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From: gadfly@ihuxn.UUCP (Gadfly)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: precession of the equinoxes
Message-ID: <1129@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Aug-85 13:40:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxn.1129
Posted: Wed Aug  7 13:40:53 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 02:25:41 EDT
References: <2944@mordor.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 29

--
> First, to set the record straight, the precession of the equinoxes
> was discovered by Hipparkhos in about 150 BC...
> 
> However, what does change is the relative position of sun and stars at any
> given season; thus, in Hipparkhos' time the vernal equinox began as the
> sun entered the Zodiacal sign of Pisces, whereas 2000 years earlier it
> had occurred when the sun entered Aries (and by about 2050 I think the sun
> will still be in Aquarius).  This of course makes nonsense of traditional
> astrology; since no astrologer seems to have looked at the real sky in
> several millenia, the dates given in your daily paper for 'Aries' &c are
> wildly wrong.

Well, just to set the record straight (and *not* to get into any
discussion on the worth of astrology), astrologers have long been
aware of said precession, and define "Aries" as that slice of the
celestial sphere between 0h and 2h RA, "Taurus" between 2h and 4h,
etc.  The actual stellar background to these slices is considered
irrelevant.  Galileo was also an astrologer, you know, although
apparently not quite as good at it as he was at science.  He
is supposed to have seen in the stars a long and prosperous life for
some duke who employed him.  The duke died two weeks later.
-- 
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