What’s Your Sign?

 

Astrological Sign             Sign Dates             Sun Really In         Duration (2000)

Aries                              21 Mar-19 Apr       Pisces                    11 Mar-17 Apr

Taurus                            20 Apr-20 May     Aries                     18 Apr-12 May

Gemini                             21 May-21 Jun       Taurus                   13 May-20 Jun

Cancer                            22 Jun-22 Jul       Gemini                   21 Jun-19 Jul

Leo                                 23 Jul-22 Aug       Cancer                   20 Jul-9 Aug

Virgo                               23 Aug-22 Sep      Leo                        10 Aug-15 Sep

Libra                              23 Sep-22 Oct      Virgo                     16 Sep-29 Oct

Scorpio                           23 Oct-21 Nov       Libra*                             30 Oct-19 Nov

Sagittarius                      22 Nov-21 Dec       Scorpius                20 Nov-16 Dec

Capricorn                        22 Dec-19 Jan       Sagittarius            17 Dec-19 Jan

Aquarius                          20 Jan-18 Feb       Capricornus           20 Jan-15 Feb

Pisces                              19 Feb-20 Mar      Aquarius                16 Feb-10 Mar

 

* On 23 October the sun is still in Virgo. It doesn’t enter Libra  until the 30th.

   I included Libra where I did for symmetry.

 

The zodiacal constellations are those that the sun’s apparent path intersects during the earth’s annual revolution. The path the sun traces through them is called the ecliptic.

 

The real position of the sun no longer agrees with the astrological scheme because of the earth’s precession. The earth is tilted 23.5° to its orbit around the sun. Like a top, it slowly, over some 26,000 years, spins around this 23.5° angle. This causes a slow, but constant, shifting of the star coordinates in the sky.

 

Since the “astrological” system was first devised, the map of the sky has shifted about one constellation from what it was. Therefore, the “signs” that appear each day near the comic section of a newspaper are no longer what is evident in the sky. There is some overlap, however, and some dates may fall within the same constellation.  (For example, August 11 is in Leo under both observations.)