Difference Between Astronomy and Astrology

These terms are often confused and many people tend to think that they have the same meaning due to the similarity between their names and that both are strongly associated with stars and planets. However both astronomy and astrology differ from each other in various ways.

ASTRONOMY Difference Between Astronomy and Astrology

This is considered as a natural science that is responsible for studying the physical and chemical properties of celestial bodies and the way in which they evolve over time. It also deals with analyzing all the phenomena that take place outside the Earth’s atmosphere, including supernovae, meteors, cosmic radiation and the way in which stars die. This is one of the oldest sciences that exist and dates back to Babylonian times, although it has also been considered as an active discipline of other civilizations such as the Chinese, Iranians and the Mayans. Astronomy was once associated with  astrometry(which focuses on what is the movement of the stars), but today the term is considered more a synonym of astrophysics. Since the invention of the telescope, it has come to be called “modern astronomy.”

ASTROLOGY

Astrology is a set of beliefs that state that there is a relationship between the position of the planets and the events that take place on Earth. This field emphasizes mapping the position of the sun and planets to determine how this affects the lives of human beings and to predict future events. Astrology is usually associated with  horoscopes , however many claim that it is much deeper than that and consider that the position of the sun, the moon and the planets play an important role in people from the moment of their birth. Astrology is considered a pseudoscience, which claims to be presented as scientific, however it lacks supporting evidence and therefore its veracity cannot be reliably proven.

Both astronomy and astrology played a very important role in civilizations such as that of the Mayans, who came to develop systems to plan and trace the positions of the planets and thus try to predict future events depending on the movement of the celestial bodies. The popularity of astrology began to decline considerably when astronomical theories such as heliocentrism appeared, which made it lose all academic validity.