And in the meantime, here are the zodiac signs, listed in order along with what they mean, and some interesting facts associated with their respective constellations: To find out what zodiac sign you were really born under, check out this story from BBCвЂ™s iWonder. And Ophiuchus actually spends more time behind the Sun than its immediate neighbor (19 days compared to ScorpiusвЂ™ 12). But the true boundaries that divide the constellations, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), are not exact. It is unclear why ancient astrologers would do this, but it is a safe bet that they wanted to divide the 360В° path of the Sun into 12 equal parts. Scorpio) and before reaching Sagittarius. Over 2000 years ago, this constellation was deliberately left out, though the Sun clearly passes in front of it after passing in front of Scorpius (aka. Credit: ДЄnd last, but certainly not least, there is the issue of the missing 13th sign, which corresponds to the constellation Ophiuchus. The constellations Ophiuchus, represented as a man grasping a snake. As such, the zodiac signs no longer correspond to constellations of stars that appear in night sky. At that time, astronomers believed that the EarthвЂ™s position was fixed in the universe, and did not understand that the Earth is subject to precession вЂ“ where EarthвЂ™s rotational and orbital parameters slowly change with time. WhatвЂ™s more, the dates of the вЂstar signsвЂ™ were assigned over 2,000 years ago, when the zodiac was first devised.

Given what we know today of the actual elements, the movements of the planets, and the forces that govern the universe, astrology is now known for being little more than superstition. Naturally, the birth of the modern psychology, biology and astronomy has completely discredited the notion that our personalities are determined by birth signs, the position of the stars or the planets.

These traditions have remained relatively unchanged for over seventeen centuries, though some alterations have been made due to the subsequent discoveries of the other planets in our Solar System. This book was responsible for the spread of astrologyвЂ™s as we know it across Europe and the Middle East during the time of the Roman Empire. What we know today as astrology comes from the 2nd century AD, as it was formally described by Ptolemy in his work, Tetrabiblos. In essence, astrology maintains that celestial phenomena are related to human activity, so the signs are held to represent certain characteristics of behavior and personality traits. This resulted in a mix of traditions, where the 12 zodiac symbols were associated with the 12 Houses вЂ“ different fields of experience associated with the various planets вЂ“ and the four classical elements (Earth, Wind, Water and Fire). The concept of the zodiac originated in Babylon in the 2nd millennium BCE, and was later influenced by Hellenistic (Ancient Greek), Roman, and Egyptian culture.

But for ancient people, such patterns were necessary given the fact that they lacked an understanding of human psychology, astronomy, and that Earth was not the center of the universe. Granted, modern science has shown astrology to be an ancient fallacy, a way of connecting patterns in celestial movements to events and behaviors here on Earth. If your birthday falls within one of those date ranges, thatвЂ™s your zodiac sign.

Here are all the zodiac signs and their dates. The order of these astrological signs is Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. These are known as the zodiac signs, 12 constellations that correspond to the different months of the year.Д®ach of these occupies a sector of the sky which makes up 30В° of the ecliptic, starting at the vernal equinox вЂ“ one of the intersections of the ecliptic with the celestial equator. But only 12 of them are particularly famous and continue to play an active role in our astrological systems. Did you know that there are 88 constellations in the night sky? Over the course of several thousand years, human beings have cataloged and named them all.

Big three astrology