Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Lucky day inquiry - What is the zodiac?

What is the zodiac?

When introducing constellations, we have introduced 88 constellations to you. Among them, 12 constellation is distributed on the ecliptic, which has special significance.

The zodiac is an imaginary strip in the sky, with the ecliptic as the center line and the width of 18. The sun, the moon and the planets in the solar system all move in this area. The constellations divided by the stars in the Zodiac are mostly animal figures, so they are named Zodiac, which means "animal circle".

The ecliptic is divided into 12 equal parts, and each equal part occupies 30 degrees of the ecliptic, which is called the ecliptic. The zodiac signs are named after their constellations, and each sign is given a special symbol. Starting from the vernal equinox, 12 zodiac signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. In a year, the sun moves from west to east every day 1. About once a month. For example, on the evening of June+10/October 1 Sunday, 65438, the starry sky in the direction of western horizon setting is Pisces, so if you look at the starry sky in the direction of western horizon setting on the evening of February 1 Sunday 18, it will become Aries. Taurus, Gemini ...

Astronomers in ancient China divided the circumnavigation into 12 times in order to observe the movements of the sun, the moon and the five planets and determine the seasons, similar to the western zodiac. This time 12 was originally along the celestial equator. It is said that 12 was used to translate the zodiac after the end of the Ming Dynasty. See the table below for relevant information:

Zodiac Zodiac Zodiac Zodiac Zodiac Zodiac Yellow Meridian Aries Palace drops 0 ~ 30 Girder Jinniu Palace 30 ~ 60 Stone God Twin Uterus 60 ~ 90 Quail Head Cancer Palace 90 ~ 120 Quail Fire Lion Palace150 Quail Tail Room Female Palace 65430. 38+00 ~ 240 Sagittarius analysis 240 ~ 270 astrological Capricorn 270 ~ 300 mysterious Aquarius 300 ~ 330 Pisces 330 ~ 360 2000 years ago./2000. 10000000000006 this day, at noon1. In this way, the spring equinox in Aries more than 2000 years ago has now moved nearly 30 degrees into Pisces. In other words, the vernal equinox is not in Aries now, but actually in Pisces. It didn't enter Aries until April, but the current almanac still uses the original zodiac name as the solar term. For example, the house where the sun passes in spring is still called Aries Palace, but the name of the house is different from the constellation where the sun is located, that is, all the houses have now moved to the adjacent constellation in the west. The name of the zodiac we are talking about now is just a sign of the zodiac.

Some people have tried to change the name of the constellation or improve the new name, such as naming it after the 12 apostle of Jesus, but these attempts have failed.