Multiple posts have been circulating on social media, some even shared by news outlets, that NASA has added a 13th zodiac sign to the horoscopes. It is being called Ophiuchus and is believed to be associated with those being born between November 29 and December 15.
More such posts can be seen here and here.
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FACT CHECK
We fact-checked the claims and found them to be false.
Since NASA has an active Twitter account, we first checked the claims on their official Twitter. We came across a tweet in which NASA refutes these claims.
👀 We see your comments about a zodiac story that re-emerges every few years. No, we did not change the zodiac.
When the Babylonians invented the constellations 3,000 years ago, they chose to leave out a 13th sign. So, we did the math: https://t.co/DQOs5VSjT7 pic.twitter.com/WlblguobGT— NASA (@NASA) July 17, 2020
The Tweet reads: We see your comments about a zodiac story that re-emerges every few years. No, we did not change the zodiac.
When the Babylonians invented the constellations 3,000 years ago, they chose to leave out the 13th sign. So, we did the math.
Since the NASA Tweet mentioned that this news resurfaces every few years, we Googled the keywords ‘Ophiuchus’ and came across the origin of this claim. It is listed in an article on Nasa.gov.
It explains the creation of the 12 zodiacs based on 12 constellations by the Babylonians and their decision to leave out the 13th zodiac because the 12 zodiacs fit their 12-month calendar. Hence, while there is a constellation named Ophiuchus, NASA has not linked it with the zodiac signs.
Hence, the claims of NASA creating the 13th zodiac are false.
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