Equinox
An equinox is regarded as the instant of time when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun. This occurs 23 September. In other words, it is the moment at which the center of the visible Sun is directly above the Equator; the word is derived from aequus and nox. On the day of an equinox and nighttime are of equal duration all over the planet, they are not equal, due to the angular size of the Sun, atmospheric refraction, the changing duration of the length of day that occurs at most latitudes around the equinoxes. Long before conceiving this equality primitive cultures noted the day when the Sun rises due East and sets due West and indeed this happens on the day closest to the astronomically defined event. In the northern hemisphere, the equinox in March is called the Spring Equinox; the dates are variable, dependent as they are on the leap year cycle. Because the Moon cause the motion of the Earth to vary from a perfect ellipse, the equinox is now defined by the Sun's more regular ecliptic longitude rather than by its declination.
The instants of the equinoxes are defined to be when the longitude of the Sun is 0° and 180°. Systematically observing the sunrise, people discovered that it occurs between two extreme locations at the horizon and noted the midpoint between the two, it was realized that this happens on a day when the durations of the day and the night are equal and the word "equinox" comes from Latin Aequus, meaning "equal", Nox, meaning "night". In the northern hemisphere, the vernal equinox conventionally marks the beginning of spring in most cultures and is considered the start of the New Year in the Assyrian calendar and the Persian calendar or Iranian calendars as Nowruz, while the autumnal equinox marks the beginning of autumn; the equinoxes are the only times. As a result, the northern and southern hemispheres are illuminated. In other words, the equinoxes are the only times when the subsolar point is on the equator, meaning that the Sun is overhead at a point on the equatorial line; the subsolar point crosses the equator moving northward at the March equinox and southward at the September equinox.
When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year by about 11.3 minutes on average, the calendar "drifted" with respect to the two equinoxes – so that in AD 300 the spring equinox occurred on about 21 March, by AD 1500 it had drifted backwards to 11 March. This drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create the modern Gregorian calendar; the Pope wanted to continue to conform with the edicts of the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 concerning the date of Easter, which means he wanted to move the vernal equinox to the date on which it fell at that time, to maintain it at around that date in the future, which he achieved by reducing the number of leap years from 100 to 97 every 400 years. However, there remained a small residual variation in the date and time of the vernal equinox of about ±27 hours from its mean position all because the distribution of 24-hour centurial leap days causes large jumps.
This in turn raised the possibility that it could fall on 22 March, thus Easter Day might theoretically commence before the equinox. The astronomers chose the appropriate number of days to omit so that the equinox would swing from 19 to 21 March but never fall on 22 March; the dates of the equinoxes change progressively during the leap-year cycle, because the Gregorian calendar year is not commensurate with the period of the Earth's revolution about the Sun. It is only after a complete Gregorian leap-year cycle of 400 years that the seasons commence at the same time. In the 21st century the earliest March equinox will be 19 March 2096, while the latest was 21 March 2003; the earliest September equinox will be 21 September 2096 while the latest was 23 September 2003. Vernal equinox and autumnal equinox: these classical names are direct derivatives of Latin; these are the universal and still most used terms for the equinoxes, but are confusing because in the southern hemisphere the vernal equinox does not occur in spring and the autumnal equinox does not occur in autumn.
The equivalent common language English terms spring equinox and autumn equinox are more ambiguous. It has become common for people to refer to the September equinox in the southern hemisphere as the Vernal equinox. March equinox and September equinox: names referring to the months of the year in which they occur, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context, they are still not universal, however, as not all cultures use a solar-based calendar where the equinoxes occur every year in the same month. Although the terms have become common in the 21st century, they were sometimes used at least as long ago as the mid-20th century. Northward equinox and southward equinox: names referring to the appare
Pisces (constellation)
Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish, it lies between Aquarius to Aries to the east. The ecliptic and the celestial equator intersect in Virgo, its symbol is. The vernal equinox is located in Pisces, due south of ω Psc, due to precession drifting below the western fish towards Aquarius. Van Maanen's Star, at 12.35 magnitude, is located in this constellation, along with others, such as HD 222410, at 7.45 magnitude. Alrescha, otherwise Alpha Piscium, 139 lightyears, class A2, apparent magnitude 3.62 Fumalsamakah, otherwise Beta Piscium, 492 lightyears, class B6Ve, apparent magnitude 4.48 Delta Piscium, 305 lightyears, class K5III, apparent magnitude 4.44 Epsilon Piscium, 190 lightyears, class K0III, apparent magnitude 4.27 Revati, otherwise Zeta Piscium, 148 lightyears, class A7IV, apparent magnitude 5.21 Alpherg, otherwise Eta Piscium, 294 lightyears, class G8III, apparent magnitude 3.62 Torcular, otherwise Omicron Piscium, 258 lightyears, class K0III, apparent magnitude 4.2 Omega Piscium, 106 lightyears, class F4IV, apparent magnitude 4.03 Gamma Piscium, 320 lightyears, apparent magnitude 12.078.
Κομμένο πρόσωπο Piscium, 680 lightyears, apparent magnitude 16.9 M74 is a loosely wound spiral galaxy in Pisces, found at a distance of 30 million light years. It has many clusters of young stars and the associated nebulae, showing extensive regions of star formation, it was discovered by Pierre Méchain, a French astronomer, in 1780. A type II-P supernova was discovered in the outer regions of M74 by Robert Evans in June 2003. NGC 488 is an isolated face-on prototypical spiral galaxy. NGC 520 is a pair of colliding galaxies located 90 million lightyears away. CL 0024+1654 is a massive galaxy cluster that lenses the galaxy behind it, creating arc-shaped images of the background galaxy; the cluster is made up of yellow elliptical and spiral galaxies, at a distance of 3.6 billion light-years from Earth, half as far away as the background galaxy, at a distance of 5.7 billion light-years.3C 31 is an active galaxy and radio source in Perseus located at a distance of 237 million light-years from Earth.
Its jets, caused by the supermassive black hole at its center, extend several million light-years in both directions, making them some of the largest objects in the universe. Pisces originates from some composition of the Babylonian constellations Šinunutu4 "the great swallow" in current western Pisces, Anunitum the "Lady of the Heaven", at the place of the northern fish. In the first-millennium BC texts known as the Astronomical Diaries, part of the constellation was called DU. NU. NU. Pisces is associated with Aphrodite and Eros, who escaped from the monster Typhon by leaping into the sea and transforming themselves into fish. In order not to lose each other, they tied themselves together with rope; the Romans adopted the Greek legend, with Venus and Cupid acting as the counterparts for Aphrodite and Eros. The knot of the rope is marked by Alpha Piscium called Al-Rischa. In 1690, the astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his Firmamentum Sobiescianum regarded the constellation Pisces as being composed of four subdivisions: Piscis Boreus: σ – 68 – 65 – 67 – ψ1 – ψ2 – ψ3 – χ – φ – υ – 91 – τ – 82 – 78 Psc.
Linum Boreum: χ – ρ,94 – VX – η – π – ο – α Psc. Linum Austrinum: α – ξ – ν – μ – ζ – ε – δ – 41 – 35 – ω Psc. Piscis Austrinus: ω – ι – θ – 7 – β – 5 – κ,9 – λ – TX Psc. Be aware that Piscis Austrinus more refers to a separate constellation in its own right. Both fish depicted in Pisces are said to be the offspring of the one greater fish in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. In 1754, the astronomer John Hill proposed to treat part of Pisces as a separate constellation, called Testudo 24 – 27 – YY – 33 – 29 Psc. centred a natural but faint asterism in which the star 20 Psc is intended to be the head of the turtle. However the proposal was neglected by other astronomers with the exception of Admiral Smyth, who mentioned it in his book The Bedford Catalogue, it is now obsolete; the Fishes are associated with the German legend of Antenteh, who owned just a tub and a crude cabin when he met a magical fish. They offered him a wish. However, his wife begged him to ask for a beautiful furnished home.
This wish was granted. She asked to be a queen and have a palace, but when she asked to become a goddess, the fish became angry and took the palace and home, leaving the couple with the tub and cabin once again; the tub in the story is sometimes recognized as the Great Square of Pegasus. The stars of Pisces were incorporated into several constellations in Chinese astronomy. Wai-ping was a fence that kept a pig farmer from falling into the marshes and kept the pigs where they belonged, it was represented by Alpha, Epsilon, Zeta, Mu, Nu, Xi Piscium. The marshes were represented by the four stars designated Phi Ceti; the northern fish of Pisces was a part of the House of the Sandal, Koui-siou. Pisces is a dim constellation located next to Aquarius, Aries. While the astrological sign Pisces per definition runs from ecliptical longitude 330° to 0, this position is now covered by the constellation of Aquarius, due to
Constellation
A constellation is a group of stars that forms an imaginary outline or pattern on the celestial sphere representing an animal, mythological person or creature, a god, or an inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellations go back to prehistory. People used them to relate stories of their beliefs, creation, or mythology. Different cultures and countries adopted their own constellations, some of which lasted into the early 20th century before today's constellations were internationally recognized. Adoption of constellations has changed over time. Many have changed in shape; some became popular. Others were limited to single nations; the 48 traditional Western constellations are Greek. They are given in Aratus' work Phenomena and Ptolemy's Almagest, though their origin predates these works by several centuries. Constellations in the far southern sky were added from the 15th century until the mid-18th century when European explorers began traveling to the Southern Hemisphere. Twelve ancient constellations belong to the zodiac.
The origins of the zodiac remain uncertain. In 1928, the International Astronomical Union formally accepted 88 modern constellations, with contiguous boundaries that together cover the entire celestial sphere. Any given point in a celestial coordinate system lies in one of the modern constellations; some astronomical naming systems include the constellation where a given celestial object is found to convey its approximate location in the sky. The Flamsteed designation of a star, for example, consists of a number and the genitive form of the constellation name. Other star patterns or groups called asterisms are not constellations per se but are used by observers to navigate the night sky. Examples of bright asterisms include the Pleiades and Hyades within the constellation Taurus or Venus' Mirror in the constellation of Orion.. Some asterisms, like the False Cross, are split between two constellations; the word "constellation" comes from the Late Latin term cōnstellātiō, which can be translated as "set of stars".
The Ancient Greek word for constellation is ἄστρον. A more modern astronomical sense of the term "constellation" is as a recognisable pattern of stars whose appearance is associated with mythological characters or creatures, or earthbound animals, or objects, it can specifically denote the recognized 88 named constellations used today. Colloquial usage does not draw a sharp distinction between "constellations" and smaller "asterisms", yet the modern accepted astronomical constellations employ such a distinction. E.g. the Pleiades and the Hyades are both asterisms, each lies within the boundaries of the constellation of Taurus. Another example is the northern asterism known as the Big Dipper or the Plough, composed of the seven brightest stars within the area of the IAU-defined constellation of Ursa Major; the southern False Cross asterism includes portions of the constellations Carina and Vela and the Summer Triangle.. A constellation, viewed from a particular latitude on Earth, that never sets below the horizon is termed circumpolar.
From the North Pole or South Pole, all constellations south or north of the celestial equator are circumpolar. Depending on the definition, equatorial constellations may include those that lie between declinations 45° north and 45° south, or those that pass through the declination range of the ecliptic or zodiac ranging between 23½° north, the celestial equator, 23½° south. Although stars in constellations appear near each other in the sky, they lie at a variety of distances away from the Earth. Since stars have their own independent motions, all constellations will change over time. After tens to hundreds of thousands of years, familiar outlines will become unrecognizable. Astronomers can predict the past or future constellation outlines by measuring individual stars' common proper motions or cpm by accurate astrometry and their radial velocities by astronomical spectroscopy; the earliest evidence for the humankind's identification of constellations comes from Mesopotamian inscribed stones and clay writing tablets that date back to 3000 BC.
It seems that the bulk of the Mesopotamian constellations were created within a short interval from around 1300 to 1000 BC. Mesopotamian constellations appeared in many of the classical Greek constellations; the oldest Babylonian star catalogues of stars and constellations date back to the beginning in the Middle Bronze Age, most notably the Three Stars Each texts and the MUL. APIN, an expanded and revised version based on more accurate observation from around 1000 BC. However, the numerous Sumerian names in these catalogues suggest that they built on older, but otherwise unattested, Sumerian traditions of the Early Bronze Age; the classical Zodiac is a revision of Neo-Babylonian constellations from the 6th century BC. The Greeks adopted the Babylonian constellations in the 4th century BC. Twenty Ptolemaic constellations are from the Ancient Near East. Another ten have the same stars but different names. Biblical scholar, E. W. Bullinger interpreted some of the creatures mentioned in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation as the middle signs of the four quarters of the Zodiac, with the Lion as Leo, the Bull as Taurus, the Man representing Aquarius and the Eagle standing in for Scorpio.
The biblical Book of Job also
Ecliptic
The ecliptic is the mean plane of the apparent path in the Earth's sky that the Sun follows over the course of one year. This plane of reference is coplanar with Earth's orbit around the Sun; the ecliptic is not noticeable from Earth's surface because the planet's rotation carries the observer through the daily cycles of sunrise and sunset, which obscure the Sun's apparent motion against the background of stars during the year. The motions as described above are simplifications. Due to the movement of Earth around the Earth–Moon center of mass, the apparent path of the Sun wobbles with a period of about one month. Due to further perturbations by the other planets of the Solar System, the Earth–Moon barycenter wobbles around a mean position in a complex fashion; the ecliptic is the apparent path of the Sun throughout the course of a year. Because Earth takes one year to orbit the Sun, the apparent position of the Sun takes one year to make a complete circuit of the ecliptic. With more than 365 days in one year, the Sun moves a little less than 1° eastward every day.
This small difference in the Sun's position against the stars causes any particular spot on Earth's surface to catch up with the Sun about four minutes each day than it would if Earth would not orbit. Again, this is a simplification, based on a hypothetical Earth that orbits at uniform speed around the Sun; the actual speed with which Earth orbits the Sun varies during the year, so the speed with which the Sun seems to move along the ecliptic varies. For example, the Sun is north of the celestial equator for about 185 days of each year, south of it for about 180 days; the variation of orbital speed accounts for part of the equation of time. Because Earth's rotational axis is not perpendicular to its orbital plane, Earth's equatorial plane is not coplanar with the ecliptic plane, but is inclined to it by an angle of about 23.4°, known as the obliquity of the ecliptic. If the equator is projected outward to the celestial sphere, forming the celestial equator, it crosses the ecliptic at two points known as the equinoxes.
The Sun, in its apparent motion along the ecliptic, crosses the celestial equator at these points, one from south to north, the other from north to south. The crossing from south to north is known as the vernal equinox known as the first point of Aries and the ascending node of the ecliptic on the celestial equator; the crossing from north to south is descending node. The orientation of Earth's axis and equator are not fixed in space, but rotate about the poles of the ecliptic with a period of about 26,000 years, a process known as lunisolar precession, as it is due to the gravitational effect of the Moon and Sun on Earth's equatorial bulge; the ecliptic itself is not fixed. The gravitational perturbations of the other bodies of the Solar System cause a much smaller motion of the plane of Earth's orbit, hence of the ecliptic, known as planetary precession; the combined action of these two motions is called general precession, changes the position of the equinoxes by about 50 arc seconds per year.
Once again, this is a simplification. Periodic motions of the Moon and apparent periodic motions of the Sun cause short-term small-amplitude periodic oscillations of Earth's axis, hence the celestial equator, known as nutation; this adds a periodic component to the position of the equinoxes. Obliquity of the ecliptic is the term used by astronomers for the inclination of Earth's equator with respect to the ecliptic, or of Earth's rotation axis to a perpendicular to the ecliptic, it is about 23.4° and is decreasing 0.013 degrees per hundred years due to planetary perturbations. The angular value of the obliquity is found by observation of the motions of Earth and other planets over many years. Astronomers produce new fundamental ephemerides as the accuracy of observation improves and as the understanding of the dynamics increases, from these ephemerides various astronomical values, including the obliquity, are derived; until 1983 the obliquity for any date was calculated from work of Newcomb, who analyzed positions of the planets until about 1895: ε = 23° 27′ 08″.26 − 46″.845 T − 0″.0059 T2 + 0″.00181 T3 where ε is the obliquity and T is tropical centuries from B1900.0 to the date in question.
From 1984, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's DE series of computer-generated ephemerides took over as the fundamental ephemeris of the Astronomical Almanac. Obliquity based on DE200, which analyzed observations from 1911 to 1979, was calculated: ε = 23° 26′ 21″.45 − 46″.815 T − 0″.0006 T2 + 0″.00181 T3 where hereafter T is Julian centuries from J2000.0. JPL's fundamental ephemerides have been continually updated; the Astronomical Almanac for 2010 specifies:ε = 23° 26′ 21″.406 − 46″.836769 T − 0″.0001831 T2 + 0″.00200340 T3 − 0″.576×10−6 T4 − 4″.34×10−8 T5 These expressions for the obliquity are intended for high precision over a short time span ± several centuries. J. Laskar computed an expression to order T10 good to 0″.04/1000 years over 10,000 years. All of these expressions are for the mean obliquity, that is, without the nutation of the equator included; the true or instantaneous obliquity includes the nutation. Most of the major bodies of the Solar System o
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, in some areas proto-writing, other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by producing bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition. Although the Iron Age followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic.
Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems; the overall period is characterized by widespread use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques. Tin must be mined and smelted separately added to molten copper to make bronze alloy; the Bronze Age was a time of developing trade networks. A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to the mid-5th millennium BC in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik, although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age; the dating of the foil has been disputed. Western Asia and the Near East was the first region to enter the Bronze Age, which began with the rise of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer in the mid 4th millennium BC.
Cultures in the ancient Near East practiced intensive year-round agriculture, developed a writing system, invented the potter's wheel, created a centralized government, written law codes and nation states and empires, embarked on advanced architectural projects, introduced social stratification and civil administration and practiced organized warfare and religion. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and astrology. Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The Ancient Near East Bronze Age can be divided as following: The Hittite Empire was established in Hattusa in northern Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit, upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the 8th century BC.
Arzawa in Western Anatolia during the second half of the second millennium BC extended along southern Anatolia in a belt that reaches from near the Turkish Lakes Region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa was the western neighbor – sometimes a rival and sometimes a vassal – of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms; the Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under an earlier Tudhaliya I, around 1400 BC. Arzawa has been associated with the much more obscure Assuwa located to its north, it bordered it, may be an alternative term for it. In Ancient Egypt the Bronze Age begins in the Protodynastic period, c. 3150 BC. The archaic early Bronze Age of Egypt, known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BC. It is taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king.
Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time; the Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley. The First Intermediate Period of Egypt described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Little monumental evidence survives from this period from the early part of it; the First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was divided between two competing power bases: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms would come into conflict, with the Theban kings conquering the north, resulting in the reunification of Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the 11th Dynasty.
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt laste
Sidereal and tropical astrology
Sidereal and tropical are astrological terms used to describe two different definitions of a year. They are used as terms for two systems of ecliptic coordinates used in astrology. Both divide the ecliptic into a number of "signs" named after constellations, but while the sidereal system defines the signs based on the fixed stars, the tropical system defines it based on the position of vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere; because of the precession of the equinoxes, the two systems do not remain fixed relative to each other but drift apart by about 1.4 arc degrees per century. The tropical system was adopted during the Hellenistic period and remains prevalent in Western astrology. A sidereal system is used in Hindu astrology, in some 20th century systems of Western astrology. While classical tropical astrology is based on the orientation of the Earth relative to the Sun and planets of the solar system, sidereal astrology deals with the position of the Earth relative to both of these as well as the stars of the celestial sphere.
The actual positions of certain fixed stars as well as their constellations is an additional consideration in the horoscope. The classical zodiac was introduced in the neo-Babylonian period. At the time, the precession of the equinoxes had not been discovered. Classical Hellenistic astrology developed without consideration of the effects of precession; the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes is attributed to Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer active in the Hellenistic period. Ptolemy, writing some 250 years after Hipparchus, was thus aware of the effects of precession, he opted for a definition of the zodiac based on the point of the vernal equinox, i.e. the tropical system. While Ptolemy noted that Ophiuchus is in contact with the ecliptic, he was aware that the 12 signs were just conventional names for 30-degree segments; the Hindu Jyotisha system opted for defining the zodiac based on the fixed stars, i.e. directly tied to the eponymous zodiacal constellations, unlike Western astrological systems.
Traditional Hindu astrology is based on the sidereal or visible zodiac, accounting for the shift of the equinoxes by a correction called ayanamsa. The difference between the Vedic and the Western zodiacs is around 24 degrees; this corresponds to a separation of about 1,700 years, when the vernal equinox was at the center of the constellation Aries, the tropical and sidereal zodiacs coincided. The separation is believed to have taken place in the centuries following Ptolemy going back to Indo-Greek transmission of the system, but earlier Greek astronomers like Eudoxus spoke of a vernal equinox at 15° in Aries, while Greeks spoke of a vernal equinox at 8° and 0° in Aries, which suggests the use of a sidereal zodiac in Greece before Ptolemy and Hipparchus. Some western astrologists have shown interest in the sidereal system during the 20th century. Cyril Fagan assumed the origin of the zodiac to be based on a major conjunction that occurred in 786 BC, when the vernal equinox lay somewhere in mid-Aries corresponding to a difference of some 39 degrees or days.
Most sidereal astrologers divide the ecliptic into 12 equal signs of 30 degrees but aligned to the 12 zodiac constellations. Assuming an origin of the system in 786 BC, this results in a system identical to that of the classical tropical zodiac, shifted by 25.5 days, i.e. if in tropical astrology Aries is taken to begin at March 21, sidereal Aries will begin on April 15. A small number of sidereal astrologers do not take the astrological signs as an equal division of the ecliptic, but define their signs based on the actual width of the individual constellations, they include constellations that are disregarded by the traditional zodiac, but are still in contact with the ecliptic. Stephen Schmidt in 1970 introduced Astrology 14, a system with additional signs based on the constellations of Ophiuchus and Cetus. In 1995, Walter Berg introduced his 13-sign zodiac. Berg's system was well received in Japan after his book was translated by radio host Mizui Kumi in 1996. For the purpose of determining the constellations in contact with the ecliptic, the constellation boundaries as defined by the International Astronomical Union in 1930 are used.
For example, the Sun enters the IAU boundary of Aries on April 19 at the lower right corner, a position, still rather closer to the "body" of Pisces than of Aries. The IAU defined the constellation boundaries without consideration of astrological purposes; the dates the Sun passes through the 13 astronomical constellations of the ecliptic are listed below, accurate to the year 2011. The dates will progress by an increment of one day every 70.5 years. The corresponding tropical and sidereal dates are given as well. Great year Astrology and science Synoptical astrology "The Real Constellations of the Zodiac." Dr. Lee T. Shapiro, Vol 6, #1, Spring. "The Real, Real Constellations of the Zodiac." John Mosley, Vol. 28, # 4, December. "The Primer of Sidereal Astrology," Cyril Fagin and Brigadier R. C. Firebrace, American Federation of Astrologers, Inc. ISBN 0-86690-427-1 A History of Western Astrology, by S. Jim Tester, 1987, republished by Boydell Press,ISBN 0-85115-255-4, ISBN 978-0-85115-255-4 Raymond, Andrew.
Secrets of the Sphinx Mysteries of the Ages Revealed. Hawaii: U N I Productions. ISBN 0-9646954-6-4. Vedic astrology -- critically examined by Dieter Koch, with an extended discussion
Aries (constellation)
Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It is located in the northern celestial hemisphere between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east; the name Aries is Latin for ram, its symbol is, representing a ram's horns. It is one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, remains one of the 88 modern constellations, it is ranking 39th overall size, with an area of 441 square degrees. Although Aries came to represent the ram whose fleece became the Golden Fleece of Ancient Greek mythology, it has represented a ram since late Babylonian times. Before that, the stars of Aries formed a farmhand. Different cultures have incorporated the stars of Aries into different constellations including twin inspectors in China and a porpoise in the Marshall Islands. Aries is a dim constellation, possessing only four bright stars: Hamal, Mesarthim, 41 Arietis; the few deep-sky objects within the constellation are quite faint and include several pairs of interacting galaxies.
Several meteor showers appear to radiate from Aries, including the Daytime Arietids and the Epsilon Arietids. Aries is now recognized as an official constellation, albeit as a specific region of the sky, by the International Astronomical Union, it was defined in ancient texts as a specific pattern of stars, has remained a constellation since ancient times. In the description of the Babylonian zodiac given in the clay tablets known as the MUL. APIN, the constellation now known as Aries was the final station along the ecliptic; the MUL. APIN was a comprehensive table of the risings and settings of stars, which served as an agricultural calendar. Modern-day Aries was known as MULLÚ.ḪUN. GÁ, "The Agrarian Worker" or "The Hired Man". Although compiled in the 12th or 11th century BC, the MUL. APIN reflects a tradition which marks the Pleiades as the vernal equinox, the case with some precision at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age; the earliest identifiable reference to Aries as a distinct constellation comes from the boundary stones that date from 1350 to 1000 BC.
On several boundary stones, a zodiacal ram figure is distinct from the other characters present. The shift in identification from the constellation as the Agrarian Worker to the Ram occurred in Babylonian tradition because of its growing association with Dumuzi the Shepherd. By the time the MUL. APIN was created -- by 1000 BC -- modern Aries was identified with a hired laborer; the exact timing of this shift is difficult to determine due to the lack of images of Aries or other ram figures. In ancient Egyptian astronomy, Aries was associated with the god Amon-Ra, depicted as a man with a ram's head and represented fertility and creativity; because it was the location of the vernal equinox, it was called the "Indicator of the Reborn Sun". During the times of the year when Aries was prominent, priests would process statues of Amon-Ra to temples, a practice, modified by Persian astronomers centuries later. Aries acquired the title of "Lord of the Head" in Egypt, referring to its symbolic and mythological importance.
Aries was not accepted as a constellation until classical times. In Hellenistic astrology, the constellation of Aries is associated with the golden ram of Greek mythology that rescued Phrixus and Helle on orders from Hermes, taking Phrixus to the land of Colchis. Phrixos and Helle were the daughter of King Athamas and his first wife Nephele; the king's second wife, was jealous and wished to kill his children. To accomplish this, she induced a famine in Boeotia falsified a message from the Oracle of Delphi that said Phrixos must be sacrificed to end the famine. Athamas was about to sacrifice his son atop Mount Laphystium. Helle fell off of Aries's back in flight and drowned in the Dardanelles called the Hellespont in her honor. After arriving, Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus and gave the Fleece to Aeëtes of Colchis, who rewarded him with an engagement to his daughter Chalciope. Aeëtes hung its skin in a sacred place where it became known as the Golden Fleece and was guarded by a dragon. In a myth, this Golden Fleece was stolen by Jason and the Argonauts.
Aries has been depicted as a crouched, wingless ram with its head turned towards Taurus. Ptolemy asserted in his Almagest that Hipparchus depicted Alpha Arietis as the ram's muzzle, though Ptolemy did not include it in his constellation figure. Instead, it was listed as an "unformed star", denoted as "the star over the head". John Flamsteed, in his Atlas Coelestis, followed Ptolemy's description by mapping it above the figure's head. Flamsteed followed the general convention of maps by depicting Aries lying down. Astrologically, Aries has been associated with its humors, it was associated with Mars, both the planet and the god. It was considered to govern Western Europe and Syria, to indicate a strong temper in a person; the First Point of Aries, the location of the vernal equinox, is named for the constellation. This is because the Sun crossed the celestial equator from south to north in Aries more than two millennia ago. Hipparchus defined it in 130 BC. as a point south of Gamma Arietis. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the First Point of Aries has since moved into Pisces and will move into Aquarius by around 2600 AD.
The Sun now appears in Aries from late April through mid May, though the constellation is still associated with the beginning of spring. Medieval Muslim
