Welcome to Quaoar!

According to a story at the BBC, "a new planet-like object has been found circling the Sun more than one and a half billion kilometres beyond Pluto."

They propose to call it Quaoar, after a native American creation deity. It may be decided that this body is not big enough to count as a planet. It may be a large comet in the Kuiper Belt of mostly icy objects that circle the Sun like a cloud.

Ihcoyc,

Thanks for the link. As you say it may turn out to be a comet or other non-planetary object. These finds do occur every so often and Astrologers spend some time debating whether or not to treat them as worthy of inclusion in ephmerides or chart work.

I think (though AG is likely to know more than me) that the last real attempt to include a new 'planet' was Chiron - which is still used by many Astrologers, though I think it is now accepted to be more of the asteroid/comet type object.

An interesting comment that I noted from the Guardian is:

"Quaoar definitely hurts the case for Pluto being a planet," said Mike Brown, associate planetary science professor at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "If Pluto were discovered today, no one would even consider calling it a planet because it's clearly a Kuiper belt object."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,806694,00.html

Now if Astronomers decide that Pluto is not a planet, what effect if any will there be for Astrology and are all those charts with Pluto in the wrong?

Personally I think that Pluto's role in the horoscope will not be questioned seriously as a number of Astrologers also use the larger Asteroids and other bodies in their analyses (I wouldn't dare try at my stage of development).

It will be interesting to see what effect this find has on the Astrological community and what they feel about the nature of this 'new planet'

Minderwiz

I think it's splendid and fascinating news. I think I found one link which said where it was located - but promptly lost it again Knowing little about astrology, would the orbital period of 288y years infer fairly slow changes of potential influences? Fwiw, I did notice someone on another newsgroup suggested that it had been named after a bad "hand" at scrabble - Know that feeling well

Well I'm READY for a new planet! And thank you for pointing out this piece of news...I evidently missed it even though I'm a news hound.

Over the last five or so years, I have found myself using Chiron (discovered in 1977) and the other asteroids, especially Juno, much more than ever. It's a fascinating study and worth the time invested.

And Minderwiz, NO astrologer has the guts to tell PLUTO, he's not a planet!! LOL

AG

If it were up to me, I would name the planet Medusa, or Charybdis, or Typhon, or Tiamat. Or, if a Native American name is wanted, perhaps one of the Araucanian gods, like Guecufu, Ngurvilu, or Chonchonyi.

Give it a name that will definitely cast a baleful light over whatever horoscope it appears in.

AG

Apparantly the same goes for Astronomers who up to now haven't quite got the nerve to downgrade Pluto - but according to Ross Taylor of the Australian National University "I think the International Astronomical Union are trying to get their nerve up on this (Pluto),"

I think to play safe we'll return the undisputed rulership of Scorpio back to Mars and let him fight it out

Minderwiz

Question from an astrology amateur: why should it matter to astrologers whether Pluto is a planet or "only" a planetoid? They use asteroids, too (Ceres, Juno, etc) - the size doesn't seem to equal influence...

It matters more to a degree. Not all Astrologers use asteroids or fixed stars, either because they are still learning (like me) or feel that they get enough from the planets and believe that the contributions of asteroids etc is too small to make any difference or feel that they work in some areas of Astrology but not others - such as Horary work. However I don't know of any Astrologers who ignore any of the planets (though they may well argue over issues of rulership).

If Pluto were discovered today, according to the reports on Quaoar, it would be treated as a Kuiper Belt Object not a planet - they also forecast that there are other Pluto sized objects that will be discovered. If this is so then I'm sure there will be a really good debate over the role these objects play. Questions might be -

Have we assigned to Pluto the influence which is really that of all these objects combined?

What Astrological influence do the other objects have - if they are different from Pluto in effect?

Can we still include Pluto but disregard other Pluto sized objects which Astronomically speaking are the same as Pluto?

And where do I get an Ephemeris from that shows their movements ? (mainly from Virgo Astrologers)

It will be a really interesting debate and I'm sure it will take the best part of the next thirty years or so.

Best wishes

Minderwiz

I find it silly to assume that something has to officially be an astronomical planet for it to be given merit by astrologers. I've always seen astrology as a study of how all of creation is related to each other. Thus comets and asteroids and other objects will have their affects as well. I would say that size and proximity may matter, but nothing should be considered meaningless; rather that we just haven't seen it's meaning yet.

Besides my favorite book that's dedicated to a single astrological being is Melanie Reinhart's Chiron and the Healing Journey.

Love, understanding, and compassion,
Matt

I agree with you that nothing should be regarded as 'insignificant' , the issue really is more one of how much significance should be given, relative to other bodies and on what basis. I certainly don't pretend to know the answer to that one - and I'm looking forward to following the discussions on the issue.

I very much doubt that any change in Pluto's status by Astronomers will (or should) alter its meaning and role in Astrology but it might well influence the debate on any Pluto sized bodies found out there. Again I wouldn't pretend to know what the 'answer' to this is, or whether there is an 'answer' - I simply look foward to seeing what debate occurs.

Best wishes

Minderwiz