From Aries to Pisces or Sagittarius to Scorpio. There is a horoscope shake-up happening across the world. Astronomers say the dates most astrologists have been using to figure out zodiac signs are out of date by around 3,000 years. Thousands of people woke up to the realization that they aren't who they thought they were. Worse still, neither was that partner they always thought they were so compatible with based on their astrological signs, because it was announced recently that new to the zodiac, a thirteenth sign: Ophiuchus. Astronomers say the sun actually is in the constellation from late November to mid–December.

從牡羊座到雙魚座或射手座到天蠍座，全世界的星座已經起了大變動。天文學家說，大半占星學家一向用來推算12星座的日期已過時了約3000年之久。無數人一覺醒來忽然發現，他們並非過去認定所屬的星座。更糟的是，他們的伴侶也不是他們過去根據占星術推算很麻吉的星座，因為日前宣布黃道12宮新增第13個星座：蛇夫座。天文學家說，11月下旬到12月中旬太陽在蛇夫座。

Every 72 years, the sun moves to the west one degree from the human perspective from the earth, Arrowhead Astronomical Society moderator Eric Norland said. Your sign is determined by the sun's position in the constellations during your birth and its relation to the equinox. The problem is the dates typically used to describe where the earth is in the sky are ancient. “The earth is kind of like a top that's spinning that has a little bit of a wobble to it, on the axis of the earth and that causes the shifting of the sun's position and astrologists are just going off old information,” Norland said.

亞羅海德天文學會主持人諾蘭說，每隔72年，人類從地球角度看，太陽往西移動一度。星座取決於太陽在你出生時的星座位置以及它和春分的關係。問題是，通常用來表述地球在天空位置的日期早就過時。諾蘭說：「地球有點像不斷打轉的陀螺，在地球軸心上有點搖晃，導致太陽位置變動，占星學家只是要甩掉古老的信息。」

“Over the 2,500 years or so since the zodiac was established, your sign has moved about a month relative to the sun and stars,” wrote Robert Roy Britt in a posting on LiveScience. “You're no longer what you think you are, and so if you're an astrology buff, perhaps poised to make a New Year's resolution based on the stars and a reading of your supposed personality, know that you're actually following observations, predictions and advice aimed at another person entirely.”

「自從黃道十二宮約2500年前確立以來，相對於太陽和星星，你的星座已偏移了約1個月。」布里特在《生活科學》網站上貼文寫道：「你不再是原來認定的星座，所以如果你是占星迷，也許正準備根據星象許下新年新計畫，並開釋你的個性，結果，其實你的觀察、卜算和建議全是另一個人的。」

The shift in the alignment of the stars, which has come about because the earth has been wobbling on its axis for millennia, means most people go back a sign. Parke Kunkle（AP）, who teaches astronomy at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, told an interviewer that the moon's gravitational pull has made the earth “wobble” around its axis in a process called precession. That has created about a one-month bump in the stars' alignment, meaning that warm-hearted, patient Taurus becomes selfish, quick-tempered Aries. Eminently practical and prudent Capricorns are now blindly optimistic and careless Sagittarians. And many Sagittarians are now Ophiucus.

這種星座排列之所以改變，是因地球軸心已經搖擺數千年，這意味大多數人得退回一個星座。明尼亞波利斯社區技術學院的天文學教授昆克爾（見圖／美聯社）告訴採訪記者說，月球引力作用使地球繞著軸心「擺動」，這個過程稱為「歲差」。這已使星座排列產生了約一個月的偏移，換言之，熱心耐心的金牛座也變成自私性急的牡羊座。個性十分務實審慎的摩羯座，現在則變成盲目樂觀、粗心大意的射手座。很多射手座現在則變成蛇夫座。

Oh what? Ophiucus. It's the hitherto little-heard-of 13th astrological sign. Apparently the Babylonians had an Ophiucus column in their daily horoscopes but it got dropped somewhere between their civilization and ours. In any case, news of the celestial shift and of Ophiucus's resurrection sent astrology buffs reeling. They were pondering some of the other existential questions raised by the change.

你說什麼？蛇夫座。這是迄今很少聽到的第13個星座。古巴比倫人在日常星座中有個蛇夫座列，沒想到介於他們的文明和我們今天的文明之間，它消失了。無論如何，星象改變和蛇夫座復活這個新聞，使占星迷大為震驚。他們正在想些其他因為這項改變而衍生的問題。

What, for instance, are Ophiucus's personality traits? What signs are compatible with Ophiucans? Knowing that famous Ophiucans include the late Sir Winston Churchill, rocker and reality show star Ozzy Osbourne, the late US comedian Richard Pryor, and pop star Britney Spears, all of whom were born between November 29 and December 17, sheds little light on what the sign's personality traits are.

例如，什麼是蛇夫座的個性特質？什麼星座和蛇夫座比較合拍？據了解，蛇夫座名流包括已故英國前首相邱吉爾、搖滾歌手兼真人秀明星奧茲奧斯本、美國已故喜劇演員理查普萊爾和流行歌手「小甜甜」布蘭妮，所有這些人都在11月29日至12月17日之間出生，但這無助於了解這個星座的共同人格特質。

The news of the heavenly shift is in fact old -- Britt's story links to another published on LiveScience in 2007, in which the shift in the heavens and Ophiucus were announced, and John Abbott wrote his piece in 1996, which is why he didn't mention Britney Spears -- she released her debut album in 1999. Britts and Abbott both point out that astrology is not a science, a hint that no one was supposed to take the redrawing of the zodiac map too seriously.

有關這項星象轉變的新聞其實早已不是新聞，布里特的報導連結到2007年發表在《生活科學》網站上的另一篇報導，當時也宣布天上的星座位移及發現蛇夫座，約翰‧艾伯特也早在1996年發表文章寫過，這也是他未提布蘭妮的原因，小甜甜1999年才發行首張專輯。布里特和艾伯特都指出，占星術不是一門科學，暗指大家不應太看重十二星座的重畫。

But for some reason, the whole thing went viral after the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis picked up the story and got an astronomer -- a real scientist -- to comment on it. The astronomer was swamped with phone calls, and the Star Tribune's website got more than 183,000 hits in one day. “If we had checked our horoscope, maybe we would have seen this coming,” chuckled the Star Tribune's Bill Ward in his column.

但由於某些原因，在明尼亞波利斯《明星論壇報》刊出報導，並請一位真正科學家出身的天文學家對此發表評論後，整件事有如病毒般迅速蔓延。這位天文學家電話塞爆，《明星論壇報》網站一天內逾18.3萬人點閱。該報的沃德在專欄中調侃說：「如果我們查查我們的星座，也許可以預見這件事的到來。」

According to a survey conducted in 2009 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a quarter of Americans believe in astrology. That's 75 million people who could now be worried that someone is trying to Ophiucus.

據「皮優宗教與公共生活論壇」2009年一項調查顯示，1/4美國人相信占星術，換言之，有7500萬人現在很擔心，有人試圖搞出一個蛇夫座。