NASA's biting takedown: Your star sign didn't change because astrology 'is not science'

Star constellations are shown in the sky in this diagram from NASA. (Babak Tafreshi / NASA)

For those who believe in astrology, a blog post by NASA may be cause to rethink your life, your personality, your partner and that tattoo you got when you were 17.

NASA's original, potentially identity-shattering blog post explained that the sun does not point to each constellation for the same length of time, and that it actually points to a 13th constellation, called Ophiuchus, 18 days of the year. That became the basis for reports that Ophiuchus had been "added" to the zodiac, thereby shifting everyone's star sign by approximately a month. "Don't freak out, but your star sign has probably changed," one headline read, on the website for the entertainment magazine Cosmopolitan.

But NASA says there's no need for an identity crisis, because the "new" sign isn't new at all, and astrology has absolutely no measurable impact on the lives of humans anyway.

The space agency debunked the Ophiuchus controversy this week, in a statement posted on various social media sites. "Did you hear that NASA recently changed the zodiac signs? Nope, we definitely didn't," the organization said. "We just did the math."

The ancient Babylonians who devised the current zodiac were aware of Ophiuchus, but decided to leave it out of their calendar so that it would fit better with the cycles of the moon, NASA explains. "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," NASA wrote. "Then they assigned each of those 12 constellations equal amounts of time."

The sun actually points to some constellations longer than others. For instance, it points Virgo for 45 days, and Scorpio for only seven days, NASA says.

NASA has never backed astrology as a credible theory, and the organization restated against this week that its focus is on science, not astrology. "Astronomers and scientists know that stars many light years away have no effect on the ordinary activities of humans on Earth," NASA said. "Astrology is something else. It's not science."

Instead, NASA describes astrology-derived horoscopes as "fantasy stories" that people enjoy reading in the newspaper each day.

"No one has shown that astrology can be used to predict the future or describe what people are like based on their birth dates."

So cool your hot temper, Aries-born readers, and relax, you stubborn Tauruses. The science behind astrology hasn't changed, because astrology isn't informed by science in the first place.