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| - Fact Check: NASA did not introduce a 13th zodiac sign
A message circulating on Facebook claims that United States space agency NASA has added a 13th zodiac sign called "Ophiuchus".
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India Today Fact Check
NASA has confirmed it has not added a zodiac sign. The hoax has been circulating for years.
A message circulating on Facebook claims that United States space agency NASA has added a 13th zodiac sign called "Ophiuchus".
Multiple Facebook users have posted an image listing the zodiac signs and their corresponding dates. The image has "Ophiuchus" added to the existing 12 zodiac signs.
The caption of the post reads, "NASA has recently added a new star sign to the Zodiac family - welcome to the team Ophiuchus. Has your star sign changed with this new addition?"
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found this to be an old hoax that has been circulating for years. NASA has confirmed it has not added a zodiac sign.
Similar claims have been shared by many on Facebook (https://tinyurl.com/y5u94gmq). The viral posts are archived here and here.
The viral claim was debunked by NASA through a tweet on July 17, 2020. The tweet adds a pinch of humour to say, "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".
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 US space agency has also mentioned a link in the tweet. According to NASA, the zodiacs and the constellations were drawn up by the ancient Babylonians - a civilisation that is more than 3,000 years old.
NASA said the Babylonians had picked 12 constellations in the zodiac, one for each of the 12 "slices". They had a 12-month calendar (based on the phases of the moon), and each month got a slice of the zodiac all to itself.
"But even according to the Babylonians' own ancient stories, there were 13 constellations in the zodiac. So they picked one, Ophiuchus, to leave out," adds NASA.
We found that a similar claim about NASA and the 13th zodiac sign had gone viral on Facebook in 2016.
But it seems the misinformation has been doing the rounds since 2011, as we found that "BBC News" had written an article then, debunking the hoax.
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