Is astrology a science or not?

Astronomy is a science that studies objects and processes in outer space. Astronomers and other scientists understand that stars cannot have any effect on earthlings. The distances to them are measured in light—years - they are so far from us.

A light—year is the distance that light travels in one Earth year. That's almost 10,000,000,000,000 (10 trillion) kilometers! One light—year is 25 million times the distance to the moon, and more than 60,000 times the distance to the Sun. Remember, nothing in the universe moves faster than light!

Astrology is something else. This is not science. There is no evidence that astrology can be used to predict the future or describe a person's character and fate based only on the date of his birth. Nevertheless, like fantastic stories, astrological forecasts or horoscopes for every day attract many.

What is the "zodiac" and what is special about the zodiac constellations?

Mentally draw a straight line from the Earth through the Sun into space, far beyond our Solar System — to where the stars live. Then imagine how the Earth orbits around the Sun. As you rotate, this imaginary line will point to different stars. A complete revolution around the Sun is known to be equal to one year. All stars near the plane of the disk along which this line passes are located in the zodiac (the belt along the ecliptic). They form the 13 zodiac constellations (from Greek. zodiakos — "animal"), which are no different from the rest. In ancient times, astronomers did not know exactly how the Earth, the Sun, and other stars moved, and had no idea how huge the universe was. But they were looking at the sky enthusiastically, trying to understand it. They considered constellations important symbols, mentioned them in their legends and myths about the gods. Hence the belief was born that changing the position of the constellations at different times of the year can affect people and events on Earth.

The Babylonians, who lived more than 3,000 years ago, divided the zodiac, like a pizza, into 12 equal parts and designated 12 constellations in it — one for each "slice". As the Earth moves around the Sun, it would seem 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 its own "piece". But according to the ancient Babylonians' own stories, there were 13 zodiac constellations in total. Some cultures and traditions have recognized as many as 24.

Among the Babylonians, a man born between July 23 and August 22 was considered to have been born under the constellation Leo. Now, after 3,000 years, according to scientists, the axis of the Earth has shifted and, for example, August 4 already corresponds to the sign of Cancer, which precedes Leo.

In addition, the constellations have different shapes and sizes and are in line with the Sun for different periods of time. For example, an imaginary line drawn from the Earth through the Sun will point to Virgo for 45 days, but on Scorpio is only 7. In order for everything to fit into the 12-month calendar, the Babylonians ignored the fact that the Sun actually "moves" through 13 constellations, not 12, and gave each of these 12 an equal amount of time. However, in addition to the well-known zodiac signs, the Sun also "meets" with the Ophiuchus every year for about 18 days.