Beginner's Guide to
Asteroids
by Beth-Katherine Kaiman,
©2004
While I was growing up in San Francisco (11/11/1949) during the 1950's I found that a lot of my desires were not to be fulfilled (Saturn Square Midheaven). One of which was to become an astronomer but at that time girls were NOT encouraged to be anything but a secretary. That did stop my education but ge'ad how I loved the stars and anything that had to do with them. In the 6th grade after devouring Evangine Adams Astrology book I was the first person in my grammar school (1960) who knew everyone's Sun sign, thereby marking my eccentric behavior spinning away from the norm from the get go.
This passion for the stars and astronomical knowledge was fueled by frequent journeys to Golden Gate Park's Palnetarium that grew more intense as I grew older. Around 1969 or so the Planetarium added lazer light shows I would dream of being smart enough to know calculus and plot the positions of the stars and following the adventure of the growing field of Astronomy (which, by the way, were created in emulation of the light shows that were happening at the Avalon, Carousel and Fillmore Ballrooms during the heyday of those ballrooms 1966-73 and then in turn fueled the Disco Movement's light shows). Just knowing everything about the universe and how it was made up fascinated me and frustrated me because my parochial father wouldn't allow his daughter to become a scientist but then something else called my soul (horticulture) and I was off learning something new. Meanwhile, I never grew out of my fascinating with the planets and the movements of them and while continuing my studies of Astrology during the 70's when my metaphysical inclinations were influencing me, I always felt that one of the problems with astrologers that I would meet up with is that they only relied on outdated concepts in order to understand the personality. (This of course changed with the explosion of consciousness that occurred during the 70's and 80's and continuing through the 90's and now.)
Don't get me wrong, I still love the fortune telling aspect of "Sun Sign Astrology", it's always fun to see if what was written in the papers works and when it does WOW WHEE ZOWIE it's like winning a lottery ticket. My disfaction was the fact that something felt missing to me in the astrologers analysis of things that brought me to a realization that something about their system was missing, the bringing astrology up to the now times of astronomical knowledge. My head filled with thoughts of Pythagorus, the Greek Mystery Schools and sacred geometry I remember being frustrated at the parrot like tone all of the books on astrology available then and was deeply troubled that no one had ever seem to have investigated the asteroids to their fullest in relation to ourselves as the major planetary bodies have, As Above So Below. This is in 1971 when I discovered Uranian Astrology was fortunate to have studied with Carl Ambjorsen. My Scorpionic nature loved the "cookbook" analysis system that used the addition of 8 hypothetical planets and which utilized geometry and calculus in it's interpretations of human nature and events. This sparked an enthusiam I hadn't felt for 10 years or so since my first childhood visit to the Planetarium.
Of course at that time the only texts that were available on Uranian were chaotic and confusing unless one read German (which I didn't), I wandered off to learn other things (music) while my astrology studies were put on the back burner simmering and synthesizing until such time as it called to me again about 7 years later when I found Martha Lang Wescott, one of the most brilliant astrological minds ever to write a book. Her genius shows in her love of asteroids, depth of research and detailed interpretations which appealed to my mind, satisfied that craving for more and sparked a flame which continues today.
Here is a link to her wonderful website TreeHouse Mountain which is turning out to be as useful a resource as her wonderful books. If you find that you are fascinated by puzzles and love being sparked by a brilliant mind I whole heartedly recommend her books.
The word conjures up images of either disaster movies or that group of rocks of a former planet in between Mars and Jupiter. In Astrological thinking the word either means the four indicators of the women's or goddess movement (Ceres, Pallas Athena, Vesta, & Juno) or else an indicator of health (Chiron) or healing.
As far as the myth that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid, that myth as become known as fact.
Scientists are now proving that 65,000 million years ago an asteroid hit the Yucatan Peninsula (well actually created the Yucatan Peninsula) and destroyed the Ozone layer with the burning impact onto Earth. This rip in the layer allowed double the amount of ultra violet rays into our already stressed biosphere and weirdly only wiped out the dinosaurs and left the furry mammals and just killed the beasts (I wonder if that's where the myth of Beauty and the Beast came about?).
"Over the past few decades, the rise and fall of the dinosaurs has captured the imagination of the public and the scientific community alike. While it is clear that the impact of a large asteroid straddling the coastline of what is the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico some 65 million years ago, may have wiped out these magnificent reptiles, the debate still rages as to precisely how they met their demise.
Many scenarios have been suggested, including a kind of nuclear winter in which enormous quantities of dust were ejected into the stratosphere, circling the globe and blotting out sunlight for weeks or months. But not everyone agrees that such a successful biological lineage as the dinosaurs could have been obliterated in this way.
Now, two American scientists - Charles Cockell of NASA's Ames Research Centre In California, and Andrew Blaustein of Oregon State University, have worked out the events that occasioned themselves immediately after the KT impact.
In a recent paper communicated in Ecology Letters, they explain that the levels of nitrogen and sulphur oxides produced during the impact event would have all but destroyed the ozone layer, thereby doubling the levels of lethal UV radiation incident on the earth's surface. This deluge of ionising radiation would have put additional stresses on the biosphere already stretched to the extreme by the impact.
What is even more remarkable though, is that significant sulphate deposits are only found over 1 percent of the earth's surface, rendering the KT extinction event particularly lethal for the dinosaurs, but not for our kind - the small, furry, milk-suckling mammals." From: Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Were the dinoÉ
I can imagine that it too a while for the Ozone layer to grow back, but then we weren't around to destroy the layer that was being rebuilt. I wonder how long it takes the ozone layer to rebuild?
But Wait!!!!! There are more mysteries that have been answered that have been plaguing the brilliant young minds of the 1960's and 70's that have been answered as much much more out there in our solar system.
I don't know about today but when I was a teenager (ahem, late 1960's) the average person's view of the solar system that we live in is usually limited to basic 9th grade science classes which pictured the solar system as having only 9 planets orbiting around the Sun & the Asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter and some speculation as to what happened was added into the mix (of course this depends on when you went through 9th grade). I'm certain after the successful Lunar Landings in 1969 that the quality of 9th grade science education was enhanced as it became a viable career choice. What happened to those of us who got stuck in the non-information adding awareness? Stuck is the right word, time to change that.
In the past few years astronomers, with the help of the deep space probes, have brought to us an image of our solar system that is a bit mind boggling. According to Mark Pottenger, who is associated somewhat with Astro Computing Service (his brother Rique is their programmer), as of July 1999 there are over 6,897 named asteroids (over 50,000 total so far in 2003 and growing thanks to Hubble) charted along with 15 planetoid wanderers that crisscross the orbits of Pluto to Saturn known as The Centaurs. Ceres, Pallas and Vesta are actually categorized as Minor Planets instead of Asteroids, and Vesta has an internal heat source! There are also over 70,000 objects that have been discovered beyond the orbit of Pluto. Such a wonder is our universe!
The beauty of our times now is the web, in the past few years information is now at our fingertips whenever we want it not just when the library is open. The common person has the opportunity to become informed in an instant rather than taking a journey to the library which sometimes is inconvenient, especially at 2AM when the urge for information hits. The times definitely have changed, the only excuse for not knowing something is that you haven't looked it up yet. (Perhaps we all need a flower remedy to help us overcome our schooling and to keep up with the changes that are occurring.)
To get a visual image of what I am talking about please go to the second site listed in the references right now Plot of the Inner Solar System , then come back and read this rest. This is so that you have a mental reference point of the solar system as astronomers know it now.
Welcome Back! Amazing isn't it. It took me a while to let go of the image I had imprinted in my brain of what the inner solar system looked like.
As you can see Asteroids are no longer corralled into one neat little section known as the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. There are now five different categories of asteroids, grouped by their placement in our solar system. They are: the Apollo Class Asteroids whose paths cross the orbit of the earth (first one discovered in 1932); the Amor class asteroids which have orbits that come very close to (but do not cross) the orbit of the Earth; the Aten class asteroids which have orbits smaller than earth; the Trojan class asteroids have orbits which travel along Jupiter's orbit; and the Centaurs which have orbits beyond Jupiter and which cross over the orbits of Neptune (known as transneptunes). Astronomers believe that the near earth asteroids (NEA) were knocked out of their orbit by impact from other asteroids and or the gravitational forces of Jupiter.
There are over 100 known Apollo, Atens and Amor class asteroids whose orbits are criss cross Earth's or else are parallel or have orbits smaller than Earth's. I found this little note on the First Millennium Glossary (which has moved somewhere but the info is still valid) "Their orbits can even be adjusted by nudging them with thermonuclear bombs," uhhhh, how do they know that?. Apparently the majority of these have only been recently discovered, with the first in Aten Class in 1976 and most during the last 5 years. Some asteroids that are in the different classes (see above website for more details) are listed as potentially dangerous in that they are on a collusion course with Earth - Toutais & Cruithine and with this discovery of asteroids with parallel orbits with earth have led credence amongst the scientists the theory of destruction of the dinosaurs due to a collision with an asteroid, and if we follow this further the destruction of Atlantis (The Secret of Atlantis by Otto Muck, tr. Fred Bradley, intro. Peter Tompkins) with traces still found off the Carolina Coast of pockmarks in the ocean floor from a huge asteroid hit. This is the stuff that gave some writers ideas for scare scenarios of the recent Asteroid Disaster Movies and it certainly opened my eyes.
Centaurs
Here is the addy of an excellent site of astronomical history from 1840 through concerning the discoveries of Planet X, 1841-1992 and all the heavenly bodies that were discovered beyond the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. It is particularily interesting to those who wish to merge their scientific awareness with metaphysical beliefs. http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/nineplanets/hypo.htmlThe discovery of the additional planetoids called the Centaurs 4 years ago has really exploded our concept of "universe" and solar system. The first Centaur, Chiron was discovered in 1977 in an orbit between Saturn and Uranus but now15 planetoids have been charted so far with orbits that sometimes extend beyond the orbit of Pluto, some criss crossing the orbits of Pluto to Saturn.
Another interesting fact I found in my research, I discovered that the orbit of Pluto is not as symmetrical as once I once thought (I obviously wasn't paying attention), and apparently has always been know to cross over Neptune's orbit and in fact the last time it entered Neptune's orbit was in 2/7/1979 and just left this year 2/11/99! A 20 year cycle. And what a ride those past 20 years have been. We definitely are entering a new millennium, all the signposts are there.
According to the site of St. Vincent College - Eclipse 99 (site gone but info still valid), "The August Solar eclipse of August 11th 1999 was the 21st eclipse in Saros series number 145. This particular series will see 77 eclipses - 34 partial, 41 total and 2 annular eclipses. The series began on 4th January 1639 and will finish on 17th April 3000." Download the pdf file Saros Cycles of Eclipses for an explanation of Saros cycle. Interesting that when this cycle started America was being colonized and I found that a ship called "Neptune" delivered goods and colonists to New Foundland, but I digress.
Synchronistically, as our awareness has expanded with our experiences with computers so has our Astronomical awareness of our "universe". The baby boomer generation's (and the one just before it) astronomers have been on a roll starting in 1976 with the discovery of the first Aten Class asteroid, 2062 Aten (orbit smaller than that of the Earth) and then in 1977 with the discovery of Chiron (actually first came Bacchus) a planetoid in orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. During the same time the personal computer has been brought into every day life, Apple produced their first personal computer in 1976 with marketing the Apple II in 1978. I know I started training on an AppleII in 1979 (32k and we thought we were cookin', nowadays Gameboys have more memory!). I would lay odds that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both have Chiron prominent in their charts as well as the Asteroid Steve! I would also be willing to be that The Centaurs are also prominent, especially one of the favorite foods of horses are Apples. Something about the generation has been pushing out this new awareness, to see life as it really is and not the illusion society would want us to see - could be all the mind altering drugs.
Also the August 1999 solar eclipse had 4 of the Centaurs in each of the four arms of the Grand Cross. What this means I can only speculate but the prophets (self proclaimed) said that the eclipse heralded the end of the world and I can't help hearing the refrain from the song "It's the end of the world AS WE KNOW IT, AND I FEEL FINE", REM band from the movie "Independence Day").
My personal awareness of the solar system and the patterns within our universe has definitely been expanded and I have to admit somewhat amused with this research. This article all started with a chance comment to Eileen Nauman (of www.medicinegarden.com based in Arizona) when I sent her the list of asteroid positions for the August Solar Eclipse noting the asteroids Merlin and Arizona (Merlin 15°Ta52, Arizona 15°Le59) were sitting on two arms of the Grand Fixed Cross, which to my eye showed the prominence of shamans in motion in Arizona during the eclipse. The amusement was further extended when during my rounds on the net searching for sites for this article when I came upon a link to G.O.D.. Ok, I thought, I'll bite and clicked on it and nearly fell off my chair laughing when G.O.D. sent me a cookie. "Ohhhhhh! G.O.D. is a SEARCH ENGINE!!!!" even more amusing.
So why all this astronomical stuff? As healers and psychics it is important for us to get our 'heads out of the clouds' and see the world around us as it really is. Back in the times of Pythagoras, Astrology and Astronomy were synonymous terms which continued thru the Renaissance until the Age of Reasoning took over. Then Astrology was relegated to the world of myth and fantasy because the scientific minds of those days couldn't PROVE the theories, a battle we all have had to overcome (even amongst astrologers concerning new techniques - old habits die hard). In the past 30 years Astrology has finally found it's place as a tool for understanding pyschological makeup of personalities, is working it's way into being an extremely helpful tool in medical diagnosis and yet still entertains people with knowing what their sign is. We've come a long way in the past thirty years from the lowest level of astrology used as pickup lines by lounge lizards "Hey baby, what's your sign?" to really helping people understand who they are and potentially why they become ill and hopefully hand them the tools for recovery, if they so choose.
With the addition of Asteroids and the Centaurs to charts (and also perhaps other celestial bodies as they are made known to us), we are bridging the gap of the typical Astrological fantasy (of just 9 planets and one house system) to the reality of our universe: multitudes and multitudes of factors impact us daily.
Finally the two sciences have a chance to merge and become whole again. Let's go for it! Time to take the blinders off and get away from the strict 9 planet myth-ness of Astrology and bring in all the celestial bodies that are being discovered that effect our cosmic pond as symbols of new facets within our consciousness and blend in all the elements we have experienced in the last 30 years. It's time to evolve into the new species of "aware beings" and not just space cadets who dream about being accepted by the world.
Are you aware of the 100th monkey syndrome? If 100 monkeys learn a new skill suddenly the whole species develops it spontaneously. We have already seen this principle in action through the new age movement started in the late 60's and there are more than 100 of us humans on this list to "grok" this new change of awareness of our solar system, and if we 'get it' ALL of humankind will evolve simultaneously.
More Astronomical Sites
How Are Minor Planets Named?
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