If Pluto is no longer recognised as a planet, does this worry astrologers?

Question

Apparently the definition of 'planet' is up for discussion at the moment and it seems likely that Pluto will be demoted from its present status as a planet and recategorised along with other celestial bodies like some moons and large asteroids. See http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn9818
Does this worry astrologers at all?
I'm not asking if folks believe in astrology or not; I'm asking whether, if they do believe in it, this will cause them to recalculate their charts and predictions.

Answer 1

Classical, traditional, and medieval Astrologers do not use the outer planets: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in their delineations, modern Astrologers utilize them.

Whether or not Pluto is classified as planet or not is irrelevant to modern practitioners of Astrology. The qualities associated with Pluto: power, control, transformation and the destroying or reforming urge, are still applicable whether it is called a planet or an ice dwarf.

Astrologers use other bodies in addition to planets in our calculations, such as asteroids. Ceres, an asteroid, one of the bodies they may call a planet, already is in use by modern Astrologers. Other asteroids currently being used are Juno, Pallas, and Vesta. Chiron, a centaur, is also extensively in use.

In summary, it makes do difference to what Pluto is classified as, the characteristics associated with it still stand.

Answer 2

If it comes to that, can the Astrologers tell us if every horoscope cast before 1781 was wrong?

Uranus figures large in Astrology. Just read any of the crap published on the pseudo-science and they will tell you how it is associated with Aquarius. But it wasn't discovered until 1781. How did the 'ancients' so revered by astrology get it so wrong? Surely they must have realised something was missing??

The fact is, the IAA have recognised Pluto as a planet, and the criteria they have used means there will be a lot more planets in the solar systems, as more and more Kuiper belt and trans-neptune objects are assessed. Wither horoscopes then?

Answer 3

Pluto will remain where it is and will not be affected by anythink anyone here on Earth has to say about it. It will make absolutely no difference to anything in anyones normal life.

For those who want more information about Pluto...

Pluto is the ninth and smallest of the traditional planets of the Solar system, though its status as a planet has been disputed in recent years. It qualifies as a planet under the draft definition, to be submitted to vote by the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in August 2006.

It has an eccentric orbit that is highly inclined with respect to the other planets and takes it closer to the Sun than Neptune during a portion of its orbit. It is also the smallest planet and indeed is smaller than several moons of other planets (see the list of solar system objects by radius). Pluto itself has a large moon named Charon (but see below); two small moons named Nix and Hydra were discovered in 2005. The New Horizons spacecraft, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on January 19, 2006, is expected to become the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto on July 14, 2015.

Pluto's astronomical symbol is a P-L monogram. This represents both the first two letters of the name Pluto and the initials of Percival Lowell, who had searched extensively for a ninth planet and who had lent his name to Lowell Observatory, the place from where, after initiating several earlier searches, Pluto was eventually discovered. (Another symbol sometimes used for Pluto is an astrological symbol and not an astronomical one. It resembles that of Neptune, but has a circle in place of the middle spoke of the trident.)

Pluto and its satellite Charon have often been considered a binary planet because they are more nearly equal in size than any other planet/moon combination in the Solar System, and because the two bodies orbit a point not within the surface of either. Under the aforementioned planet definition proposal, since they orbit each other around a center of mass that is outside either body, they would be officially considered a binary planet system.

Scientists meeting in Prague with the International Astronomical Union were presented with a new definition of the word "planet" last week. That definition would have included Pluto as a planet. But the proposal met with fierce protests. Opponents argued that there are hundreds of objects like Pluto out beyond Neptune.

And remember children.... this will not affect you in any way so please don't lose any sleep over it ;o)

Graham

Answer 4

Sedina is bigger than pluto but pluto is 2 rocks that orbit each other, meanwhile sedina is not a planet,

however making Pluto not a planet violates alll teachings to date, plus considering when it was found it was considered a planet and logged as one so should keep its present planet status.

Answer 5

Astronomy used to have 8 planets in their beliefs and had to reevaluate there system when pluto was included, so this discovery will probably sit better with their original ideas

Answer 6

Astrologers don't bother to keep track of the true positions of celestial objects, so why should they bother to wonder whether an object is a planet, or a KBO, or whatever?

My sign is "yield."

Answer 7

The reality is that other 3 planets were included, Ceres, Charon and Xena, either way I don't believe in astrology

Answer 8

Its scared the living bejesus out of the delusional pea brained nimkompoops.

Answer 9

no comment actually

Answer 10

and why didnt they predict that this anyway?