The significance of the zodiac stems from the fact that the ecliptic - the narrow path on the sky that the Sun, Moon, and planets appear to follow - runs directly through these star groupings. Though many people start their days by checking their horoscope in the newspaper, the 12 constellations of the zodiac are no more important to astronomers than the other 76 constellations. How do the signs of the zodiac relate to astronomy? To clear up the confusion, names and boundaries were "officially" assigned to 88 constellations by the International Astronomical Union in 1930, providing complete coverage of the entire sky. In fact, by the 19th century the night sky had become crowded with overlapping and often contradictory constellation boundaries and names as different schools of astronomy prepared their own versions of star maps. Of course, many of the constellation names are more modern - Telescopium, the telescope, being a rather obvious newcomer. Orion, the hunter, bears a Greek name, but had been seen as a hunter-hero figure since the times of ancient Babylon. refer to the star group as "Ip," the scorpion king. Scorpius, for instance, was given its name from the Latin word for scorpion, but ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs from before 3000 B.C. Most constellation names are Latin in origin, dating from the Roman empire, but their meanings often originated in the distant past of human civilization. How did the constellations get their names?
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