"What's Your Sign? Turns Out, Maybe It's Not"

: Thanks for being with us.

PARKE KUNKLE: Thank you, Scott. It's a pleasure to be here.

: First, I've always wanted to begin an interview this way. What's your sign?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

KUNKLE: I usually tell people I'm a vegetarian.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

: Now, I also have to ask. This 13th sign you've come up with - Ophiuchus?

KUNKLE: Ophiuchus, yes.

: A guy in my line of work could get into an awful lot of trouble trying to pronounce it.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

KUNKLE: I understand. It's tough enough for us astronomers to do it.

: Why was this called for? What was wrong with the Babylonian calendar?

KUNKLE: But today the sun is in Sagittarius. And it's just due to the wobble or the precession of the Earth's axis.

: How new is this wobble? I mean has...

KUNKLE: Right.

: ...have we always wobbled or is this just something since the Mets won the World Series in 1969?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

KUNKLE: That could have caused a little wiggle and wobble. The Earth has been precessing, wobbling like this, for billions of years. We just, as humans, found out about it in about 130 B.C. And basically astronomers and astrologers have been talking about it ever since.

: For people who believe in it, does this render every horoscope moot?

KUNKLE: I think probably not. Astrologers aren't really using the actual position of the sun in the real constellation. So I don't think it's going to change anything in astrology. But the sun actually goes through Ophiuchus for about 18 days in December, so it'd be kind of fun to be born in early December. You could be an Ophiuchan then.

: I wonder if the word had been minted. I don't mind telling you, it could be fun to tell someone I'm an Ophiuchan.

KUNKLE: It actually could be. And Ophiuchus is a serpent-bearer so I can imagine all sorts of stories.

: Thanks very much for being with us.

KUNKLE: (Soundbite of song, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"

THE FIFTH DIMENSION: (Singing) And love will steer the stars. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Age of Aquarius. Aquarius...

: This NPR News.