Astronomy Vs. Astrology

Astronomy vs. Astrology

This week we were asked to write a paper discussing the difference between astronomy and astrology. Astrology and astronomy grew up together throughout a large portion of human history. However, the two have been separated for centuries, and because so many people mistakenly think that astrology is some kind of science, it often happens that the two are even today still confused with one another. Astronomy is the science of mapping the positions and movements of celestial bodies. It tries to discover what these bodies are made of, and where they came from, using sophisticated technical equipment. This scientific endeavor grew out of three traditional studies that had concerned themselves with practical uses for our observations of the stars - astrology, navigation and chronometry. Astrology is not a science. Astrology is not based upon collected data and carefully controlled, objective observations. Astrology is not based upon falsifiable predictions that are tested and re-tested by independent observers and researchers. Astrology is based upon a belief that one's personality has its origins in the locations of distant stars and planets at the time of one's birth. It also assumes and attempts to interpret the influence of the heavenly bodies on earthly affairs.

Astronomy is the constant study of space and its contents. There is always something new found. For example a few months back NASA-funded researchers discovered the most distant object orbiting Earth's sun.

"NASA planned a Monday press conference to offer more details about Sedna, a planetoid between 800 miles and 1,100 miles in diameter, or about three-quarters the size of Pluto.

Named for the Inuit goddess who created the sea creatures of the Arctic, Sedna lies more than three times farther from the sun than Pluto. It was discovered in November.

"The sun appears so small from that distance that you could completely block it out with the head of a pin," said Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology who led the NASA-funded team that found Sedna.

That makes Sedna the largest object found orbiting the sun since the discovery of Pluto, the ninth planet, in 1930. It trumps in size another world, called Quaoar, discovered by the same team in 2002.

Brown and his colleagues estimate the temperature on Sedna never rises above 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, making it the coldest known body in the solar system." (http://www.blinne.org/blog/2004/03/new_planet_disc.html)

Oddly enough, considering that astrology has to do with planetary movements, astrologers no longer look at the sky, and haven't for hundreds of years. No one ever bothered, over the years, to update or correct the various charts and tables from which astrological readings were made. There was finally an attempt to correct all the various charts just a few years ago, but it wasn't very successful. For this reason, no modern astronomer will ever be an astrologer, simply because the data used by astrologers bears no relation to what is actually seen in the sky. So in short, astrology is a belief based in outdated information.

In a detailed comparison the difference

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