What's the difference between astronomy and astrology?

I always get astronomy and astrology mixed up! Which is which? Can an astrologer do astronomy and vice versa?

Astrology is a pseudo-science which claims that the positions of the heavenly bodies have an effect on the lives of human beings and events on Earth.

A long time ago, astronomy and astrology were the same. People studied the motions of the planets and hoped to used them to predict not only the behavior of the heavens, but also wars, natural disasters, the rise and fall of kings, and other earthly matters. However, around the time of Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton, astronomers came to realize that astrology was basically bunk. From that time on, the primary job of an astronomer was to use physics to understand what was going on in the sky.

Some people stuck to astrology, though. Astrologers use computer programs that tell them the positions of the planets (using the work of real scientists, incidentally), and they do not look through telescopes or learn about stars and planets and galaxies and so forth like astronomers do--except perhaps for fun.

Astrology has many of the trappings of real science, like math and complicated diagrams and a specialized vocabulary, but astrologers do not follow the scientific method. Real scientists make careful measurements in well-controlled studies. Astrologers don't do experiments to prove their theories. Instead, they like to provide anecdotal evidence--stories people tell about how accurate they think astrology is. Anecdotal evidence is not acceptable in a real science because it's too easy to leave out all the negative experiences people have, and people not very good at recalling and accurately reporting experiences.

Don't refer to an astronomer as an astrologer!

January 2002, Britt Scharringhausen (more by Britt Scharringhausen) (Like this Answer)

Still Curious?

Get More 'Curious?' with Our New PODCAST:

Related questions:

More questions about Careers in Astronomy: Previous | Next

How to ask a question:

If you have a follow-up question concerning the above subject, submit it here. If you have a question about another area of astronomy, find the topic you're interested in from the archive on our site menu, or go here for help.

URL: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=34
This page has been accessed 58348 times since April 29, 2002.
Last modified: October 18, 2005 7:10:43 PM

Legal questions? See our copyright, disclaimer and privacy policy.
Ask an Astronomer is hosted by the Astronomy Department at Cornell University and is produced with PHP and MySQL.