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This last point– that the impacts need to be observable– is essential. Astrologists frequently grumble that tests based exclusively on sun indications are unreasonable since a sun indication’s impact represents just a portion of a whole birth chart’s significance. A sample of 20 million individuals, like Voas’s, neutralizes this objection.

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Even if the sun indication represent just, state, 0.1%of general romantic compatibility, in a sample made up of 10 million couples, this need to lead to an excess of 10,000 formed by individuals with suitable indications, above and beyond what would be anticipated if astrology had no result. Or, as the author states, “With a sufficiently large sample, we should be able to detect any tendency for some signs to attract or repel each other.”

The research study’s preliminary objective was to discover an excess of pairings in between indications considered suitable by the agreement of astrological literature. Voas composes, such an agreement was difficult to discover: “There is no great consistency among astrologers, and a survey of books and websites reveals a considerable variety of views concerning propitious pairings.” He decided for the least typical denominator, browsing for any discrepancy from fundamental possibility: “In this research I look for evidence that any combination of signs is found more or less often than would be expected to occur by chance.”

The outcomes were at least appealing: The preliminary analysis suggested an excess of couples where both partners had the exact same indication or surrounding indications– e.g., more Capricorns with Capricorns or Capricorns with Aquarians than anticipated. There had to do with 22,000 additional couples with matching indications beyond what opportunity would forecast and an extra 5,000 couples with nearby indications. Could this be astrology in action?

Voas dug much deeper into the information and found more abnormalities. The excess of couples born in the very same month was even higher (23,000) than that of couples with the very same indication, and the percentage of couples with the exact same birth date was 41% greater than anticipated by opportunity. “Now while there may be some people who are drawn to each other because they share a birthday, the excess probably reflects response error for the most part,” he composed. “Census forms are typically completed by one member of the household, and that individual may — through carelessness or forgetfulness — write in his or her birthday when entering details for the spouse.”

Other analytical abnormalities credited to mistakes consist of an excess of birth dates taped as January 1 (most likely a placeholder when the real date is unidentified), circumstances of matching days in various months, and matching months with various days. Voas’s obstacle, then, was differentiating these prospective information entry mistakes from any genuine astrological impact– if one existed.

“The partial overlap between astrological signs and months of birth allows a crucial test,” he composed, keeping in mind that the very first 10 days of the duration covered by any indication falls in one month while the other 20 approximately fall in the next (for instance, Aries ranges from March 21 to April 20). Was an individual born in the last days of March more most likely to be wed to somebody born in the early weeks of March or maybe the early weeks of April? In the very first case, their partner would be from the exact same month however a various indication; in the 2nd, from a various month however the exact same indication.

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“The results were conclusive. The couples whose birthdays belonged to the same sign but fell in different months were no more numerous than chance would dictate. By contrast, there were more combinations of birthdays from different parts of the same month than expected. This excess in shared months of birth is probably the result of response error, but in any event sun sign is not a factor.”

The small excess of couples with surrounding indications was discussed by a data-imputation method utilized in the British census to complete missing out on or illegible information. One partner’s birth date was imputed as the very first day of a month and the other’s as the very first of the following month. When these imputed information points were omitted from the sample, the “adjacent sign” impact vanished. The bottom line is that an analysis of 10 million couples in England and Wales exposed no astrological result.

Voas’s work highlights how simple it is to get lost in information or be swayed by interest. Somebody who had actually stopped at the initial step– discovering an excess of couples with the exact same indication– may have incorrectly provided census information as recognition for astrology.

This post is excerpted from What Science Says About Astrology by Carlos Orsi. Copyright (c) 2026 Columbia University Press. Utilized by plan with the Publisher. All rights scheduled.

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