NASA hits back at 'new' star sign saying 'We did not change the zodiac'

After news stories started circulating across the Internet earlier this week about a 'new' star sign being discovered by NASA, the American space agency, have now hit back saying, 'No, we did not change the zodiac.'

In a tweet which has now been liked more than 14K times, they say, 'When the Babylonians invented the constellations 3,000 years ago, they chose to leave out a 13th sign'.

Going on to explain that they just, 'did the math', although the Babylonians discovered 13 star signs they stuck to the 12 we know today because they (like us) had a 12 month calendar.

So, it's good news for those who didn't like their 'new' star sign, and perhaps bad news for those who liked the idea.

Star signs are determined by where the Sun appears in the sky during the time that you were born, and for a short period of time at the end of November/beginning of December, the Sun lies in the constellation Ophiuchus, which is where the idea of the 13th star sign came from.

As we reported earlier this week, the news, although an old story, seems to have recently resurfaced quoting NASA's old blog article.

Take a look at the 'new' dates for the star signs:

Whilst many people get Astrology (star signs) and Astronomy (science) mixed up, there is still time to view the NEOWISE comet, which is visible, low over the Northern horizon.

You can expect to see Comet NEOWISE in both the evening and morning sky. It is currently visible with the naked eye, however with a telescope or binoculars it has been described as a 'beautiful sight', according to Sky and Telescope.

Now take a look at 10 things you probably didn't know about shooting stars.

• Star signs
• comet