Any other Ophiuchuses out there?
Ophiuchus – the Serpent Bearer – is the missing sign of the zodiac:
http://www.griffithobs.org/SkyOphiuchus.html
If you were born between November 30 and December 17, the sun was in this constellation on your birthday. I’m proud to say I am one, but am unsure precisely what I should be proud of. Fellow dopers, what are the characteristics of those born under this sign?
I am so disillusioned.
I thought I was a Taurus all this time, and now it says that I am really an Aries.
I always thought that I had the characteristics associated with Taurus, but now that I am an Aries acting like a Taurus most of the time-
It goes to show that, i guess, that people who act like their signs is a self-fulfiling prophecy.
Aw, nuts. I have to be an Aries now?
Oh yes-
I am familiar with the constellation Ophiucus. It’s the guy holding a snake, around Virgo, Bootes, and Sags.
But how the hell do you pronounce his name?
Ophiuchus was the doctor in Greek mythology. When Hera sent a scorpion to kill Orion, it was Ophiuchus who healed him and brought him back to life, which is why Orion rises every year.
The snake- that’s one theory as to why snakes are used in the caduceous (SP?)- the thing that symbolizes medicine.
Then Hera sent a big eagle to come and kill Ophiuchus. That’s why the constellation Aquila is hovering menacingly over Ophiuchus.
I still don’t know what sort of traits the people of th8is sun sign supposedly possess.
Dang! I’m actually a Leo! Cool!
Boy… this screws up my whole family.
Pardon me, but I AM NOT a Taurus! I will always be a proud and fickle Gemini, no matter where the stars lie!
I know very little about the zodiac so here’s a question:
I am “on the cusp” i.e. Jan. 19 is the first day of capricorn. What is the significance if any?
Still cancer and still a moody, emotional flake. 
:mad:
If I remember my copy of Uranometria 2000.0 correctly, the ecliptic just barely passes through the constellation of Cetus the Whale, with the result that the Sun spends just one or two days there. I don’t have this fascinating book to hand, unfortunately - anyone out there able to verify this?
oh-fee-OO-kus (or I’ve also heard it oh-fee-OO-chus )
Well, as one (born Dec 1), I’d say we posses a skeptical mind and a strong disbelief in astrology. (Oh, and stunning good looks combined with an appealing modesty) 
Fenris
Olentzero, all I had was my Audubon field guide, and it didn’t show the ecliptic in Cetus; and I believe that Wil Tirion did the maps for Uranometria as well as for Audubon?
Hell, is there anyone who does star maps except Wil Tirion?
I did a large feature story on Ophiuchus years ago for my college paper. I talked to a local astrologer about why there are only 12 signs in the Zodiac even though the ecliptic slighly clips the edge of Ophiuchus. His reasoning essentially boiled down to a variation of “Ummm … just because.”
I thought my wife had made up the sign “Ophiuchus.” She claims to be an Orion, because the Sun is in Orion for about ten hours on June 18th.
Hmmm, when the story came out on CNN in 1995, they pronounced it “Oh-FIE-uh-cuss” (where FIE rhymes w/ ‘pie’). But they could be wrong and you could be right. And aside from adding my opinion that’s astrology’s all a load of codswallop, that’s my contribution to the conversation…