What are the zodiac signs? The origin of the zodiac

It is generally believed that in ancient Babylon and Greece, astronomers decided to divide the ecliptic into 12 segments, each of which is 30,

What are the zodiac signs? The origin of the zodiac

It is generally believed that in ancient Babylon and Greece, astronomers decided to divide the ecliptic into 12 segments, each of which is 30, in order to show the movement and position of the sun on the ecliptic. After long-term practice, this means that the sun moves and stays in a palace every month. In this way, in 12 months of a year, the sun passes through 12 house in turn, * * * 360 degrees, that is, every Sunday, and the next year starts from the vernal equinox, and it goes on and on.

12 What's the name of "Sun Palace"? Naturally, we should refer to the name of the original 12 zodiac. We introduce the zodiac, together with their starting and ending degrees, and the date when the sun enters the constellation every year (because the solar calendar has 365 days and 366 days, the date when the sun enters each constellation changes by about 1 day). The solar terms when entering the constellation are as follows:

signs of the zodiac

Palace Name Yellow Sutra Solar Term Date Solar Term Remarks

Aries Palace 0 ~ 30 March 2 1 the first point of Aries Palace at the vernal equinox

Taurus Palace 30 ~ 60 April 20th, Grain Rain.

Twins will be full on may 2 1 60 ~ 90.

Cancer Palace 90 ~120 The first stop at Cancer Palace from summer to Sunday on June 22nd.

Lion Palace120 ~150 July 23rd, hot summer.

The virgin palace is in the summer of August 23rd, 150 ~ 180.

Libra Palace180 ~ 210 The first point of Libra Palace in the autumn equinox on September 23rd.

The first frost of Scorpio Palace 210 ~ 240 65438+1October 23rd.

Sagittarius 240 ~ 270165438+1Xiaoxue on October 22nd.

Capricorn Palace 270 ~ 300 65438+February 22 winter solstice Capricorn Palace first point

Aquarius Palace 300 ~ 330 065438+1October 20 Great Cold

It rained in Pisces Palace from 30 to 0 February 2009.

Before 2000, the positions of the zodiac and the zodiac were basically one-to-one, that is, Aries corresponded to Aries, Taurus to Taurus, and Pisces to Pisces. The reason why we say "basically" is that although the zodiac is named after the zodiac, after all, each constellation is 30 years long, and the zodiac is long and short. At that time, the vernal equinox was in Aries Palace, which was called the first point of Aries Palace, that is, the first point when the sun just entered Aries Palace. Because the house basically corresponds to the constellation, the vernal equinox is naturally in Aries, but it is not the "first point of Aries", so there is no such thing.

The zodiac is generally heard of, but far fewer people have heard of it. They are two different concepts. In order to make them understand, we need to repeat it simply.

-each house of the zodiac is 30 degrees long on the zodiac, without exception. The zodiac animals are different in length.

-The names and numbers of the zodiac are the same as the corresponding zodiac, but the zodiac is not equal to the zodiac.

-The zodiac signs have their own internationally unified symbols, but their corresponding zodiac signs and even all the 88 constellations have no prescribed astronomical symbols.

-The zodiac is used to indicate the position and movement of the sun in the zodiac. Therefore, the date when the sun enters and leaves each zodiac and the corresponding solar terms are clearly defined. Because the length of the Gregorian calendar year we are using now is 365 days and 366 days, with an average of 365.24220 days (365 days 5: 48: 46), the date when the sun enters the palace will change about one day a year. None of this has anything to do with zodiac.

-The first point of each of the four constellations Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, that is, the position of the sun at the moment it enters this constellation, is the special position of the sun on the ecliptic. The first point of Aries Palace is one of the two intersections between the ecliptic and the celestial equator. When the sun passes this point from south to north on the ecliptic, it is the vernal equinox. Since then, the position of the sun has moved from south to north. When the sun reaches the first point of Cancer Palace, that is, the northernmost part of the ecliptic, it is the summer solstice. At this time, the sun's declination is the largest, and it begins to move from south to north on the ecliptic. None of this has anything to do with zodiac.

There is another completely different place between the palace and the constellation, that is, the "precession" problem. Because our earth is not a right sphere, but a rotating elliptical sphere, the equatorial radius is more than 2 1 km larger than the polar radius; In addition, there is an included angle between the equatorial plane of the earth and the ecliptic plane, with an average of 23.5 degrees, so celestial bodies like the earth will change their autobiographical axes under the gravitational force of the sun, the moon and the planets, which is the so-called earth axis movement. This change, called precession, is very slow, with a period of about 25,800 years. It was first discovered by the Greek astronomer Hippocrates around 65,438+050 BC.

Precession causes vernal equinox to move westward along the ecliptic about 50.2 times a year, which is a very small angle. For example, the second hand of our watch rotates on the surface once a minute, and it rotates in a small space every second, which is 1/60 of the circumference. One circumference is 360, and the second hand rotates 6 per second.