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The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Also within this zodiac belt appear the Moon and the brightest planets, along their orbital planes. The zodiac is divided along the ecliptic into 12 equal parts ("signs"), each occupying 30° of celestial longitude. These signs roughly correspond to the astronomical constellations with the following modern names: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The signs have been used to determine the time of the year by identifying each sign with the days of the year the Sun is in the respective sign. In Western astrology, and formerly astronomy, the time of each sign is associated with different attributes. Though the zodiacal system and its angular measurement in 360 sexagesimal degree (°) originated with Babylonian astronomy during the 1st millennium BC. It was only then communicated into Greek astronomy by the 2nd century BC, as well as into developing the Hindu zodiac. Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the time of year that the Sun is in a given constellation has changed since Babylonian times, and the point of March equinox has moved from Aries into Pisces. The zodiac forms a celestial coordinate system, or more specifically an ecliptic coordinate system, which takes the ecliptic as the origin of latitude and the Sun's position at vernal equinox as the origin of longitude. In modern astronomy, the ecliptic coordinate system is still used for tracking Solar System objects. Name The English word zodiac derives from zōdiacus, the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek zōdiakòs kýklos (ζῳδιακός κύκλος), meaning "cycle or circle of little animals". Zōdion (ζῴδιον) is the diminutive of zōon (ζῷον, "animal"). The name reflects the prominence of animals (and mythological hybrids) among the twelve signs. Usage The zodiac was in use by the Roman era, based on concepts inherited by Hellenistic astronomy from Babylonian astronomy of the Chaldean period (mid-1st millennium BC), which, in turn, derived from an earlier system of lists of stars along the ecliptic. The construction of the zodiac is described in Ptolemy's comprehensive 2nd century AD work, the Almagest. Although the zodiac remains the basis of the ecliptic coordinate system in use in astronomy besides the equatorial one, the term and the names of the twelve signs are today mostly associated with horoscopic astrology. The term "zodiac" may also refer to the region of the celestial sphere encompassing the paths of the planets corresponding to the band of about 8 arc degrees above and below the ecliptic. The zodiac of a given planet is the band that contains the path of that particular body; e.g., the "zodiac of the Moon" is the band of 5° above and below the ecliptic. By extension, the "zodiac of the comets" may refer to the band encompassing most short-period comets. History Early history As early as the 14th century BC a complete list of the 36 Egyptian decans was placed among the hieroglyphs adorning the tomb of Seti I; they figured again in the temple of Ramesses II, and characterize every Egyptian astrological monument. Both the famous zodiacs of Dendera display their symbols, identified by Karl Richard Lepsius. The division of the ecliptic into the zodiacal signs originates in Babylonian astronomy during the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The zodiac draws on stars in earlier Babylonian star catalogues, such as the MUL.APIN catalogue, which was compiled around 1000 BC. Some constellations can be traced even further back, to Bronze Age (Old Babylonian Empire) sources, including Gemini "The Twins", from Sumerian: 𒀯𒈦𒋰𒁀𒃲𒃲, romanized: MULMAŠ.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL "The Great Twins"; Cancer "The Crab", from Sumerian: 𒀯𒀠𒇻, romanized: MULAL.LUL "The Crayfish", among others. Around the end of the fifth century BC, Babylonian astronomers divided the ecliptic into 12 equal "signs", by analogy to 12 schematic months of 30 days each. Each sign contained 30° of celestial longitude, thus creating the first known celestial coordinate system. According to calculations by modern astrophysics, the zodiac was introduced between 409 and 398 BC, during Persian rule, and probably within a very few years of 401 BC. Unlike modern astrologers, who place the beginning of the sign of Aries at the position of the Sun at the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere (March equinox), Babylonian astronomers fixed the zodiac in relation to stars, placing the beginning of Cancer at the "Rear Twin Star" (β Geminorum) and the beginning of Aquarius at the "Rear Star of the Goat-Fish" (δ Capricorni). Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the time of year the Sun is in a given constellation has changed since Babylonian times, as the point of March equinox has moved from Aries into Pisces. Because the divisions were made into equal arcs of 30° each, they constituted an ideal system of reference for making predictions about a planet's longitude. However, Babylonian techniques of observational measurements were in a rudimentary stage of evolution. They measured the position of a planet in reference to a set of "normal stars" close to the ecliptic (±9° of latitude). The normal stars were used as observational reference points to help position a planet within this ecliptic coordinate system. In Babylonian astronomical diaries, a planet position was generally given with respect to a zodiacal sign alone, though less often in specific degrees within a sign. When the degrees of longitude were given, they were expressed with reference to the 30° of the zodiacal sign, i.e., not with a reference to the continuous 360° ecliptic. In astronomical ephemerides, the positions of significant astronomical phenomena were computed in sexagesimal fractions of a degree (equivalent to minutes and seconds of arc). For daily ephemerides, the daily positions of a planet were not as important as the astrologically significant dates when the planet crossed from one zodiacal sign to the next. Hebrew astronomy and astrology Knowledge of the Babylonian zodiac is said to be reflected in the Hebrew Bible; E. W. Bullinger interpreted the creatures that appear in the book of Ezekiel (1:10) as the middle signs of the four quarters of the zodiac, with the Lion as Leo, the Bull as Taurus, the Man as Aquarius and the Eagle as a higher aspect of Scorpio. Some authors have linked the signs of the zodiac with the twelve tribes of Israel, and with the lunar Hebrew calendar, which has twelve lunar months in a lunar year. Martin and others have argued that the arrangement of the tribes around the Tabernacle (reported in the Book of Numbers) corresponded to the order of the zodiac, with Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan representing the middle signs of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio, respe.... Discover the Zodiac Shifters popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Zodiac Shifters books.