dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (11/29/84)
Those born today have their birthdays when the sun is in Ophiuchus. More on the constellation astrologers forgot -- right after this. November 29 The Constellation Astrologers Forgot Today the sun enters Ophiuchus the Serpent-Bearer -- despite the fact that it's NOT a constellation of the Zodiac. The classical Zodiac contains 12 constellations -- which mark a wide band around the sphere of the stars. Before the dawn of astronomical understanding, these constellations were thought by astrologers to be special because the sun and the planets are found within their boundaries. Now we realize that nearly everything in the solar system wheels around the sun in a single, fairly flat plane. That's why we see the sun, moon and planets all appearing to move through this wide band of stars -- this unchanging belt of constellations -- the Zodiac. When the sun, moon or one of the planets appears to travel within the boundaries of a particular constellation, we say that the object is "in" the constellation. Actually, it's only located in front of it, along our line of sight, and the stars in the constellation are really millions of times farther away. But back to Ophiuchus. It's not one of the twelve constellations of the Zodiac -- and yet, if you could eclipse the sun today and see through to the stars behind it, you'd see the faint stars of the Serpent- Bearer winking down at you. Ophiuchus IS actually a little-recognized member of the Zodiac. In addition to the sun and moon, planets often wander in among his stars. But, for some reason, astrologers ignore him entirely! You'll never hear anyone claiming to be an "Ophiuchus", although many people have been born when the sun, as now, was in that constellation. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin