Comparative essay: Astronomy vs. Astrology

Astronomy vs. Astrology

Since ancient times, planets, stars, celestial bodies, asteroids, meteors, comets and galaxies have been very influential in decisions regarding war, farming, and the course of boats, among other important activities of the moment.

In prehistoric times, the men continually struggled to survive, they focused their attention on the environment, and they tried to meet it, because only in that way the life would be assured. They perceive then, not only by curiosity but also by necessity, the first astronomical phenomena.

The position of the sun, moon and planets dictated the lives of kings and bigwigs, although later the Greeks the democratized making horoscopes according personal positions at birth. Many kings went to people who were dedicated to analyze all events in space, many kings were not going to war, if they observed any anomaly or strange event in heaven, and when they lost a war, they blame these celestial events for their misfortune. That is how astrology and astronomy were taking importance and were consolidated as important activities, but only one of those activities would become in a science.

However it is important to distinguish them, inasmuch as each is dedicated to very different activities, and although they share some similarities, it is essential to examine the characteristic aspects of each of them.

Before the seventeenth century both terms had the same meaning, the study of the stars, especially the laws governing their movements. But with the passage of time it would be defined that astronomy is the oldest science, that dating back to the beginnings of civilization, to the time of the Babylonians, who more than 3,000 years before Christ had already recognized numerous constellations and established a calendar based on the regularity of certain astronomical phenomena. On the contrary, astrology is not a science but a practical activity that uses the study of the stars for allegedly know and predict the fate of human beings.

In fact, “the Encyclopedia Britannica notes that astrology has also been defined as a pseudoscience and considered as diametrically opposed to the theories and findings of modern science” (Hidalgo, 2000)

Though the practices of astrology and astronomy have common roots, there is an important distinction between astrology and astronomy today. Astronomy is the study of the universe and its contents outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomers examine the positions, motions, and properties of celestial objects. Astrology attempts to study how those positions, motions, and properties affect people and events on Earth. For several millennia, the desire to improve astrological predictions was one of the main motivations for astronomical observations and theories.

Astrology continued to be part of mainstream science until the late 1600s, when Isaac Newton demonstrated some of the physical processes by which celestial bodies affect each other. Since then, astronomy has evolved into a completely separate field, where predictions about celestial phenomena are made and tested using the scientific method. In contrast, astrology is now regarded as a pastime and a pseudoscience though thousands of people around the world still invoke advice from astrologers and astrology publications in making important professional, medical, and personal experiences.

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