Why are the zodiac signs commonly known today about 1,500 years out of date?
Your zodiac sign is probably wrong—Earth's wobbling axis has shifted the stars' positions by roughly 30 degrees over the past 2,000 years.
Earth's axis wobbles in a 26,000-year cycle called precession. When astrologers established the zodiac around 150 BC, the Sun's position on specific dates aligned with certain constellations. Today, the Sun sits in a different constellation than it did back then, which means most people are actually born under a different sign than their horoscope claims.
Nerd Mode
The shift is caused by 'axial precession,' also called the 'precession of the equinoxes.' Earth isn't a perfect sphere but an oblate spheroid—slightly bulging at the equator. The gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun on this equatorial bulge causes Earth's axis to rotate slowly in a circle, similar to a spinning top that's gradually losing momentum.The ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus discovered precession around 130 BC. At that time, the vernal equinox occurred in the constellation Aries. Because of the 26,000-year cycle, the stars' positions relative to our calendar shift by approximately one degree every 72 years. Since the zodiac was codified, the celestial alignment has moved about 30 degrees.NASA and other astronomical organizations confirm that the Sun now passes through the constellation Ophiuchus for 18 days each year—a fact traditional Western astrology ignores. Additionally, the Sun now spends more time in Pisces during the traditional 'Aries' window of March 21 to April 19. This gap between the 'Tropical Zodiac' used by astrologers and the 'Sidereal Zodiac' based on actual star positions grows larger with each passing century.
Verified Fact
FP-0003923 · Feb 18, 2026