Does Astrology Work?

‘Astrology' is a taboo word among scientists. This is largely understandable since, at first sight, there is no credible mechanism whereby the positions and alignments of the planets might have any effect on events taking place here on the earth. Because of the distances involved, the gravitational effects of bodies other than the sun or moon are much too weak to have any observable effects on our own environment. Also, any ‘astrology' based on the positioning of planets within the constellations can have no physical validity, since the constellations themselves are merely arbitrary patterns delineated in the stellar background.