Short answers, pulled from the story.
Astrology in a systematic form can be traced to the first dynasty of Babylon, which ran from 1950 to 1651 BCE, where the oldest undisputed evidence of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is found. Earlier lunar tracking appears in cave wall and bone markings dating back as far as 25,000 years ago, and a form of astrology was practised in the Old Babylonian period around 1800 BCE.
Astrology has been classified as pseudoscientific since the 18th century because controlled scientific tests have found no evidence supporting its premises or claimed effects. A landmark study published in Nature in 1985, using a double-blind protocol agreed upon by both physicists and astrologers, found that predictions based on natal astrology were no better than chance. There is no proposed mechanism by which planetary positions could affect human lives that does not contradict basic principles of biology and physics.
The 1985 study, published in Nature, asked 28 astrologers to match over a hundred natal charts to psychological profiles generated by the California Psychological Inventory questionnaire. The double-blind experimental protocol was agreed upon by physicists and astrologers nominated by the National Council for Geocosmic Research. The study found that natal astrology predictions were no better than chance, and concluded that the testing "clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis."
Babylonian astrology spread to Egypt after Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BCE, where it merged with Egyptian Decanic astrology in Alexandria to form horoscopic astrology. Greek influence carried it to Rome, and after the 7th-century Arab conquest of Alexandria, Islamic scholars translated Hellenistic texts into Arabic and Persian. In the 12th century, those Arabic texts were imported to Europe and translated into Latin, with Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos translated by Plato of Tivoli in 1138.
A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that 27% of US adults believe in astrology, up from 25% recorded in both a 2005 Gallup poll and a 2009 Pew survey. The National Science Foundation's 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators study noted that in 2012, the share of Americans saying astrology was "not at all scientific" was the lowest since 1983.
Several major astronomers of the Renaissance and early modern period served as court astrologers, including Tycho Brahe at the royal court of Denmark, Johannes Kepler to the Habsburgs, and Galileo Galilei to the Medici. Kepler was driven by a belief in harmonies between earthly and celestial affairs, yet privately described the activities of most astrologers as "evil-smelling dung."