I m going to remove the notion that the ecliptic didn t cross Ophiuchus before 1930 since it is clearly contradicted by this Ophiuchus The story seems to be that before 1930 the area that now only belongs to Ophiuchus belonged to two or more constellations In order to formalize it astronomers had to choose one If they choose one of the astrological signs they would avoid angering astrologers If they choose Ophiuchus one of the most important documents in astronomy Kepler s De stella nova in pede Serpentarii On the New Star in Ophiuchus s Foot would still be meaningful to future astronomers They would also honor Kepler and Ptolemy who first described the constellation over 1700 years earlier It comes as no surprise that they acted as they did 01 18 2005 Feb 24 UTC