Tropical year

A tropical year (also known as a solar year), for general purposes, is the length of
time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the cycle of seasons, as seen
from Earth; for example, the time from vernal equinox to vernal equinox, or from
summer solstice to summer solstice. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the
seasonal cycle does not remain exactly synchronized with the position of the Earth
in its orbit around the Sun. As a consequence, the tropical year is about 20 minutes
shorter than the time it takes Earth to complete one full orbit around the Sun as
measured with respect to the fixed stars (the sidereal year).
Since antiquity, astronomers have progressively refined the definition of the tropical
year, and currently define it as the time required for the mean Sun's tropical
longitude (longitudinal position along the ecliptic relative to its position at the vernal
equinox) to increase by 360 degrees (that is, to complete one full seasonal circuit).
(Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 40)
The mean tropical year on January 1, 2000 was 365.2421897 days, each day lasting
86,400 SI seconds.[1]
Contents
1 History
1.1 Origin
1.2 Early value, precession discovery
1.3 Middle Ages and the Renaissance
1.4 18th and 19th century
1.5 20th and 21st centuries
2 Time scales
3 Length of tropical year
3.1 Mean equinox tropical year
3.2 Mean tropical year current value
4 Calendar year
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References

History[edit]
Origin[edit]
The word "tropical" comes from the Greek tropikos meaning "turn". (tropic, 1992)
Thus, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn mark the extreme north and south
latitudes where the Sun can appear directly overhead, and where it appears to
"turn" in its annual seasonal motion. Because of this connection between the tropics
and the seasonal cycle of the apparent position of the Sun, the word "tropical" also
lent its name to the "tropical year". The early Chinese, Hindus, Greeks, and others

made approximate measures of the tropical year; early astronomers did so by noting
the time required between the appearance of the Sun in one of the tropics to the
next appearance in the same tropic. (Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 40)

Early value, precession discovery[edit]

In the 2nd century BC Hipparchus introduced a new definition which was still used
by some authors in the 20th century, the time required for the Sun to travel from an
equinox to the same equinox again. He reckoned the length of the year to be 365
solar days, 5 hours, 55 minutes, 12 seconds (365.24667 days). A modern computer
model gives 365 solar days, 5 hours 49 minutes 19 seconds (365.24258 days). He
adopted the new definition because the instrument he used, the meridian armillae,
was better able to detect the more rapid motion in declination at the time of the
equinoxes, compared to the solstices. (Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 40)
Hipparchus also discovered that the equinoctial points moved along the ecliptic
(plane of the Earth's orbit, or what Hipparchus would have thought of as the plane
of the Sun's orbit about the Earth) in a direction opposite that of the movement of
the Sun, a phenomenon that came to be named "precession of the equinoxes". He
reckoned the value as 1 per century, a value that was not improved upon until
about 1000 years later, by Islamic astronomers. Since this discovery a distinction has
been made between the tropical year and the sidereal year. (Meeus & Savoie, 1992,
p. 40)

Middle Ages and the Renaissance[edit]

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance a number of progressively better tables
were published that allowed computation of the positions of the Sun, Moon and
planets relative to the fixed stars. An important application of these tables was the
reform of the calendar.
The Alfonsine Tables, published in 1252, were based on the theories of Ptolemy and
were revised and updated after the original publication; the most recent update in
1978 was by the French National Centre for Scientific Research. The length of the
tropical year (using the equinox-based definition) was 365 solar days 5 hours 49
minutes 16 seconds (365.24255 days). It was these tables that were used in the
reform process that led to the Gregorian calendar. (Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 41)
In the 16th century Copernicus put forward a heliocentric cosmology. Erasmus
Reinhold used Copernicus' theory to compute the Prutenic Tables in 1551, and
found a tropical year length of 365 solar days, 5 hours, 55 minutes, 58 seconds
(365.24720 days). (Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 41)
Major advances in the 17th century were made by Johannes Kepler and Isaac
Newton. In 1609 and 1619 Kepler published his three laws of planetary motion.
(McCarthy & Seidelmann, 2009, p. 26) In 1627, Kepler used the observations of
Tycho Brahe and Waltherus to produce the most accurate tables up to that time, the
Rudolphine Tables. He evaluated the tropical year as 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48
minutes, 45 seconds (365.24219 days). (Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 41)
Newton's three laws of dynamics and theory of gravity were published in his
Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687. Newton's theoretical and

mathematical advances influenced tables by Edmund Halley published in 1693 and

1749 (McCarthy & Seidelmann, 2009, pp. 2628) and provided the underpinnings
of all solar system models until Albert Einstein's theory of General relativity in the
20th century.

18th and 19th century[edit]

From the time of Hipparchus and Ptolemy, the year was based on two equinoxes (or
two solstices) a number of years apart, to average out both observational errors and
the effects of nutation (irregular motions of the axis of rotation of the earth, the
main cycle being 18.6 years) and the movement of the Sun caused by the
gravitational pull of the planets. These effects did not begin to be understood until
Newton's time. To model short term variations of the time between equinoxes (and
prevent them from confounding efforts to measure long term variations) requires
either precise observations or an elaborate theory of the motion of the Sun. The
necessary theories and mathematical tools came together in the 18th century due to
the work of Pierre-Simon de Laplace, Joseph Louis Lagrange, and other specialists
in celestial mechanics. They were able to express the mean longitude of the Sun as
L0 = A0 + A1T + A2T2 days
where T is the time in Julian centuries. The inverse of the derivative of L0, dT/dL0
gives the length of the tropical year as a linear function of T. When this is
computed, an expression giving the length of the tropical year as function of T
results.
Two equations are given in the table. Both equations estimate that the tropical year
gets roughly a half second shorter each century.
Tropical year coefficients
Name

Equation

Leverrier (Meeus & Savoie, Y = 365.24219647

1992, p. 42)
6.24106 T

Date on which T = 0
January 0.5, 1900,
Ephemeris Time

Y = 365.24219879
January 0, 1900, mean
6
time
6.1410 T
Newcomb's tables were successful enough that they were used by the joint
American-British Astronomical Almanac for the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars
through 1983. (Seidelmann, 1992, p. 317)
Newcomb (1898, p. 910)

20th and 21st centuries[edit]

The length of the mean tropical year is derived from a model of the solar system, so
any advance that improves the solar system model potentially improves the accuracy
of the mean tropical year. Many new observing instruments became available,
including

artificial satellites
tracking of deep space probes such as Pioneer 4 beginning in 1959 (Jet
Propulsion Laboratory 2005)

radars able to measure other planets beginning in 1961 (Butrica, 1996)

lunar laser ranging since the 1969 Apollo 11 left the first of a series of
retroreflectors which allow greater accuracy than reflectorless measurements
artificial satellites such as LAGEOS (1976) and the Global Positioning System
(initial operation in 1993)
Very Long Baseline Interferometry which finds precise directions to quasars in
distant galaxies, and allows determination of the Earth's orientation with
respect to these objects whose distance is so great they can be considered to
show minimal space motion (McCarthy & Seidelmann, 2009, p. 265)
The complexity of the model used for the solar system must be limited to the
available computation facilities. In the 1920s punched card equipment came into
use by L. J. Comrie in Britain. At the American Ephemeris an electromagnetic
computer, the IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator was used since 1948.
When modern computers became available, it was possible to compute ephemerides
using numerical integration rather than general theories; numerical integration
came into use in 1984 for the joint US-UK almanacs. (McCarthy & Seidelmann,
2009, p. 32)
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity provided a more accurate theory, but the
accuracy of theories and observations did not require the refinement provided by
this theory (except for the advance of the perihelion of Mercury) until 1984. Time
scales incorporated general relativity beginning in the 1970s. (McCarthy &
Seidelmann, 2009, p. 37)
A key development in understanding the tropical year over long periods of time is
the discovery that the rate of rotation of the earth, or equivalently, the length of the
mean solar day, is not constant. William Ferrel in 1864 and Charles-Eugne
Delaunay in 1865 indicated the rotation of the Earth was being retarded by tides. In
1921 William H Shortt invented the Shortt-Synchronome clock, the most accurate
commercially produced pendulum clock; it was the first clock capable of measuring
variations in the Earth's rotation. The next major time-keeping advance was the
quartz clock, first built by Warren Marrison and J. W. Horton in 1927; in the late
1930s quartz clocks began to replace pendulum clocks as time standards. (McCarthy
and Seidelmann, 2009, ch. 9)
A series of experiments beginning in the late 1930s led to the development of the
first atomic clock by Louis Essen and J. V. L. Parry in 1955. Their clock was based
on a transition in the cesium atom. (McCarthy & Seidelmann, 2009, pp. 1579) Due
to the accuracy the General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1960
redefined the second in terms of the cesium transition.[1] The atomic second, often
called the SI second, was intended to agree with the ephemeris second based on
Newcomb's work, which in turn makes it agree with the mean solar second of the
mid-19th century. (McCarthy & Seidelman, 2009, pp. 812, 1917)

Time scales[edit]
As mentioned in History, advances in time-keeping have resulted in various time
scales. One useful time scale is Universal Time (especially the UT1 variant), which is
the mean solar time at 0 degrees longitude (the Greenwich meridian). One second

of UT is 1/86,400 of a mean solar day. This time scale is known to be somewhat

variable. Since all civil calendars count actual solar days, all civil calendars are based
on UT.
The other time scale has two parts. Ephemeris time (ET) is the independent variable
in the equations of motion of the solar system, in particular, the equations in use
from 1960 to 1984. (McCarthy & Seidelmann, 2009, p. 378) That is, the length of
the second used in the solar system calculations could be adjusted until the length
that gives the best agreement with observations is found. With the introduction of
atomic clocks in the 1950s, it was found that ET could be better realized as atomic
time. This also means that ET is a uniform time scale, as is atomic time. ET was
given a new name, Terrestrial Time (TT), and for most purposes ET = TT =
International Atomic Time + 32.184 SI seconds. As of January 2010, TT is ahead
of UT1 by about 66 seconds. (International Earth Rotation Service, 2010;
McCarthy & Seidelman, 2009, pp. 867).
As explained below, long term estimates of the length of the tropical year were used
in connection with the reform of the Julian calendar, which resulted in the
Gregorian calendar. Of course the participants in that reform were unaware of the
non-uniform rotation of the earth, but now this can be taken into account to some
degree. The amount that TT is ahead of UT1 is known as T, or Delta T. The
table below gives Morrison and Stephenson's (S & M) 2004 estimates and standard
errors () for dates significant in the process of developing the Gregorian calendar.
Event

Year Nearest S & M Year

Julian calendar begins

44

2h56m20s

4m20
s

First Council of Nicaea

325

300

2h8m

2m

1600

2m

20s

Gregorian calendar begins 1583

low precision extrapolation 4000

4h13m

low precision extrapolation 10,000

2d11h
The low precision extrapolations are computed with an expression provided by
Morrison and Stephenson
T = 20 + 32t2
where t is measured in Julian centuries from 1820. The extrapolation is provided
only to show T is not negligible when evaluating the calendar for long periods;
Borkowski (1991, p. 126) cautions that "many researchers have attempted to fit a
parabola to the measured T values in order to determine the magnitude of the
deceleration of the Earth's rotation. The results, when taken together, are rather
discouraging."

Length of tropical year[edit]

An oversimplified definition of the tropical year would be the time required for the
Sun, beginning at a chosen ecliptic longitude, to make one complete cycle of the

seasons and return to the same ecliptic longitude. Before considering an example,
the equinox must be examined. There are two important planes in solar system
calculations, the plane of the ecliptic (the Earth's orbit around the Sun), and the
plane of the celestial equator (the Earth's equator projected into space). These two
planes intersect in a line. The direction along the line from the Earth in the
general direction of the zodiac sign Aries (Ram) is the Northward equinox, and is
given the symbol (the symbol looks like the horns of a ram).
The opposite direction, along the line in the general direction of the sign Libra, is
the Southward equinox and is given the symbol . Because of precession and
nutation these directions change, compared to the direction of distant stars and
galaxies, whose directions have no measurable motion due to their great distance
(see International Celestial Reference Frame).
The ecliptic longitude of the Sun is the angle between and the Sun, measured
eastward along the ecliptic. This creates a complicated measurement, because as the
Sun is moving, the direction the angle is measured from is also moving. It is
convenient to have a fixed (with respect to distant stars) direction to measure from;
the direction of at noon January 1, 2000 fills this role and is given the symbol
0.
Using the oversimplified definition, there was an equinox on March 20, 2009,
11:44:43.6 TT. The 2010 March equinox was March 20, 17:33:18.1 TT, which
gives a duration of 365 d 5 h 49 m 30s. (Astronomical Applications Dept., 2009)
While the Sun moves, moves in the opposite direction . When the Sun and
met at the 2010 March equinox, the Sun had moved east 35959'09" while had
moved west 51" for a total of 360 (all with respect to 0). (Seidelmann, 1992, p.
104, expression for pA)
If a different starting longitude for the Sun is chosen, the duration for the Sun to
return to the same longitude will be different. This is because although changes
at a nearly steady rate[2] there is considerable variation in the angular speed of the
Sun. Thus, the 50 or so arcseconds that the Sun does not have to move to complete
the tropical year "saves" varying amounts of time depending on the position in the
orbit.

Mean equinox tropical year[edit]

As already mentioned, there is some choice in the length of the tropical year
depending on the point of reference that one selects. But during the period when
return of the Sun to a chosen longitude was the method in use by astronomers, one
of the equinoxes was usually chosen because the instruments were most sensitive
there. When tropical year measurements from several successive years are
compared, variations are found which are due to nutation, and to the planetary
perturbations acting on the Sun. Meeus and Savoie (1992, p. 41) provided the

following examples of intervals between northward equinoxes:

days hours

mi
s
n

19851986 365

48

58

19861987 365

49

15

19871988 365

46

38

19881989 365

49

42

19891990 365 5
51 06
Until the beginning of the 19th century, the length of the tropical year was found by
comparing equinox dates that were separated by many years; this approach yielded
the mean tropical year. (Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 42)
Values of mean time intervals between equinoxes and solstices were provided by
Meeus and Savoie (1992, p. 42) for the years 0 and 2000.
Year 0

Year 2000

Between two Northward equinoxes 365.242137 days 365.242374 days

Between two Northern solstices

365.241726

365.241626

Between two Southward equinoxes 365.242496

365.242018

Between two Southern solstices

365.242883

365.242740

365.242310

365.242189

Mean tropical year

(Laskar's expression)

Mean tropical year current value[edit]

The mean tropical year on January 1, 2000 was 365.2421897 or 365 days, 5 hours,
48 minutes, 45.19 seconds. This changes slowly; an expression suitable for
calculating the length in days for the distant past is
365.2421896698 6.15359106T 7.291010T2 + 2.641010T3
where T is in Julian centuries of 36,525 days measured from noon January 1, 2000
TT (in negative numbers for dates in the past). (McCarthy & Seidelmann, 2009, p.
18.; Laskar, 1986)
Modern astronomers define the tropical year as time for the Sun's mean longitude
to increase by 360. The process for finding an expression for the length of the
tropical year is to first find an expression for the Sun's mean longitude (with respect
to ), such as Newcomb's expression given above, or Laskar's expression (1986, p.
64). When viewed over a 1 year period, the mean longitude is very nearly a linear
function of Terrestrial Time. To find the length of the tropical year, the mean
longitude is differentiated, to give the angular speed of the Sun as a function of

Terrestrial Time, and this angular speed is used to compute how long it would take
for the Sun to move 360. (Meeus & Savoie, 1992, p. 42).

Calendar year[edit]
The Gregorian calendar, as used for civil purposes, is an international standard. It is
a solar calendar that is designed to maintain synchrony with the vernal equinox
tropical year.[3] It has a cycle of 400 years (146,097 days). Each cycle repeats the
months, dates, and weekdays. The average year length is 146,097/400 =
365+97/400 = 365.2425 days per year, a close approximation to the tropical year.
(Seidelmann, 1992, pp. 57681)
The Gregorian calendar is a reformed version of the Julian calendar. By the time of
the reform in 1582, the date of the vernal equinox had shifted about 10 days, from
about March 21 at the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325, to about March
11. According to North, the real motivation for reform was not primarily a matter
of getting agricultural cycles back to where they had once been in the seasonal
cycle; the primary concern of Christians was the correct observance of Easter. The
rules used to compute the date of Easter used a conventional date for the vernal
equinox (March 21), and it was considered important to keep March 21 close to the
actual equinox. (North, 1983, pp. 7576)
If society in the future still attaches importance to the synchronization between the
civil calendar and the seasons, another reform of the calendar will eventually be
necessary. According to Blackburn and Holford-Strevens (who used Newcomb's
value for the tropical year) if the tropical year remained at its 1900 value of
365.24219878125 days the Gregorian calendar would be 3 days, 17 min, 33 s
behind the Sun after 10,000 years. Aggravating this error, the length of the tropical
year (measured in Terrestrial Time) is decreasing at a rate of approximately 0.53 s
per 100 tropical years. Also, the mean solar day is getting longer at a rate of about
1.5 ms per 100 tropical years. These effects will cause the calendar to be nearly a
day behind in 3200. A possible reform would be to omit the leap day in 3200, keep
3600 and 4000 as leap years, and thereafter make all centennial years common
except 4500, 5000, 5500, 6000, etc. The effects are not sufficiently predictable to
form more precise proposals. (Blackburn & Holford-Strevens, 2003, p. 692)
Borkowski (1991, p. 121) states "because of high uncertainty in the Earth's rotation
it is premature at present to suggest any reform that would reach further than a few
thousand years into the future." He estimates that in 4000 the Gregorian year
(which counts actual solar days) will be behind the tropical year by 0.8 to 1.1 days.
(p. 126)

See also[edit]

Anomalistic year
Tropical astrology

Notes[edit]
1. ^ a b "The second is the duration of 9192631770 periods of the radiation

corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground
state of the cesium 133 atom." CGPM (1960, Resolution 9, as quoted in
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures 2006, 133)
2. ^ The expression for pA in Seidelmann, 1992, p. 104 shows the progression
per 365 days of TT increases steadily from 50.25865 arcseconds (Jan. 1,
2009Jan. 1, 2010) to 50.25889 arcseconds (Dec. 1, 2009Dec. 1, 2010).
3. ^ (Dobrzycki 1983, p. 123)

References[edit]

Astronomical Applications Dept. of United States Naval Observatory. (2009).

Multiyear Interactive Computer Almanac (ver. 2.2). Richmond VA: Willman-Bell.
Blackburn, B. & Holford-Strevens, L. (2003, corrected reprint of 1999). The
Oxford companion to the year. Oxford University Press.
Borkowski, K. M. The tropical year and the solar calendar. (1991). Journal of
the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 85(3), 121130.
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. (2006). The International System of
Units. author.
Butrica, A. J. (1996) NASA SP-4218: To See the Unseen - A History of Planetary
Radar Astronomy. NASA.
Dershowitz, N. & Reingold, E.M. (2008). Calendrical Calculations (3rd ed.).
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-70238-6
Dobrzycki, J (1983). Astronomical aspects of the calendar reform. In G. V.
Coyne, M. A. Hoskin, & O. Pedersen (Eds.). Gregorian reform of the calendar.
Vatican Observatory.
International Earth Rotation Service (2010, January 28). Bulletin A 23(4).
author.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (2005). DSN: History. author.
Laskar, J. (1986). Secular terms of the classical planetary theories using the
results of general theory. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 157, 5970. ISSN
0004-6361.
McCarthy, D. D. & Seidelmann, P. K. (2009). Time from Earth rotation to atomic
physics. Weinhein: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
Meeus, J. & Savoie, D. (1992). The history of the tropical year. Journal of the
British Astronomical Association, 102(1), 4042.
Morrison, L. V. & Stephenson, F. R. (2004). Historical values of the Earth's
clock error T and the calculation of eclipses. Journal for the History of Astronomy
Vol. 35, Part 3, No. 120, p. 327336
Newcomb, S. (1898). Tables of the four inner planets (Vol. 6) in Astronomical papers
prepared for the use of the American ephemeris and nautical almanac (2nd ed.).
Washington: Bureau of Equipment, Navy Dept.
North, J. D. (1983). The Western calendar - "Intolerabilis, horribilis, et
derisibilis"; four centuries of discontent. In G. V. Coyne, M. A. Hoskin, & O.
Pedersen (Eds.). Gregorian reform of the calendar. Vatican Observatory.
Seidelmann, P. K. (Ed.). (1992). Explanatory supplement to the Astronomical almanac.
Sausalito, CA: University Science Books. ISBN 0-935702-68-7

tropic. (1992). American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

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Sidereal year

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A sidereal year is the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun once with respect to
the fixed stars. Hence it is also the time taken for the Sun to return to the same
position with respect to the fixed stars after apparently travelling once around the
ecliptic. This differs from the solar or tropical year which has length equal to the
time interval between vernal equinoxes in successive years. It was equal to
365.256363004 SI days[1] at noon 1 January 2000 (J2000.0). This is 6 hours and
9.1626 minutes longer than the standard calendar year of 365 SI days, and 20min
24.5128s longer than the mean tropical year at J2000.0.[1] The word "sidereal" is
derived from the Latin sidus meaning "star".

Apparent motion of the Sun against the stars[edit]

As the Earth orbits the Sun, the apparent position of the Sun against the stars
gradually moves along the ecliptic, passing through the twelve traditional
constellations of the zodiac, and returning to its starting point after one sidereal
year. This motion is difficult to observe directly because the stars cannot be seen
when the Sun is in the sky. However, if one looks regularly at the sky before dawn,
the annual motion is very noticeable: the last stars seen to rise are not always the
same, and within a week or two an upward shift can be noted. As an example, in
July in the Northern Hemisphere, Orion cannot be seen in the dawn sky, but in
August it becomes visible.
This effect is easier to measure than the north/south movement of the position of
sunrise (except in high-latitude regions), which defines the seasonal cycle and the
tropical year on which the Gregorian calendar is based. For this reason many
cultures started their year on the first day a particular special star (Sirius, for
instance) could be seen in the east at dawn. In Hesiod's Works and Days, the times of

the year for sowing, harvest, and so on are given by reference to the first visibility of
stars. Such a calendar effectively uses the sidereal year.
The Greek astronomer Hipparchus is regarded as the one who defined precession.
Therefore it is believed that up to this point the years measured by the stars (sidereal
years) were thought to be the same as years measured by the seasons (tropical years).
Although the phenomenon of the precession seems to have been discovered in
many ancient cultures, forming the basis for various world-age myths. In fact,
sidereal years are slightly longer than tropical years: One sidereal year is roughly
equal to 1 + 1/26000 or 1.0000385 tropical years. The difference is caused by the
precession of the equinoxes, and means that over long periods of time a calendar
based on the sidereal year will drift out of sync with the seasons at the rate of about
one day every 72 years.

See also[edit]
Look up sidereal year in
Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.

Anomalistic year
Gaussian year
Orbital period
Julian year (astronomy)
Precession (astronomy)
Tropical year

References[edit]
1. ^ a b IERS EOP PC Useful constants Each of these days contains 86400 SI
seconds.

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Sidereal and tropical are astrological terms used to describe two different
definitions of a "year". They are also used as terms for two systems of ecliptic
coordinates used in astrology. Both divide the ecliptic into a number of "signs"
named after constellations, but while the sidereal system defines the signs based on
the fixed stars, the tropical system defines it based on the position of vernal equinox

(i.e., the intersection of the ecliptic with the celestial equator). Because of the
precession of the equinoxes, the two systems do not remain fixed relative to each
other but drift apart by about 1.4 arc degrees per century. The tropical system was
adopted during the Hellenistic period and remains prevalent in Western astrology. A
sidereal system is used in Hindu astrology, and in some 20th century systems of
Western astrology.
While classical tropical astrology is based on the orientation of the Earth relative to
the Sun and planets of the solar system, sidereal astrology deals with the position of
the Earth relative to both of these as well as the stars of the celestial sphere. The
actual positions of certain fixed stars as well as their constellations is an additional
consideration in the horoscope.
Contents

1 History
2 Sidereal traditions
2.1 Hindu astrology
2.2 Sidereal western astrology
2.2.1 Shifted zodiac
2.2.2 Astronomic zodiac
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

History[edit]

Changing position of the vernal equinox. The red line is a section of the apparent path traced
by the Sun through the Earth's year. The red/green line is a projection of the Earth's equator
onto the celestial sphere. The crossing point of these two lines is the spring equinox. In 1500
BCE it was near the end of the constellation of Aries, in 500 BCE it was near the beginning of
the constellation of Aries, and in 150 CE (the time of Ptolemy) it was in the center of the
constellation of Pisces.

The classical zodiac was introduced in the neo-Babylonian period (around the
seventh to the sixth century BCE). At the time, the precession of the equinoxes had
not been discovered. Classical Hellenistic astrology consequently developed without
consideration of the effects of precession. The discovery of the precession of the
equinoxes, is attributed to Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer active in the later
Hellenistic period (ca. 130 BCE).

Ptolemy, writing some 250 years after Hipparchus, was thus aware of the effects of
precession. He opted for a definition of the zodiac based on the point of the vernal
equinox, i.e., the tropical system. While Ptolemy noted that Ophiuchus is in contact
with the ecliptic, he was aware that the 12 signs were just conventional names for
30-degree segments.
The Hindu Jyotisha system opted for defining the zodiac based on the fixed stars,
i.e., directly tied to the eponymous zodiacal constellations, unlike Western
astrological systems.

Sidereal traditions[edit]
Hindu astrology[edit]
Main article: Ayanamsa
Further information: Jyotisha
Traditional Hindu astrology is based on the sidereal or visible zodiac, accounting for
the shift of the equinoxes by a correction called ayanamsa. The difference between
the Vedic and the Western zodiacs is currently around 24 degrees. This corresponds
to a separation of about 1,700 years, when the vernal equinox was approximately at
the center of the constellation Aries ("First Point of Aries"), and the tropical and
sidereal zodiacs coincided (around AD 290, or at 23.86 as of 2000). The separation
is believed to have taken place in the centuries following Ptolemy (second century
AD), apparently going back to Indo-Greek transmission of the system. But earlier
Greek astronomers like Eudoxus spoke of a vernal equinox at 15 in Aries, while
later Greeks spoke of a vernal equinox at 8 and then 0 in Aries (cf. p.16, S. Jim
Tester in ref.), which suggests the use of a sidereal zodiac in Greece before Ptolemy
and Hipparchus.

Sidereal western astrology[edit]

Some western astrologists have shown interest in the sidereal system during the 20th
century.

Shifted zodiac[edit]
Cyril Fagan assumed the origin of the zodiac in 786 BC, when the vernal equinox
lay somewhere in mid-Aries, based on a major conjunction that occurred that year,
[1] corresponding to a difference of some 39 degrees or days.
Most sidereal astrologers simply divide the ecliptic into 12 equal signs of 30 degrees
but approximately aligned to the 12 zodiac constellations. Assuming an origin of the
system in 786 BC, this results in a system identical to that of the classical tropical
zodiac, shifted by 25.5 days, i.e., if in tropical astrology Aries is taken to begin at
March 21, sidereal Aries will begin on April 15.

Astronomic zodiac[edit]
Main articles: Ecliptic and Zodiac
A small number of sidereal astrologers do not take the astrological signs as an equal
division of the ecliptic, but define their signs based on the actual width of the
individual constellations. They also include constellations that are disregarded by

the traditional zodiac, but are still in contact with the ecliptic.
Stephen Schmidt in 1970 introduced Astrology 14,, a system with additional signs
based on the constellations of Ophiuchus and Cetus.
In 1995, Walter Berg introduced his 13-sign zodiac, which has the additional sign of
Ophiuchus. Berg's system was well received in Japan after having his book translated
by radio host Mizui Kumi () in 1996.
For the purpose of determining the constellations in contact with the ecliptic, the
constellation boundaries as defined by the International Astronomical Union in
1930 are used. For example, the Sun enters the IAU boundary of Aries on April 19 at
the lower right corner, a position that is still rather closer to the "body" of Pisces
than of Aries. Needless to say, the IAU defined the constellation boundaries without
consideration of astrological purposes.
The dates the Sun passes through the 13 astronomical constellations of the ecliptic
are listed below, accurate to the year 2011. The dates will progress by an increment
of one day every 70.5 years. The corresponding tropical and sidereal dates are given
as well.
Constellation

Sidereal Date
Cyril Fagan

Tropical date

IAU Definition
Walter Berg[2]

Aries

April 15 - May 15

March 21 - April
20

April 18 - May 13

Taurus

May 16 - June 15

April 21 - May 20

May 13 - June 21

Gemini

June 16 - July 15

May 21 - June 20

June 21 - July 20

Cancer

July 16 - August 15 June 21 - July 22

July 20 - August 10

Leo

August 16 September 15

July 23 - August 22

August 10 September 16

Virgo

September 16 October 15

August 23 September 22

September 16 October 30

Libra

October 16 November 15

September 23 October 22

October 30 November 23

Scorpio

November 16 December 15

October 23 November 21

November 23 November 29

Ophiuchu
s

N/A

Sagittarius

December 16 January 14

November 22 December 21

December 17 January 20

Capricorn

January 15 February 14

December 22January 20

January 20 February 16

Aquarius

February 15 March 14

January 21 February 19

February 16 March 11

March 15 - April

February 19 -

March 11 - April

November 29 December 17

Ophiuchu
s

N/A

November 29 December 17

Sagittarius

December 16 January 14

November 22 December 21

December 17 January 20

Capricorn

January 15 February 14

December 22January 20

January 20 February 16

Aquarius

February 15 March 14

January 21 February 19

February 16 March 11

Pisces

March 15 - April
14

February 19 March 20

March 11 - April
18

See also[edit]

Great year
Astrology and science
Synoptical astrology

References[edit]
1. ^ http://www.solsticepoint.com
2. ^ New astrological sign: Professor finds horoscopes may be a little off kilter a
January 14, 2011 article from the Los Angeles Times
"The Real Constellations of the Zodiac.".. Dr. Lee T. Shapiro, Planetarian,, Vol 6,
#1, Spring (1977). [1]
"The Real, Real Constellations of the Zodiac.". John Mosley, Planetarian,, Vol. 28, #
4, December (1999).[2]
"The Primer of Sidereal Astrology,", Cyril Fagin and Brigadier R. C. Firebrace,
American Federation of Astrologers, Inc., (1971) ISBN 0-86690-427-1
A History of Western Astrology, by S. Jim Tester,1987, republished by Boydell
Press (January 1999),ISBN 0-85115-255-4, ISBN 978-0-85115-255-4
Raymond, Andrew (1995). Secrets of the Sphinx Mysteries of the Ages Revealed.
Hawaii: U N I Productions. ISBN0-9646954-6-4.

External links[edit]

Vedic astrology -- critically examined by Dieter Koch, with an extended

discussion of sidereal and tropical astrology.
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