What's Out There?

As we discussed in the previous class, astrology is a correlation of celestial events with behavior on earth. Here is a listing of some of the kinds of things that can be correlated

As you can see from the above list, the behavior on earth does not necessarily need to be human behavior. Behavior of any animal, and even behavior of inanimate things, such as geological events and weather conditions are analyzed in astrology.

We are familiar with the behaviors on earth. We all know what a rainy day is or what an earthquake is. However, we may not be as familiar with the other side of the correlation: how celestial bodies move in the sky and what celestial phenomena are important to astrologers.

As we all know from elementary and high school, we live on a planet called Earth, which is revolving around a star called the Sun, and the Earth is the third planet from the Sun.

This is how our earth looks if we were in a space ship or floating around in outer space looking at our planet from a distance. But how do the planets look from our point of view? Your point of view can dramatically change how something appears. For example, if you are standing on railroad tracks and a train is approaching, you can see only the front of the train and the train appears to get larger and larger as it approaches, but viewed from a distance you can see the entire train, and you can clearly see how fast it is moving.

Interestingly, many of us have a better understanding of how planets look from the point of view of a spaceship in outer space, even though we have never been in a spaceship, than we do of how the planets move in the sky from our position on Earth!

There is one celestial body that all of us are very familiar with: the Sun! We all know that it rises in the East and sets in the West and it takes about 24 hours for the Sun to make its journey around the Earth. We also know (if we haven't forgotten everything we learned in elementary school and high school!) that the daily movement of the Sun across the sky is actually caused by the Earth spinning on its axis every 24 hours. We are all victims of a massive optical illusion! The Sun appears to be revolving around us, but in fact we on Earth are revolving around the Sun, and the Sun's movement around the sky is caused by the earth rotating on its axis.

Most astrology is based on how the planets appear from our point of view on earth (geocentric perspective) rather than from the point of view of someone in a space ship above earth or from the point of view of the Sun (heliocentric perspective).

All of us are familiar with the daily movement of the Sun but are you familiar with the movement of the other planets? Test your knowledge by reading the following questions and then clicking on the "Answer" button to see if you know the answers to these questions. It is best to answer each question before reading the next question.

Quiz on Basic Astronomy Click here to test yourserlf

Class 2 Summary and Practice Test Click on [Answer] for the correct answers

1. True or False: The Moon appears to change shape gradually from being invisible to becoming crescent shape and gradually bigger until it is round; and then gradually changes back to becoming invisble.
   [Answer]

   True
2. When the Moon is invisible it is called Full Moon.
   [Answer]

   False, it is a New Moon
3. How long is the time period from one New Moon to the next.
   [Answer]

   About one month. More precisely, about 29 days
4. Is Venus sometimes visible at night without the aid of a telescope?
   [Answer]

   About one month. Yes
5. When Venus is visible, what does it closely resemble?
   [Answer]

   A star
6. Are any other planets sometimes visible at night, and if so, what are they and what do they look like when they are visible?
   [Answer]

   Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Like Venus, they also look like stars.
7. Do planets and stars look very similar when viewed through a large telescope?
   [Answer]

   No. Stars and planets only look similar when viewed without the aid of a telescope. When seen in more detail with the aid of a very large telescope, planets and stars look more similar to what they are in reality; the larger the telescope, the more detail you will see and the more the true nature of the object is revealed. Stars are, of course, huge balls of burning gases, while the composition of planets varies, some are very rocky and have little atmosphere, many have large gaseous atmospheres, and some are very hot and some are very cold. There is one star in the sky that you can see in detail without a telescope - the Sun! The Sun is actually a star, and sometimes we forget that fact because it looks so different from other stars, but primarily only because it so much closer to us than other stars.
8. Are any planets not visible without the aid of a telescope?
   [Answer]

   Yes, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. These 3 planets were not known in ancient times; they were discovered with telescopes.
9. From the point of view of a person on earth looking up at the night sky, what is the most obvious difference between the appearance of a star and a planet.
   [Answer]

   There is little difference. Some planets, like Venus and Jupiter are brighter than the stars. Perhaps the most obvious difference would be revealed if you look at the night sky every night for a few months. The planets will move against the backdrop of the constellations. The stars will not move. The movement of the stars in relationship to each other is very, very slight even across thousands of years! The constellations, like Orion, the Big Dipper, etc. are fixed in relationship to each other. The planets move through the constellations. The word "planet" comes from a Latin word meaning "wandering star".
10. Does Venus rise and set in a manner similar to the Sun?
    [Answer]

    Yes
11. What is the approximate time it takes from the time Venus rises to the next time it rises.
    [Answer]

    About 24 hours, just like the Sun.
12. What about the other planets? Do they rise and set like the Sun?
    [Answer]

    Yes
13. What about the other stars (that is, the stars that make up the constellations). Do they also rise and set every 24 hours?
    [Answer]

    Most, but not all, stars do rise and set. If a star rises, it will rise and set in a manner similar to the Sun, rising approximately every 24 hours.
14. Why do some stars not rise and set?
    [Answer]

    The rising and setting of planets and stars is actually caused by the earth rotating on its axis. The entire sky appears to spin around once a day. A star that is above the earth's north pole, or near this point, will not rise and set because it will travel in a circle around the North Pole in a relatively small circle, and never rise and set. All planets and stars are rising and setting in a path that is a circle around the north and south poles. If you go outside at night and find the constellation of the Big Dipper, note carefully where it is, and then go out again several hours later, you will find that it has moved but it will not rise or set. This is because the stars that make up the Big Dipper are located near the part of the sky that is above the earth's north pole.

From answering the questions in this quiz, you now know that all planets and most stars rise and set about once a day. Actually, there are some rare exceptions to this rule. If you live near the north pole or south pole, a planet can circle around the horizon, staying either slightly above or below the horizon. People who live near the north or south pole are very familiar with this phenomenon; the Sun will not set for many months, and during the other half of the year the Sun will not rise for many months! During the time that the Sun does not set, it also does not rise very far away from the horizon; it circulates around you not very far above the horizon.

Why is all of this rising and setting stuff important in astrology? Because astrologers divide the sky into 12 sections called houses. The houses are numbered from 1 to 12 and the planets travel backwards through the houses each day.

When the Sun rises in the morning, it enters the end of the 12th house...
	...and 2 hours later it leaves the 12th house and enters the end of the 11th house.
About every 2 hours the Sun moves into a new house. After 6 hours the Sun is "culminating", that is it is about 12 noon when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky. At this point the Sun leaves the 10th house and enters the end of the 9th house.

A boy is looking at the sunset. The sun, of course, is just above the western horizon, at sunset.
What house is it in?

Click here to see the answer

Answer: The Sun is in the 7th House

This is a diagram of what it might look like

On a typical day the Sun rises at about 6 AM. Of course, as you know, in summer the Sun rises earlier than this and in winter it rises later. Suppose that the Sun rises at 6 AM and sets at 6 PM. Then the Sun will travel through the houses at these times: The Sun is in the 12th house from 6 AM to 8 AM, the 11th house from 8 AM to 10 AM, the 10th house from 10 AM to 12 noon, the 9th house from 12 noon to 2 PM, the 8th house from 2 PM to 4 PM, and so on until it reaches the 1st house from 4 AM to 6 AM on the morning of the next day.