemed to do so from the earth’s perspective. All […] Continue reading

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The Influences of the Moon in Astronomy and Astrology

When one looks up their horoscope in the daily paper, predictions are made based on the sun signs. One of the many things these horoscopes miss is the powerful astrological influence of the moon, which in some cases is stronger than that of the sun. It’s not just pop culture astrology that overlooks the moon; […] Continue reading

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Axial Precession and its Affects on Astrology

As the modern individual is likely well aware, the earth rotates in two very fundamental ways which affect our daily lives: it rotates every day and orbits the sun every year, forming these important means by which we keep track of time. However, one of the most interesting and confusing ways that the earth rotates […] Continue reading

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Uranus: The Distant Ruler of Aquarius

This is Uranus, my favorite planet and the “ruler” of my astrological sign, Aquarius! Uranus is the 6th planet from the sun and one of the largest of our solar system, a cold, icy planet with peculiar rings that ushers the observer away from the inner planets into the farther regions of the solar system. […] Continue reading

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Blog 0: Introduction

Hello hello, My name is Jeanie and I’m a student at Vanderbilt taking ASTR 2110. This is my blog for the class. Despite the constant movement of the stars, I am still a Virgo (credit: Astrology Zone)   Continue reading

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The New Zodiac

Recently, NASA announced that the Zodiac, as we knew it, was incorrect. Based on current models of the night sky, there should be 13 Zodiacal signs, not 12 as we have been led to believe all of our lives. NASA has added Ophiuchus as the new constellation, which lies between Scorpius and Sagittarius. The dates […] Continue reading

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Ancient Astronomers and the Zodiac

  We’ve learned that the zodiac constellations are connected to the position of the Sun as it moves along its path. The sun spends about a month closest to each of these constellations, or “in” the constellation, and then moves on to the next. Ancient Greek and Babylonian people groups named the constellations and defined …

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Ancient Astronomers and the Zodiac

  We’ve learned that the zodiac constellations are connected to the position of the Sun as it moves along its path. The sun spends about a month closest to each of these constellations, or “in” the constellation, and then moves on to the next. Ancient Greek and Babylonian people groups named the constellations and defined […] Continue reading

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The 12…wait, there’s 13?…Zodiac Signs

If you’re like me, you identify pretty deeply with your zodiac sign. Although I don’t believe that every word of my horoscope is necessarily true, I still like to think that I embody all the qualities of a Leo. In addition, it’s entertaining to read my horoscopes from time to time, even though they aren’t… Continue reading The 12…wait, there’s 13?…Zodiac Signs Continue reading

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The 13th Sign of the Zodiac

The zodiac system was first developed roughly 2,500 years ago in ancient Babylonia. Unfortunately, the astronomers who first developed the system did not know about the precession of the Earth’s axial tilt. Even after this precession was known, W… Continue reading

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