Archive for March, 2007

Full Moon in Libra – April 2, 2007, 17:15 UT

Friday, March 30th, 2007

The FULL MOON at 12+ Libra is in conjunction with cubewano 2003 EL61 (at 13+ Libra) and plutino Rhadamanthus (at 14+ Libra).

In July 2005 the existence of three big and bright new objects was announced. One of them was Eris and another one was 2003 EL61. Mike Brown’s team — the discoverer of Eris and many of the recently found new planets — nicknamed EL61 “Santa,” because they were observing it around Christmastime in 2004. Officially it is still without a name.

EL61 is the third brightest Kuiper Belt Object and its size is about 3/4 of the size of Pluto. It is one of the strangest objects in our solar system. Mike Brown tells on his website that in the very distant past another object slammed into EL61 at high speed, and this giant impact led to all of the odd properties of EL61.

EL61 is the fastest rotating body and also the most bizarrely shaped body of its size class. The rotation period is only about four hours. The shape of EL61 is therefore stretched out and resembles an American football. The rotation time is near the point where body of this size starts to break down.

EL61 has two tiny moons and it is followed in its orbit around the Sun by a swarm of icy bodies that were originally ejected from the surface of EL61 during the giant impact.

EL61 is on an unstable orbit and possibly becomes a comet one day in the future, in perhaps 1 billion years. According to Mike Brown, it will probably be 10,000 times brighter than the spectacular comet Hale-Bopp, making it something like the brightness of the full moon and easily visible in the daytime sky.

Now back to the Libra Full Moon aspects. The Moon, 2003 EL61, and Rhadamanthus are sextile to Vesta and Ixion on the Great Attractor and form a trine aspect to Chiron-Nessus conjunction in Aquarius. The Moon semisquares plutino Orcus in Leo and sesquisquares Mars in Aquarius.

The Sun is trineing Vesta and Ixion on the Great Attractor. The Sun semisquares Mars and forms an accurate septile to Neptune.

Mercury and Uranus are on the North Node. They both are square to Jupiter and Quaoar in Sagittarius. Mercury makes a quincunx to Saturn in Leo and a sextile to Venus-Sedna conjunction in Taurus. Venus-Sedna conjunction squares both Saturn and Neptune and forms thus a T-square with the Saturn-Neptune opposition.

Mars at 27+ Aquarius opposes Orcus tightly, makes a trine to asteroid Arachne in Gemini, and sextiles retrograding Pluto on the Galactic Core. Pluto opposes Arachne. Mercury has passed its echo phase less than a week before, and now Mars has started to follow Mercury’s footprints through the same degrees which Mercury went through during its retrogradation. Mars reached 25+ Aquarius — the point where Mercury stationed direct — on March 31, the same day on which Pluto stationed retrograde. Two days after the April New Moon Mars will have made its way through those degrees.

Asteroid Sphinx in Leo has stationed direct at the moment of the Full Moon. Sphinx is conjunct Saturn, sesquisquare the Aries Point, and quincunx Uranus and the North Node.

Chiron semisquares the Aries Point and Pluto on the Galactic Core. Chiron sextiles Vesta, Ixion and the Great Attractor. Chiron = Pluto/Aries Point. Vesta = Moon/Chiron.

Neptune septiles Pluto. Neptune = Sun/Pluto. Jupiter in Sagittarius sextiles Neptune, which in turn sextiles the triple conjunction of Asbolus, Eris, and 1992 QB1 in Aries. Asbolus, Eris, and 1992 QB1 are in triple conjunction within one degree.

Nessus = 10 Aquarius 30
Ixion = 13 Sagittarius 24 r
2003 EL61 = 13 Libra 31 r
Rhadamanthus = 14 Libra 02 r
Sphinx = 16 Leo 05 SD
Urania = 16 Aquarius 16
Quaoar = 17 Sagittarius 39 r
Sedna = 19 Taurus 31
1992 QB1 = 20 Aries 26
Eris = 20 Aries 47
Asbolus = 21 Aries 07
Orcus = 27 Leo 13 r
Arachne = 28 Gemini 42

Aries Equinox – March 21, 2007, 00:07 UT

Friday, March 16th, 2007

THE SUN is conjunct dwarf planet Ceres and centaur planet Bienor. Ceres is in the first degree of Aries together with the Sun, Bienor still in the late degrees of Pisces. The Sun squares Pluto and the Galactic Core.

The Moon is in conjunction with centaur planet Asbolus, dwarf planet Eris (both in Aries), and Venus (in Taurus). The Moon and Venus both are trineing Pluto. The Moon opposes asteroid Juno and centaur planet Echeclus. The opposition between the Moon and comet-like Echeclus is tight.

Mars is in conjunction with Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius and opposite retrograding Saturn. Mars sextiles Jupiter and cubewano Quaoar in Sagittarius and Asbolus in Aries. Jupiter and asteroid Toro are trineing Asbolus and Eris. Neptune septiles Pluto. Chiron is semisquare to the Sun and to the Aries Point and also to Pluto.

Asbolus is approaching Eris and the exact conjunction is going to happen at 20+ degrees Aries on the 30th of March, the day before Pluto stations retrograde. Actually there is a meeting of three planets: Asbolus, Eris, and 1992 QB1.

1992 QB1 was the first object which was discovered beyond Pluto. The discoverers, David Jewitt and Jane Luu, spent several years on top of Mauna Kea searching the sky without any certainty that they would actually find anything from the region. Then finally, in August 1992, they found a faint object, 1992 QB1. The discovery position was the first degree of Aries, the point at which we are having the Sun on the 21st of March — the Aries Point.

The discovery of 1992 QB1 proved that the Kuiper Belt existed. In the 1950s, astronomer Gerard Kuiper had suggested that the belt was the source of short period comets, but the belt had remained theoretical. The belt was named after Kuiper after the discovery of 1992 QB1, and QB1 has given its name to a whole class of objects since — cubewanos (also called classical Kuiper Belt Objects).

Asbolus, Eris, and 1992 QB1 almost met already in the summer of 2006 within one degree orb but they did not quite make it then. All three went into retrograde motion and Asbolus, which is the fastest of these three bodies, began to draw away from the other two again. Since January 2007 they have all been moving direct again. The next couple of weeks following the Aries Equinox, these three planets will be travelling together in a conjunction within one degree.

Quaoar = 17 Sagittarius 42 r
Asbolus = 19 Aries 45
1992 QB1 = 20 Aries 05
Eris = 20 Aries 39
Toro = 20 Sagittarius 47
Echeclus = 26 Libra 13 r
Bienor = 28 Pisces 27

Partial Solar Eclipse of March 2007

Friday, March 16th, 2007

New Moon in Pisces – March 19, 2007, 02:43 UT

The eclipse occurs on the North Node conjunct the Aries Point.

A PILE of planets in Pisces is squaring another pile in Sagittarius. The Sun and the Moon in the late degrees of Pisces are in conjunction with dwarf planet Ceres and centaur planet Bienor and square to Pluto and the Galactic Core. The Greek name Bienor means “Strong One.” Uranus is on the North Node. The eclipse point is semisextile Pallas and semisquare Chiron, both in Aquarius, and quincunx asteroid Pandora and plutino Orcus in Leo.

Mercury, which has ingressed second time to Pisces on the previous day, is in conjunction with two main belt asteroids, Pallas and Icarus, and opposing Pandora and Orcus. Mercury sextiles Venus in Taurus and Pluto in Sagittarius. Mercury is still in the echo phase.

Venus in Taurus in its own sign trines Pluto and semisquares Uranus. Venus forms an aspect to all female centaurs: she opposes Chariklo, quincunxes Hylonome and squares Okyrhoe.

Urania, Nessus, Chiron, Mars, Neptune, Amor, and Pallas are in a stellium in Aquarius. Mars-Neptune conjunction opposes tightly Saturn and asteroid Sphinx. Mars semisquares the Aries Point.

The Fire Trine, formed by Saturn in Leo, Jupiter and asteroid Toro in Sagittarius, and dwarf planet Eris and centaur Asbolus in Aries is holding. The Grand Trine is completed as a Kite configuration by Neptune in Aquarius, only this time asteroid Amor instead of Pallas conjunct Neptune.

The Fixed Grand Cross formed by Saturn, Apollo, Sedna, and Neptune is more accurate than what it was at the moment of the Total Lunar Eclipse earlier this month. Neptune septiles Pluto. Ixion and Hopi are still on the Great Attractor.

Jupiter, Saturn, Asbolus, Neptune, Logos, Eris, Sedna, Apollo, and Toro are all at +19/+20 degrees aspecting each other tightly.

Chiron semisquares Pluto. Chiron = the Sun-Moon/Pluto.

Icarus = 0 Pisces 22
Chariklo = 1 Scorpio 13 r
Hylonome= 1 Sagittarius 40 r
Urania = 9 Aquarius 56
Nessus = 9 Aquarius 58
Ixion = 13 Sagittarius 28 r
Hopi = 14 Sagittarius 58
Sphinx = 16 Leo 58 r
Logos = 19 Virgo 04 r
Sedna = 19 Taurus 23
Asbolus= 19 Aries 33
Toro= 20 Sagittarius 21
Eris = 20 Aries 38
Apollo = 20 Scorpio 58
Amor = 21 Aquarius 26
Orcus = 27 Leo 26 r
Bienor = 28 Pisces 20
Pandora = 28 Leo 34 r
Okyrhoe = 29 Cancer 01 r

Total Lunar Eclipse of March 2007

Friday, March 2nd, 2007

Full Moon in Virgo – March 3, 2007, 23:17 UT

The eclipse occurs on the South Node. The Moon at 12+ degrees Virgo conjuncts retrograding asteroid Psyche and squares plutino Ixion and asteroid Hopi on the Great Attractor.

The Moon is the apex planet of a Yod formed by the Moon, Venus and Chiron. Asteroid Amor is at the same degree as Chiron. The Moon semisquares retrograding Juno and centaur planet Echeclus in Libra. The Sun in Pisces is in parallel conjunction with Uranus. The Sun = Venus/Chiron = Asbolus/Nessus = Eris/Mars.

A Fire Trine, formed by the conjunction of Saturn and asteroid Sphinx in Leo; a triple conjunction of Jupiter, cubewano Quaoar and asteroid Toro in Sagittarius; and the conjunction of dwarf planet Eris and centaur Asbolus in Aries, is completed as a Kite configuration by Neptune in Aquarius. Pallas is in conjunction with Neptune. Venus is in conjunction with Asbolus and Eris. Toro squares the lunar nodes.

Neptune septiles Pluto. A septile is a seventh harmonic aspect of 51 degrees and 26 minutes. Neptune forms a long series of septiles with Pluto between the years 2002 and 2012. The nearest exact septile between these planets occurred on February 22.

A triple conjunction of Pluto, asteroid Eros and asteroid Lilith squares the Aries Point. Asteroid Apollo in Scorpio, right on the ascendant of the chart cast for The Hague, Netherlands, sesquisquares the Aries Point. Apollo semisquares Pluto. Chiron and Amor semisquare Pluto as well. Pluto = Apollo/Chiron.

Mercury sextiles Pluto and the Galactic Core, trines Juno-Echeclus conjunction and quintiles Ixion. Ixion is receiving also a trine from Venus, a septile from Mars, a square from Uranus and a sextile from Chiron. Mars semisquares Jupiter and forms a novile to Uranus.

Saturn, Neptune, Sedna and Apollo form a Fixed Grand Cross.

Lilith = 0 Capricorn 05
Eros = 1 Capricorn 49
Atlantis = 2 Leo 43 r
Urania = 3 Aquarius 12
Nessus = 9 Aquarius 16
Psyche = 12 Virgo 15 r
Amor = 12 Aquarius 29
Ixion = 13 Sagittarius 27
Hopi = 13 Sagittarius 29
Apollo = 15 Scorpio 34
Toro = 16 Sagittarius 12
Quaoar = 17 Sagittarius 39
Asbolus = 18 Aries 00
Sedna = 19 Taurus 16
Sphinx = 19 Leo 41 r
Eris = 20 Aries 29
Echeclus = 27 Libra 03 r