NASA kicked up an internet firestorm when it explained that the tilting of Earth's axis has caused the traditional astrological signs to shift. Why you shouldn't worry if you are no longer a Taurus. 
 
 An image released by Nasa shows the Heart and Soul nebulae in an infrared mosaic from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The image covers an area of the sky in the constellation Cassiopeia. 
 
 All over the world, people check their horoscopes to see what's in store for them for the day. 
 
 For most, it is an entertaining, meaningless diversion, but a few genuinely believe in the predictions based on their astrological sign. 
 
 But NASA made waves in the astrological community with its recent post explaining that the astrological signs – constellations that the sun appears to move through during the year – have changed as the Earth's axis has shifted over the 30 centuries since the ancient Babylonians invented astrology. 
 
 The uproar was such that NASA's tumblr felt compelled to release a follow-up explanation, emphasizing that astrology is a pseudoscience. 
 
 The root of the uproar was apparently an article in Cosmopolitan magazine that claimed that NASA had shaken up the zodiac calendar, and that 86 percent of the star signs people think that they were born under were now incorrect. NASA's "correction" of the zodiac calendar also included a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus, adding further fuel to the viral wildfire that quickly spread across the internet. 
 
 According to the NASA post (meant for children) that began the hubbub, the Earth's axis has shifted in the 3,000 years since the signs of the zodiac were first defined. As a result, the constellations over which the sun appears to move have also shifted. The post also pointed out that the sun moves over a 13th constellation, which the Babylonians deigned not to include in the zodiac in order to preserve their 12-month calendar. 
 
 None of this is new information, points out Phil Plait of Slate Magazine. He notes that astrologers have been ignoring the 13th constellation for thousands of years, and that sun actually passes through up to 21 constellations, by some counts. 
 
 The origins of the zodiac come from a time when astronomers believed that the universe was geocentric, that is, that the heavens revolve around the Earth. Early civilizations examined the stars in a search for patterns that could explain how everything worked. Many people ascribed meaning to patterns of stars in the sky, giving rise to the idea of constellations of stars that represented various aspects of their respective mythologies. As time went on, humans would chart the movements of these constellations and realize that there were predictable patterns in the night sky. These predictions would form the backbone of both astronomy and astrology. 
 
 The Ancient Babylonians divided the ancient sky into 12 pieces, each 30 degrees apart, which followed the sun as it supposedly traveled around the Earth over the course of a year. Each piece was represented by a constellation within that 30-degree arc of sky. The segments of the zodiac were an important early celestial coordinate system that provided early astronomers and astrologers with a more sophisticated understanding of the night sky. But as the heliocentric model took hold in Europe in the 17th century, astronomers abandoned the system. Astrologers stuck with the zodiac, holding on to the mystic notion that the movement of the stars could predict the future. 
 
 In 1930, the first modern newspaper horoscope, "What the Stars Foretell," was created by Richard Harold (R.H.) Naylor, who was tasked with predicting the future of Princess Margaret in England for the Sunday Express newspaper, according to Linda Rodriguez in an article for the Smithsonian. He continued to publish various astrological predictions about the royal family until he began to branch out into predictive advice for common folk whose birthday fell within the week of his column's publishing. Soon, "What the Stars Foretell" developed into the generalization-laden "star sign" predictions that remain popular to this day. 
 
 While most people tend to not take their astrological sign seriously, it is ubiquitous enough in popular culture. Birthstones and zodiac tattoos, for instance, are a perennially popular methods of body decoration that could be threatened by a shift in the constellations they evoke. 
 
 NASA reassured its followers on Tumblr that while the zodiac signs are technically off because of Earth's shifting planetary axis, there's nothing "wrong" about their original signs, since astrology has no special predictive power anyway. 
 
 "So, we didn't change any zodiac signs," said NASA's tumblr post. "We just did the math." ||||| While most people probably make their important life decisions based on, oh I don't know, common sense and things like that, there's a certain type of person in this world that relies on the magic of astrology to help them figure what they're going to do. 
 
 Yes, naturally we're in the latter half of that situation - and that's why we're really struggling with the news that the dates assigned to our zodiac signs have changed. Meaning we've all probably got a new star sign. SORRY WHAT. 
 
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 NASA have decided to ruin our lives update the astrological signs for the first time in 2,000 years, meaning that a whopping 86% of us now have a different sign. 
 
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 If you want to get all technical about it, the reason for this radical change is down to the fact that the sky today is extremely different to how it was thousands of years ago, which makes sense. 
 
 And because Earth's axis no longer points in the same direction, our astrological signs are about a month out. 
 
 So what does this mean for you? Well, here's what the ~new~ star sign dates look like: 
 
 Capricorn: Jan 20 - Feb 16 
 
 Aquarius: Feb 16 – March 11 
 
 Pisces: March 11 – April 18 
 
 Aries: April 18 – May 13 
 
 Taurus: May 13 – June 21 
 
 Gemini: June 21 – July 20 
 
 Cancer: July 20 – Aug 10 
 
 Leo: Aug 10 – Sept 16 
 
 Virgo: Sept 16 – Oct 30 
 
 Libra: Oct 30 – Nov 23 
 
 Scorpio: Nov 23 – Nov 29 
 
 Ophiuchus: Nov 29 – Dec 17 
 
 Sagittarius: Dec 17 – Jan 20 
 
 Oh yeah, let's talk about ol' Ophiuchus, shall we? NASA sneakily added a 13th zodiac sign a while back, like's it no big thing. WELL. IT. IS. 
 
 Ancient astrologers decided to ditch this particular constellation at the time in order for the 12 other signs to divide equally around the sun. 
 
 But now we guess it's back in the game, and so if you were born between the 29th of November and the 17th December... well, congrats on that. 
 
 We don't know about you, but we need to reassess our lives right now. 
 
 Update (21/9/2016): NASA have since responded to all the confusion with this... 
 
 Laurie Cantillo of the Planetary Exploration, Heliophysics department told BBC Trending: "We didn't change any zodiac signs, we did the math. NASA reported that because the Earth's axis has changed, the constellations are no longer in the same place they were thousands of years ago. 
 
 "The Space Place feature that sparked this is about how astrology is not astronomy, how it was a relic of ancient history, and pointed out the science and math that come from observations of the night sky." 
 
 Essentially, what they're saying is that astrology is not the same as astronomy. Glad that's cleared up, then. 
 
 Follow Charlotte on Twitter. 
 
 Like this? Come and check us out on Snapchat Discover. ||||| Whether it’s crops, forests or phytoplankton blooms in the ocean, our scientists are tracking life on Earth. Just as satellites help researchers study the atmosphere, rainfall and other physical characteristics of the planet, the ever-improving view from above allows them to study Earth’s interconnected life. 
 
 
 
 1. Life on Earth, From Space 
 
 While we (NASA) began monitoring life on land in the 1970s with the Landsat satellites, this fall marks 20 years since we’ve continuously observed all the plant life at the surface of both the land and ocean. The above animation captures the entirety of two decades of observations. 
 
 2. Watching the World Breathe 
 
 With the right tools, we can see Earth breathe. With early weather satellite data in the 1970s and ‘80s, NASA Goddard scientist Compton Tucker was able to see plants’ greening and die-back from space. He developed a way of comparing satellite data in two wavelengths. 
 
 When healthy plants are stocked with chlorophyll and ready to photosynthesize to make food (and absorb carbon dioxide), leaves absorb red light but reflect infrared light back into space. By comparing the ratio of red to infrared light, Tucker and his colleagues could quantify vegetation covering the land. 
 
 Expanding the study to the rest of the globe, the scientists could track rainy and dry seasons in Africa, see the springtime blooms in North America, and wildfires scorching forests worldwide. 
 
 3. Like Breathing? Thank Earth’s Ocean 
 
 But land is only part of the story. The ocean is home to 95 percent of Earth’s living space, covering 70 percent of the planet and stretching miles deep. At the base of the ocean’s food web is phytoplankton - tiny plants that also undergo photosynthesis to turn nutrients and carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen. Phytoplankton not only feed the rest of ocean life, they absorb carbon dioxide - and produce about half the oxygen we breathe. 
 
 In the Arctic Ocean, an explosion of phytoplankton indicates change. As seasonal sea ice melts, warming waters and more sunlight will trigger a sudden, massive phytoplankton bloom that feeds birds, sea lions and newly-hatched fish. But with warming atmospheric temperatures, that bloom is now happening several weeks earlier - before the animals are in place to take advantage of it. 
 
 4. Keeping an Eye on Crops 
 
 The “greenness” measurement that scientists use to measure forests and grasslands can also be used to monitor the health of agricultural fields. By the 1980s, food security analysts were approaching NASA to see how satellite images could help with the Famine Early Warning System to identify regions at risk - a partnership that continues today. 
 
 With rainfall estimates, vegetation measurements, as well as the recent addition of soil moisture information, our scientists can help organizations like USAID direct emergency help. 
 
 The view from space can also help improve agricultural practices. A winery in California, for example, uses individual pixels of Landsat data to determine when to irrigate and how much water to use. 
 
 5. Coming Soon to the International Space Station 
 
 A laser-based instrument being developed for the International Space Station will provide a unique 3-D view of Earth’s forests. The instrument, called GEDI, will be the first to systematically probe the depths of the forests from space. 
 
 Another ISS instrument in development, ECOSTRESS, will study how effectively plants use water. That knowledge provided on a global scale from space will tell us “which plants are going to live or die in a future world of greater droughts,” said Josh Fisher, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and science lead for ECOSTRESS. 
 
 6. Seeing Life, From the Microscopic to Multicellular 
 
 Scientists have used our vantage from space to study changes in animal habitats, track disease outbreaks, monitor forests and even help discover a new species. Bacteria, plants, land animals, sea creatures and birds reveal a changing world. 
 
 Our Black Marble image provides a unique view of human activity. Looking at trends in our lights at night, scientists can study how cities develop over time, how lighting and activity changes during certain seasons and holidays, and even aid emergency responders during power outages caused by natural disasters. 
 
 7. Earth as Analog and Proving Ground 
 
 Just as our Mars rovers were tested in Earth’s deserts, the search for life on ocean moons in our solar system is being refined by experiments here. JPL research scientist Morgan Cable looks for life on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. She cites satellite observations of Arctic and Antarctic ice fields that are informing the planning for a future mission to Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. 
 
 The Earth observations help researchers find ways to date the origin of jumbled, chaotic ice. “When we visit Europa, we want to go to very young places, where material from that ocean is being expressed on the surface,” she explained. “Anywhere like that, the chances of finding biomarkers goes up - if they’re there.” 
 
 8. Only One Living Planet 
 
 Today, we know of only one living planet: our own. The knowledge and tools NASA developed to study life here are among our greatest assets as we begin the search for life beyond Earth. 
 
 There are two main questions: With so many places to look, how can we home in on the places most likely to harbor life? What are the unmistakable signs of life - even if it comes in a form we don’t fully understand? In this early phase of the search, “We have to go with the only kind of life we know,” said Tony del Genio, co-lead of a new NASA interdisciplinary initiative to search for life on other worlds. 
 
 So, the focus is on liquid water. Even bacteria around deep-sea vents that don’t need sunlight to live need water. That one necessity rules out many planets that are too close or too far from their stars for water to exist, or too far from us to tell. Our Galileo and Cassini missions revealed that some moons of Jupiter and Saturn are not the dead rocks astronomers had assumed, but appear to have some conditions needed for life beneath icy surfaces. 
 
 9. Looking for Life Beyond Our Solar System 
 
 In the exoplanet (planets outside our solar system that orbit another star) world, it’s possible to calculate the range of distances for any star where orbiting planets could have liquid water. This is called the star’s habitable zone. Astronomers have already located some habitable-zone planets, and research scientist Andrew Rushby of NASA Ames Research Center is researching ways to refine the search. “An alien would spot three planets in our solar system in the habitable zone [Earth, Mars and Venus],” Rushby said, “but we know that 67 percent of those planets are not inhabited.” 
 
 He recently developed a model of Earth’s carbon cycle and combined it with other tools to study which planets in habitable zones would be the best targets to look for life, considering probable tectonic activity and water cycles. He found that larger planets are more likely than smaller ones to have surface temperatures conducive to liquid water. Other exoplanet researchers are looking for rocky worlds, and biosignatures, the chemical signs of life. 
 
 10. You Can Learn a Lot from a Dot 
 
 When humans start collecting direct images of exoplanets, even the closest ones will appear as only a handful of pixels in the detector - something like the famous “blue dot” image of Earth from Saturn. What can we learn about life on these planets from a single dot? 
 
 Stephen Kane of the University of California, Riverside, has come up with a way to answer that question by using our EPIC camera on NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite. “I’m taking these glorious pictures and collapsing them down to a single pixel or handful of pixels,” Kane explained. He runs the light through a noise filter that attempts to simulate the interference expected from an exoplanet mission. By observing how the brightness of Earth changes when mostly land is in view compared with mostly water, Kane reverse-engineers Earth’s rotation rate - something that has yet to be measured directly for exoplanets. 
 
 The most universal, most profound question about any unknown world is whether it harbors life. The quest to find life beyond Earth is just beginning, but it will be informed by the study of our own living planet. 
 
 
 
 Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com. 
 
 ||||| Constellations and the Calendar 
 
 What's Your Sign? 
 
 First Things First: Astrology is not Astronomy! 
 
 Astronomy is the scientific study of everything in outer space. Astronomers and other scientists know that stars many light years* away have no effect on the ordinary activities of humans on Earth. 
 
 Astrology is something else. It's not science. No one has shown that astrology can be used to predict the future or describe what people are like based only on their birth date. Still, like reading fantasy stories, many people enjoy reading their "astrological forecast" or "horoscope" in the newspaper every day. 
 
 * A light year is the distance light travels in one Earth year. This is almost 6,000,000,000,000 (6 trillion) miles! One light year is 25 million times farther than the moon, or over 60,000 times farther than the Sun. Remember, nothing in the Universe travels faster than light! 
 
 Return to Make a star Finder page 
 
 Constellations and their symbols 
 
 Some curious symbols ring the outside of the Star Finder. These symbols stand for some of the constellations in the zodiac. What is the zodiac and what is special about these constellations? 
 
 Imagine a straight line drawn from Earth through the Sun and out into space way beyond our solar system where the stars are. Then, picture Earth following its orbit around the Sun. This imaginary line would rotate, pointing to different stars throughout one complete trip around the Sun—or, one year. All the stars that lie close to the imaginary flat disk swept out by this imaginary line are said to be in the zodiac. 
 
 The constellations in the zodiac are simply the constellations that this imaginary straight line points to in its year-long journey. 
 
 A long history of looking to the stars 
 
 In ancient times, astronomers did not fully understand how Earth, the Sun, and the stars moved. Nor did they have any idea the Universe is so vast. But they were keen observers of the sky and tried very hard to make sense of it. 
 
 People had already imagined that the constellations might be important symbols, telling stories of their gods and other myths. It was not a big step to suppose that the changing positions of the constellations at different times of the year might be important to people and events on Earth. 
 
 The Babylonians lived over 3,000 years ago. They divided the zodiac into 12 equal parts--like cutting a pizza into 12 equal slices. They picked 12 constellations in the zodiac, one for each of the 12 "slices." So, as Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun would appear to pass through each of the 12 parts of the zodiac. Since the Babylonians already had a 12-month calendar (based on the phases of the Moon), each month got a slice of the zodiac all to itself. 
 
 But even according to the Babylonians' own ancient stories, there were 13 constellations in the zodiac. (Other cultures and traditions have recognized as many as 24 constellations in the zodiac.) So the Babylonians picked one, Ophiuchus, to leave out. Even then, some of the chosen 12 didn't fit neatly into their assigned slice of the pie and slopped over into the next one. 
 
 When the Babylonians first invented the 12 signs of zodiac, a birthday between about July 23 and August 22 meant being born under the constellation Leo. Now, 3,000 years later, the sky has shifted because Earth's axis (North Pole) doesn't point in quite the same direction. 
 
 Now Mimi's August 4 birthday would mean she was born "under the sign" of Cancer (one constellation "earlier"), not Leo. 
 
 The constellations are different sizes and shapes, so the Sun spends different lengths of time lined up with each one. The line from Earth through the Sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only 7 days. To make a tidy match with their 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the Sun actually moves through 13 constellations, not 12. Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time. Besides the 12 familiar constellations of the zodiac, the Sun is also aligned with Ophiuchus for about 18 days each year. 
 
 Return to Make a star Finder page ||||| There has been a disturbance in the astrological forces. 
 
 What you think you know about the zodiac may be a lie. The sign you think you were born under is different, to hear astrology wonks tell it. The dates for the western zodiac calendar have compressed and shifted later by a few weeks: If you were a Virgo born before mid-September, so the story goes, you are a Leo (now Aug. 10 to Sept. 16). Congratulations! 
 
 There is a thirteenth sign, too — Ophiuchus. People born between Nov. 29 and Dec. 17 are Ophiuchuses. (Your new talents include architecture and snake-bearing.) With all of the chaos in the heavens, one might think that a retrograde Mercury is to blame. 
 
 But there is no rogue planet at fault. Just an informative blog post aimed at children. 
 
 In January, NASA wrote a brief history of how the western zodiac came to be. The zodiac is grounded in history more than science. In short, the Babylonians created the zodiac as we know it about 3,000 years ago. Imagine a laser beam that shoots from Earth, through the noon sun and into constellations of stars beyond. (These constellations are patterns that the Babylonians decided looked like animals or people.) The dates of the zodiac calendar follow this laser line as it sweeps from constellation to neighboring constellation, a bit like the hand of a clock. 
 
 The calendar did not translate to the stars perfectly. The ancient astrologers only had 12 months to work with, but the sun passed through 13 large Babylonian constellations. So they deleted one. Although the city of Babylon collapsed under the weight of being conquered repeatedly, this lean, Ophiuchus-less zodiac endured. 
 
 Its imperfections did, too. The ancient Babylonians knew enough to track the sun’s path through the sky, but they were unaware that their reference point on Earth was unstable. Unlike a globe, the planet does not spin perfectly about its axis — there is no stake through molten core pinning the north pole in place. 
 
 [Chinese New Year: The year of the ram, or sheep, or goat, or something like that] 
 
 In fact, Earth’s north pole has progressed eastward since 2000, at a rate of about 7 inches a year. By geologic standards it is a dramatic lean. Recent scientific studies indicate that climate change is rearranging the planet’s watery bulk, pulling Earth to the side. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently implicated droughts in Eurasia, in India and around the Caspian Sea. But much of the change is due to lost ice. “Greenland is the lion’s share of the mass loss,” University of Texas at Austin researcher John Ries told Scientific American in April. “That’s what’s causing the pole to change its nature.” 
 
 And because Babylonian astrology depends on the location of Earth, sun and star constellations, NASA pointed out the clock hand of the zodiac has been wound back. “Now Mimi’s August 4 birthday would mean she was born ‘under the sign’ of Cancer (one constellation ‘earlier’), not Leo,” NASA wrote in January. 
 
 In mid-September, Cosmopolitan UK ran with the story. Reactions varied. Zodiac tattoo bearers lamented their now-obsolete tats. Ophiuchus was deemed unpronounceable. Others chose to ignore the changes and stick to the 12 signs they are used to. 
 
 Nor is this the first time Ophiuchus and a shifting axis have thrown the zodiac into limbo. In 2011, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported on the wobble’s astrological impact and the not-so-lost sign. (The Washington Post wondered whether Taylor Swift was best served as a Scorpio, Ophiuchus or Sagittarius, deciding she could be all of them.) 
 
 This time around, NASA took to its Tumblr account to clarify that it did not set out to blow up anyone’s astrological calendar. 
 
 [Astronauts’ well-kept secret: ‘Space has a smell’] 
 
 “Here at NASA, we study astronomy, not astrology,” the space agency wrote in a statement Tuesday. “We didn’t change any zodiac signs, we just did the math.” 
 
 NASA’s ultimate counterargument is that the zodiac calendar is a fantasy on par with a fortune cookie. Fun and a little funky, perhaps, but in no way life-changing. 
 
 There is a brief but convincing history of scientists investigating, and failing to prove, astrological claims. In a double-blind experiment published in 1985 in the journal Nature, Shawn Carlson, a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley tasked 28 astrologers with matching tests. Volunteers filled out a personality survey and provided their birth information. Carlson, after removing the volunteers’ identities, had astrologers match the surveys with a corresponding astrological birth chart. 
 
 The results indicated the astrologers fared no better than chance. “We are now in a position to argue a surprisingly strong case against natal astrology as practiced by reputable astrologers,” Carlson concluded. 
 
 [Morning Mix The source of the Southwest’s mysterious space fireball: Not a UFO. Or Santa.] 
 
 Distant constellations, or even planets in our solar system, do not emit any known forces that could have a dramatic and personal effect on our lives, pointed out astronomer and science writer Phil Plait. If gravity ruled astrology, the moon would far overpower any other heavenly body, he noted. Likewise, if electromagnetic forces were the culprit, everything but the awesome power of the sun could be discounted. Nothing else in the heavens really comes close. 
 
 And if you are worried about the next time Mercury is in retrograde, breathe easy. The planet seems to change direction — traveling east to west rather than west to east — as matter of perspective on Earth, not orbital pinball. (It’s akin to the way a car appears to move backward from a fast train, even if car and train are moving in the same direction.) Contrary to pop astrology, Mercury has no bearing on your electronics. 
 
 [Watch astronaut Scott Kelly play ping pong with a water droplet] 
 
 The altered zodiac calendar, via Cosmopolitan UK:
– OMG, did your star sign change? Probably, and you didn't even know it. A controversy erupted on social media this month after Cosmopolitan picked up on a NASA post aimed at kids about how the signs of the zodiac came to be, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Because the sky has changed over the eons, the constellations no longer line up as the ancient Babylonians first mapped them 3,000 years ago, explained NASA. That means the astrological signs are now about a month off—theoretically ruining tattoos across the globe—and that "a whopping 86% of us now have a different sign," wrote Charlotte Warwick in Cosmo. (Her post provides the new dates.) What's more, the space agency noted a 13th star sign at the end of the calendar: Ophiuchus (tucked between Scorpio and Sagittarius). OK, so what does that mean for those who faithfully follow their horoscope? Nothing, says NASA, because astrology is fake. "Astronomy is not astrology," the space agency writes on Tumblr. "We didn't change any zodiac signs, we just did the math." Tell that to hot-headed Scorpios (now Nov. 23-Nov. 29) who have been told they are gentle-souled Libras (Oct. 20-Nov. 23). Or to those under the new impossible-to-pronounce sign Ophiuchus (Nov. 29-Dec. 17). "Your new talents include architecture and snake-bearing," writes Ben Guarino in the Washington Post. He explains that the Babylonians ditched the 13th constellation, unable to fit them all into 12 months. At least there's some good news for those under Ophiuchus: serpents make very cool tats. (This might blow over: The Minnesota Planetarium Society discussed the issue years ago.)