Remember last week's Internet-wide astrological identity crisis? Of course you do. It all started on Jan. 9, when the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a story alleging that the current dates ascribed to astrological signs are wrong due to gradual shifts in earth's alignment. Three days later, WBBH an NBC-affiliated television news program based in Fort Meyers, Fla. picked up the story, which eventually spread to the Huffington Post and various other news outlets, giving denizens of the Internet the impression that this was "news." Hysteric Facebook posts ensued and the story went viral.
But it turns out that astrologers and astronomers alike have known of the discrepancy since 130 B.C. and such skirmishes between the two fields are hardly new. Furthermore, modern Western astrology follows the tropical zodiac, which is based on the seasonal equinoxes, rather than on the earth's alignment with the constellations. While it seems the astronomy professor who leaked the story was merely trying to encourage a bit of skepticism in horoscope-adherents, the public took his words to mean that we should embrace a new zodiac. All the fuss was just a media miscommunication one that was able to catch on only because of our current meme-loving Internet culture.
