tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172668822012-01-30T04:36:56.503-08:00* Natal &amp; Predictive Horoscope Readings * davidcrook108@gmail.com *David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.comBlogger3911100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-38773771633254311182012-01-29T08:35:00.000-08:002012-01-29T08:37:10.314-08:00For the week beginning Jan. 30<br /><br />Short-Term Geocosmics<br /><br />Mars is retrograde now (January 24-April 14), so matters could get tricky here. This is an indicator of sudden changes in policies, such as we witnessed last week when the Fed thought it prudent to announce that it would maintain a zero-interest policy for three years instead of just another 1-1/2 years as announced previously. Keep in mind that this announcement was made right near the time Mars turned retrograde. Retrograde Mars indicates a reversal of actions initiated at the time. It sounded nice and was a welcomed cause for markets to explode upwards, but I don’t think this announcement will be carried through. That’s the value of astrology. The announcement was made under a retrograde Mars, when actions taken have to be reversed, and also when the Moon was in Pisces, which indicates it may be more of a case of wishful thinking than sincere commitment. Bernanke may not even be around by then to see it through.<br />Read More-> <a href=http://www.mmacycles.com/weekly-preview/mma-comments-for-the-week/mma-comments-for-the-week-beginning--january-30,-2012/>MMA</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3877377163325431118?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-46374175917240646492012-01-28T07:42:00.000-08:002012-01-28T20:55:09.562-08:00"Jan. 27, 2012: Mark your calendar.  On Sunday, May 20th, the sun is going to turn into a ring of fire.  It's an annular solar eclipse--the first one in the USA in almost 18 years.<br /><br />An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly in front of the sun, but the lunar disk is not quite wide enough to cover the entire star.  At maximum, the Moon forms a "black hole" in the center of the sun.<br /><br />The “path of annularity” is a strip about 300 km wide and thousands of km long.  It stretches from China and Japan, across the Pacific Ocean, to the middle of North America.  In the United States, the afternoon sun will become a luminous ring in places such as Medford, Oregon; Chico, California; Reno, Nevada; St. George, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Lubbock, Texas.<br /><br />Outside of this relatively narrow zone, the eclipse will be partial. Observers almost everywhere west of the Mississippi will see a crescent-shaped sun as the Moon passes by off-center.<br /><br />"I like to compare different types of eclipses on a scale of 1 to 10 as visual spectacles," says NASA's leading eclipse expert, Fred Espenak of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "If a partial eclipse is a 5 then an annular eclipse is a 9."<br /><br />This event should not be confused with a total eclipse.  In a total eclipse, the Moon covers the entire surface of the sun, bringing an eerie twilight to observers in the path of totality and revealing the sun’s ghostly corona.<br /><br />"On that scale of 1 to 10," he adds, "a total eclipse is 'a million!' It's completely off the charts compared to any other astronomical event." The next total eclipse in the USA is in the year 2017.<br /><br />Until then, May 20th of this year will have to do."<br />Read More-> <a href=http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/27jan_annulareclipse/>NASA Science</a><br /><br />Annular Solar Eclipse May 20, 2012: <a href= http://www.hermit.org/eclipse/2012-05-20/>Hermit Eclipse</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4637417591724064649?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-33686719010710689892012-01-27T09:14:00.001-08:002012-01-28T07:46:28.217-08:00Neptune at Zero Pisces:<br />by Frank C. Clifford<br /><a href=http://www.cosmicintelligenceagency.com/2011/2012/01/neptune-at-zero-pisces/>Cosmic*Intelligence*Agency</a><br /><br />The Timing of Paradigm Shifts:<br />by Richard Tarnas, PhD and Dean Radin, PhD<br /><a href=http://www.noetic.org/noetic/issue-eighteen-january/the-timing-of-paradigm-shifts/>Noetic Now Journal</a><br /><br />2012 AN Astrologer's POV:<br />by Rich Humbert<br /><a href=http://www.celestialweather.com/index.html>Celestial Weather</a><br /><br />The Moon enters Aries, and Mercury moves into Aquarius today. Bring on the fiery Moon and airy Mercury. Enjoy the weekend.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3368671901071068989?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-32505292239092313322012-01-27T06:58:00.000-08:002012-01-29T09:02:21.152-08:00Jan 27- "Tokyo University study shows 70 percent probability of Tokyo earthquake in the next four years versus government estimate of 30 years."<br /><a href=http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/01/27/major-quake-may-hit-tokyo-sooner-than-ex?videoId=229212629&videoChannel=1>Reuters video</a><br /><br />Tokyo and Japan appear subject to massive uprisings and sudden upheavals in 2014, based on the Aries ingress (Vernal Equinox) chart of 2014, and a few major hits to the national horoscope by transiting Saturn and Pluto. Both the 2014 Aries and Cancer ingress (Summer Solstice) charts have Pluto (square Uranus) on the Ascendant in Tokyo. <br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/odgyKhf0ggZNRAonfRAngtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bvTFUxipkdI/Tx7PJlRa5hI/AAAAAAAANYU/2A5o4s3LYNI/s400/tokyo-2014.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/AsiaMideast?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Asia &amp; Mideast</a></td></tr></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3250529223909231332?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-59499887822504145962012-01-26T07:45:00.001-08:002012-01-26T08:31:00.369-08:00<a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16742838>BBC News</a><br /><br />The Dec. 10, 2011 total lunar eclipse (18 Gemini) sensitized the longitude of Rio de Janeiro. Both the Sun-Moon eclipse axis and the Moon's fateful Nodal axis aligned with the local meridian there. As a midpoint picture we have: Midheaven = 16 Sagittarius = Sun/North Node 16 Sagittarius = Ascendant 16 Pisces. Mars (in Virgo) will square and possibly trigger the eclipse degree twice more because of it's retrograde motion. These dates are Feb. 21 and June 8.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CNQY8Vqqs7OJq0wnkjE9J9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T8srwHV1SUE/TyFoQ9j16SI/AAAAAAAANZM/arx602r81Xg/s400/rio.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><br />Of course, if this eclipse hit a natal planet or angle in a personal horoscope, the activation of the eclipse degree by Mars may be a timing factor.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5949988782250414596?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-85454929065810278992012-01-24T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-26T11:47:27.547-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DoWwnV98rtumqH4bTr3oHNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z4MQS0vkDMY/Tx7XTFeQZ1I/AAAAAAAANY0/JibzSPOd7H0/s640/eagleaurora_jorgensen_900.jpg" height="640" width="397" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />What's that in the sky? An aurora. A large coronal mass ejection occurred on our Sun five days ago, throwing a cloud of fast moving electrons, protons, and ions toward the Earth. Although most of this cloud passed above the Earth, some of it impacted our Earth's magnetosphere and resulted in spectacular auroras being seen at high northern latitudes. Pictured above is a particularly photogenic auroral corona captured last night above Grotfjord, Norway. To some, this shimmering green glow of recombining atmospheric oxygen might appear as a large eagle, but feel free to share what it looks like to you. This round of solar activity is not yet over -- a new and even more powerful solar flare occurred yesterday that might provide more amazing aurora as soon as tonight. (APOD)<br />************<br />The strongest solar storm in six years bombards the Earth with radiation ... and other images from the universe.<br /><a href=http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/images-from-space/2012/01/12/gIQAH8i3vP_gallery.html>The Washington Post</a><br />************<br />Quote of the Day: The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy. ~John Galsworthy<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8545492906581027899?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-12796608199108574532012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:002012-01-24T07:18:25.765-08:00<!-- iframe Astrodienst Planetenstände --><iframe frameborder="0" width="200" src="http://www.astro.com/h/awt/ppos2_e.htm?code=9f731ababb9650bd083278e2faf17fb4" height="300" marginheight="7" marginwidth="7" style="border:1px dotted gray;margin-top:5px;"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1279660819910857453?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-38073373986271956672012-01-23T19:04:00.001-08:002012-01-24T08:15:52.664-08:00Astrologer Mary Plumb blogs about a timely and unusual book: The Venus Eclipse of the Sun 2012, by David Tresemer.<br /><a href=http://mountainastrologer.com/tma/venus-eclipse-of-the-sun>TMA blog</a><br /><br />The June 5-6 Venus passage is a highly significant event- especially in the context of the May 20 solar eclipse that conjoins the Pleiades, and the end of the 5125 year Mayan Long Count calendar on the Winter Solstice. The Mayan's believe they came from the Pleiades cluster, aka the Seven Sisters. And there's an intimate connection between the Venus cycle and Mayan culture.<br /><br />The Maya Astronomy Page: <a href=http://www.michielb.nl/maya/venus.html>Venus</a><br /><br />The 2012 Transit of Venus: <a href=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit12.html>NASA</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3807337398627195667?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-64593006698217484602012-01-23T15:16:00.001-08:002012-01-23T17:23:36.003-08:00This massive solar storm coincides with the Aquarius New Moon, Mars stationary-retrograde, and the start of the Chinese New Year (Water Dragon). <br /><br />"A powerful solar eruption is expected to blast a stream of charged particles toward Earth tomorrow (Jan. 24), as the strongest radiation storm since 2005 rages on the sun.<br /><br />Early this morning (0359 GMT Jan. 23, which corresponds to late Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10:59 p.m. EST), NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught an extreme ultraviolet flash from a huge eruption on the sun, according to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com.<br /><br />The solar flare spewed from sunspot 1402, a region of the sun that has become increasingly active lately. Several NASA satellites, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Stereo spacecraft observed the massive sun storm.<br /><br />A barrage of charged particles triggered by this morning's solar flare is expected to hit Earth tomorrow at around 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT), according to experts at the Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<br /><br />According to NOAA, this is the strongest solar radiation storm since May 2005, and as a precaution, polar flights on Earth are expected to be re-routed within the next few hours, Kathy Sullivan, deputy administrator of NOAA, said today at the 92nd annual American Meteorological Society meeting in New Orleans, La."<br />...read more-> <a href=http://www.space.com/14319-huge-solar-eruption-sparks-radiation-storm.html>SPACE.com</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6459300669821748460?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-26791438788656268792012-01-23T07:24:00.001-08:002012-01-23T07:25:41.527-08:00This video is an adaptation of the breezy 'Science on a Sphere' production by supremely talented members of NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. This video explores Jupiter's role as the 800 pound gorilla of our solar system, with stops on its fascinating moons and the big red spot. Additional video from NASA JPL and ESA Hubble.<br /><a href=http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/videos/astronomy/jupiter-the-largest.html>Forbidden Knowledge TV</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2679143878865626879?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-44251438844174293802012-01-22T10:00:00.000-08:002012-01-24T09:12:39.154-08:00"A fire has ripped through a barn at a farm in the US state of New Jersey killing 22 show horses, each worth tens of thousands of dollars. The fire destroyed the barn at Heritage Acres farm in Lafayette early on Saturday, killing the animals inside.<br /><br />Farm owner Betty Hahn told the Star Ledger newspaper that the horses had appeared in shows across the region. "I'm so numb and so hurt that I can't cry. It would probably feel better if I could," she said.<br /><br />She told the paper that the building was not insured, and said she would probably now sell the property.<br /><br />State Police Sgt Brian Polite said the barn was engulfed in flames when emergency crews arrived at about 02:00 (07:00 GMT).<br /><br />He said the fire was quickly put out, but all of the horses inside were killed.<br /><br />Investigators are now trying to find out how the fire started, but police quoted in local media said it appeared to be an accident." (BBC News)<br /><br />The Nov. 25, 2011 solar eclipse in Sagittarius, the sign of horses, had it's Ascendant at 23 Virgo in Lafayette, New Jersey. Transiting Mars (fires) is stationary-retrograde now at the 23rd degree of Virgo.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kO7h6WCHUWko_v3PeevxM9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zeBUHKj_6mE/TxxQ-TnIMwI/AAAAAAAANXA/HepNREe9vLk/s400/22horses.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/UnitedStates?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">United States</a></td></tr></table><br />New Moon in Aquarius and Mars stations retrograde: <a href=http://astrologicaljournaling.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-moon-in-aquarius-and-mars-stations.html>Astrological Journaling</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4425143884417429380?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-5710736309420565552012-01-22T09:00:00.000-08:002012-01-24T07:23:07.793-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/b-ieD58RiLCTuxUnCmLWT9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j8eTsOvDwz8/Txw-aykQVQI/AAAAAAAANWs/JOQKeAQ2Y4E/s400/saturnhexagon_cassini_1018.jpg" height="395" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Believe it or not, this is the North Pole of Saturn. It is unclear how an unusual hexagonal cloud system that surrounds Saturn's north pole was created, keeps its shape, or how long it will last. Originally discovered during the Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it elsewhere in the Solar System. Although its infrared glow was visible previously to the Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn, in 2009 the mysterious hexagonal vortex became fully illuminated by sunlight for the first time during the Cassini's visit. Since then, Cassini has imaged the rotating hexagon in visible light enough times to create a time-lapse movie. The pole center was not well imaged and has been excluded. This movie shows many unexpected cloud motions, such as waves emanating from the corners of the hexagon. Planetary scientists are sure to continue to study this most unusual cloud formation for quite some time. (APOD)<br /><br />Saturn's North Pole Hexagon Mystery Solved? <a href=http://news.discovery.com/space/saturns-north-pole-hexagon-mystery-solved.html>DiscoveryNews</a><br /><br />Saturn is stationary retrograde Feb. 7 at the 29th degree of Libra. Astrological Saturn is structuring and restructuring the Scales of Justice (Libra), along with our personal relationships until Oct. 5, 2012. The 29th degree of a sign is a degree of endings, and endings are often difficult.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-571073630942056555?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-33891383182267790312012-01-22T07:10:00.000-08:002012-01-22T08:30:54.065-08:00"Do you have an explanation for all of the strange sounds in the sky that have been documented all around the world lately?  Over the past few weeks, Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere have been absolutely buzzing about these strange sounds.  At the moment, they remain a great mystery because nobody can seem to explain them.  Some are calling them "apocalyptic sounds".  Whatever they are, they are very loud.  Those that have heard the unexplained sounds in the sky compare them to the rumbling of a train, a sonic boom or a trumpet.  In this article, we will discuss some of the most popular theories about these sounds, but the truth is that right now nobody really knows what is going on.  But what we can say is that this is truly a global phenomenon.  Strange sounds in the sky are being recorded literally all over the world and are being uploaded to YouTube at a very rapid pace.  If someone was trying to fake this, it would be quite difficult to get people all over the planet to cooperate.  In some instances, entire communities have heard these sounds.  So it appears as though something is definitely happening.  Perhaps there is a very basic explanation for all of this.  Perhaps there is not.  In any event, the fact that we simply do not know what is going on is rather unsettling."<br />Read More-> <a href=http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1650/829/NL/Strange_Sounds_In_The_Sky_All_Around_The_World.html>Before It's News</a><br /><br />Rense & Charles Smith - Mysterious, Frightening Sounds Worldwide: <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlKG2X4stog>YouTube</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3389138318226779031?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-65683399930500938302012-01-21T08:12:00.001-08:002012-01-21T08:15:07.959-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/KqAX7r6D5nFjQAWvbt5j49MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gvbLet_UjEM/TxrkJr3bLkI/AAAAAAAANWU/a2Bsvx8eRG8/s400/Bayfordbury_Solargraph900.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />From solstice to solstice, this six month long exposure compresses time from the 21st of June till the 21st of December, 2011, into a single point of view. Dubbed a solargraph, the unconventional picture was recorded with a pinhole camera made from a drink can lined with a piece of photographic paper. Fixed to a single spot for the entire exposure, the simple camera continuously records the Sun's path each day as a glowing trail burned into the photosensitive paper. In this case, the spot was chosen to look out over the domes and radio telescope of the University of Hertfordshire's Bayfordbury Observatory. Dark gaps in the daily arcs are caused by cloud cover, whereas continuous bright tracks record glorious spells of sunny weather. Of course, in June, the Sun trails begin higher at the northern hemisphere's summer solstice. The trails sink lower in the sky as December's winter solstice approaches. Last year's autumn was one of the balmiest on record in the UK, as the many bright arcs in the lower part of this picture testify. (Image Credit & Copyright: Regina Valkenborgh)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6568339993050093830?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-67509867409489689972012-01-20T10:36:00.001-08:002012-01-21T11:07:51.597-08:00From the Royal Greenwich Observatory<br /><br />The Metonic Cycle:<br /><br />The Greek astronomer Meton, in the fifth century BC, discovered that the dates of the phases of the Moon repeated exactly after a period of 19 years.<br /><br />Mathematically, it uses the fact that 19 tropical years contain 6,939.60 days while 235 synodic months contain 6,939.69 days.<br /><br />Since it is almost equal to 20 eclipse years, 6,932.4 days, it is possible for a series of four or five eclipses to occur on the same dates 19 years apart.<br /><br />The metonic cycle was used to determine how intercalary months could be inserted into a lunar calendar so that the calendar year and the tropical (seasonal) year were kept in step.<br /><br />The Saros Cycle:<br /><br />Edmund Halley, whose name is associated by most people with the comet carrying his name, was interested in classical writings, especially those concerning astronomy. He mistakenly connected the naming of a cycle of 223 synodic months by the tenth century Greek lexicographer Suidas with the eclipse cycle of the same period. The name given to the cycle by Suidas was the Saros.<br /><br />This cycle was almost certainly known to the ancient Babylonians and was possibly used by Thales around 585 BC.<br /><br />Eclipses of the Sun and Moon can only occur at New or Full Moon respectively and these have to occur close to the nodes of the Moon's orbit.<br /><br />The nodes are the places in the orbit where the plane of the Moon's orbit and the ecliptic cross.<br /><br />The time between successive passages by the Moon through one of its nodes is called the Draconic month and equals 27.212220 days.<br /><br />The time between successive New or Full Moons is called the Synodic month and equals 29.530589 days.<br /><br />If we take 223 synodic months (6,585.321 days) and compare them with 242 draconic months (6,585.357 days) we can see that they are almost the same. This period is the Saros and it amounts to 18 years, 10 and a third days.<br /><br />This means that eclipses can be expected in families whose members are separated by the length of the Saros. Thus knowing the date of one eclipse allows the prediction of others.<br /><br />It also happens that the Saros is also nearly equal to 239 anomalistic months (the time between successive closest approaches of the Moon to the Earth) and so the length of the eclipses in each cycle will be approximately the same.<br /><a href=http://www.oarval.org/metonic.htm>Royal Greenwich Observatory</a><br /><br />The upcoming May 20, 2012 solar eclipse falls in the 1st degree of Gemini, as did the May 21, 1993 solar eclipse 19 years earlier.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/109940261724281672577/CaliforniaSanFrancisco?feat=embedwebsite#5699782417517700466"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kZODGtkd8mw/Txmx6PUo5XI/AAAAAAAANV0/FV3E2MQdUuE/s400/zero-gemini-eclipses.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=davidcrook108&target=ALBUM&id=5436669623477758801&feat=embedwebsite"></a></td></tr></table><br /><a href=http://milesmathis.com/meton.html>How General Relativity Solves the Metonic Cycle</a><br /><br /><a href=http://members.bitstream.net/~bunlion/bpi/EclSaros.html>Eclipses and the Saros Cycle</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6750986740948968997?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-2898900711166350282012-01-20T07:44:00.000-08:002012-01-26T11:49:07.438-08:00"Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, but you wouldn't know that from visiting the obstetrics department at Taiwan Adventist Hospital. The hallways were abuzz this week with dozens of women lined up for ultrasound checks and other appointments with obstetricians.<br /><br />It's not just a baby boom. It's a dragon baby boom.<br /><br />The Year of the Dragon begins Monday, and the Chinese believe that babies born in this iteration of the 12-year Zodiac cycle are gifted with prodigious quantities of luck and strength. In ancient times the dragon was a symbol reserved for the Chinese emperor, and it is considered to be an extremely auspicious sign.<br /><br />"We haven't had a scene like this in years," said hospital official Hung Tzu-chu.<br /><a href=http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/world/ci_19780316>Read More</a><br />************<br />At midnight on January 23, 2012, Chinese people around the world will welcome the new year, ushering in the Year of the Dragon.<br /><a href=http://earthsky.org/human-world/chinese-new-year-2012-rings-in-year-of-the-dragon>EarthSky</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-289890071116635028?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-40921641134658912772012-01-20T05:45:00.000-08:002012-01-24T09:13:41.207-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aF3tuJRiERG_qvt6P0eVJ9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IiTvcH2Z_ck/TxlwPu35pdI/AAAAAAAANVY/9wTEvXOMew4/s400/wolf.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />A Full Moon rising can be a dramatic celestial sight, and Full Moons can have many names. Captured on January 8 from Ötersund, Sweden, this evocative moonrise portrait might make you feel the cold of winter in the north. If you can also imagine wolves howling in the distance then you probably understand why Native Americans would have called it the Wolf Moon, their traditional name for the first Full Moon in January. The photographer reports that no wolves were heard though, as he watched this beautiful Full Moon rise in fading light over the eastern horizon, echoing the yellow color of the setting Sun. Of course, due this year on February 7, the next Full Moon will be the Snow Moon. (APOD)<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "When they are alone they want to be with others, and when they are with others they want to be alone. After all, human beings are like that." ~Gertrude Stein, Author, Sun Aquarius-Moon Virgo<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4092164113465891277?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-87760644628498531872012-01-19T14:49:00.001-08:002012-01-19T15:43:08.029-08:00My friend Dorothy J. Kovach wrote about the ill-fated Costa Concordia.<br /><a href=http://www.worldastrology.net/the-unlucky-cruise.html>worldastrology.net</a><br /><br /><a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16615145>Costa Concordia satellite image</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8776064462849853187?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-57703459610132358682012-01-19T08:30:00.000-08:002012-01-24T08:12:56.127-08:00"A phalanx of sunspots is turning toward Earth. Their advance is documented in this two-day movie from the Solar Dynamics Observatory: <a href=http://www.spaceweather.com/images2012/19jan12/advance.gif?PHPSESSID=4699eapl7d239ibo1kc209g9e3>SpaceWeather.com</a><br /><br />The large one in the middle, AR1401, has a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. At the moment it is unleashing one such flare every day, such as this flash recorded during the late hours of Jan. 19th. Eruptions from AR1401 will become increasingly geoeffective in the days ahead as the sun's rotation aligns the active region with our planet."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5770345961013235868?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-48165386498014337172012-01-19T06:58:00.000-08:002012-01-24T09:16:04.379-08:00The annual season of Aquarius begins Jan. 20 (8:11 am, PST) when the Sun enters the sign of the Waterbearer. But today (12/19), the Sun forms a square with serious Saturn, which will station-retrograde Feb. 7 at the 29th degree of Libra the Scales. And the New Moon at 3 Aquarius occurs Jan. 22 (11:40 pm, PST). <br /><br />Saturn is the ancient ruler of Aquarius, and Uranus is considered the modern ruler. The Aquarian archetype embodies the ideal of community wherein we can all be unique, and make a unique contribution to the betterment of society.<br /><br />"The ancients envisioned the floods that accompanied the sign's (Aquarius) culmination and seasonal passage as periods of refreshment, when the land, newly baptised, was cleansed of sin. The month of February is so-named in honour of the ceremonies of purification that were held during the Sun's passage through Aquarius (Latin: Februa = to purify + arius = pertaining to), with society's attention turned to ritualistic purification of the home, body and soul. In being cleansed, we are made new again, and classical symbolism also captures the element of youth and innocence by identifying the waterbearer as Ganymede, the young boy whose grace and beauty so captivated the heart of Zeus that he stole him away to replace Hebes, the goddess of youth, as his cup bearer." ~Deborah Houlding: <a href=http://www.skyscript.co.uk/aquarius.html>Aquarius the Waterbearer</a> <br /><br />Currently, Saturn is just shy of exact aspects with both Jupiter and Neptune. But close enough to give the urge for growth (Jupiter) and transcendence (Neptune) a bit of focus. The Jupiter-Saturn opposition reflects the somewhat unfavorable economic trends, as we move into the waning phases of their 20 year cycle that began May 2000.<br /><br />The Aquarius New Moon's aspects with Uranus and Jupiter suggest it's a great time to begin something new, original, and expansive. As Mars shifts direction Jan. 23 the red planet's energy may be palpable now- however, the retrograde period (Jan. 23 - Apr. 13) is not optimal for launching a brand new project, but favors doing the ground-work that could be essential later on. That said- we can usually be successful with the right attitude and right effort. Latent anger or irritability reveals that your energy may be out of balance.<br />************<br />The exquisite <a href=https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4mHDgHDuVJOINceNwsvT8tMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink>Helix Nebula</a> is located in the constellation of Aquarius.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4816538649801433717?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-41367099114326285162012-01-19T05:34:00.001-08:002012-01-19T05:36:39.241-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_eO9EpWEyPDAXMhzgbEg4dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-APhcww3uylk/TxgcJVOviYI/AAAAAAAANUk/pl331QEsbKg/s400/orion.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Begirt with many a blazing star, Orion, the Hunter, is one of the most easily recognizable constellations. In this night skyscape from January 15, the hunter's stars rise in the northern hemisphere's winter sky, framed by bare trees and bounded below by terrestrial lights around Lough Eske (Lake of Fish) in County Donegal, Ireland. Red giant star Betelgeuse is striking in yellowish hues at Orion's shoulder above and left of center. Rivaling the bright red giant, Rigel, a blue supergiant star holds the opposing position near Orion's foot. Of course, the sword of Orion hangs from the hunter's three belt stars near picture center, but the middle star in the sword is not a star at all. A slightly fuzzy pinkish glow hints at its true nature, a nearby stellar nursery visible to the unaided eye known as the Orion Nebula. (APOD)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4136709911432628516?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-31974666708213644662012-01-18T07:26:00.002-08:002012-01-19T05:39:02.759-08:00The following was written by Vedic astrologer James Kelleher. Keep in mind that he is referring to the sidereal ('reckoned by the stars') zodiac where Mars is currently transiting the sign of Leo. Mars is transiting Virgo in the tropical zodiac, of course. But either way, his observations may be useful.<br /><br />By James Kelleher<br /><br />Mars Goes Retrograde: January 24 to April 13, 2012.<br /><br />January 24, 2012, Mars will turn retrograde. This means that Mars will appear to go backwards in the sky for about two and a half months. During this time Mars is exceedingly strong. Its energy will be overflowing in the heavens, stimulating a strong impulse toward ambitious action, taking initiative, physical activity, and the expression of occasional anger.<br /><br />One of the interesting features of this event is that it causes Mars to remain in one sign for a very long period of time. Normally, Mars moves through a sign in a couple of months. In this case, however, Mars remains in Leo for nearly 8 Months, entering on October 30, 2011 and finally leaving on June 20, 2012. This will affect the Leo's among us by making them even more fiery and assertive than usual. The rest of us will also be affected in specific positive or negative ways, based the house Mars transits in our individual charts.<br /><br />The good news is that Mars will also receive the aspect of Jupiter for nearly all of that period, making this transit in Leo relatively benign in its effect. During its retrograde period, Mars can still stimulate conflict however, so it is a good time to tread softly in interpersonal relationships. On the global level, military conflicts often start or are exacerbated by the retrograde motion of Mars.<br /><br />On the positive side, the period of retrograde Mars is a good time to do anything to improve or transform things related to Mars. For example, it is a good time to do yoga, physical therapy, Tai Chi, body work, or any other healing activity that gets energy moving through the body. It is also a good time to repair technical or mechanical objects or projects. <br /><br />During its retrograde phase, Mars will also be transiting in the Nakshatras of Uttara Phalguni and Purva Phalguni. Both of these nakshatras are related to wealth. This period is a good time for rethinking and refining your investment portfolio or for generally modifying and improving your approach to earning or investing money. <br /><br />In general, Mars' retrograde period should not be a big delay, but if you feel that Mars is causing some kind of aggravation in your life during this period, you can try chanting the Mantra to Mars. Om Hreem Mangalaya Namah.<br /><br />Mars will be over USA Sun & Rahu in February and June 2012, bringing conflicts!<br />************************************<br />Quote of the Day: "I don't know quite how to say this.  I want to wake up.  I don't want to live half-assed anymore." ~Kaya McLaren<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3197466670821364466?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-19480330926017308972012-01-18T07:14:00.000-08:002012-01-18T07:15:42.223-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qFRCltyxQFyeC2im9HoOoNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2Hee2hMmaiw/TxbgUtBn0kI/AAAAAAAANUM/VZocORbsKik/s400/cygnusx_spitzer_900.jpg" height="364" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />How do stars form? To help study this complex issue, astronomers took a deep infrared image of Cygnus X, the largest known star forming region in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. The above recently-released image was taken in 2009 by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope and digitally translated into colors humans can see, with the hottest regions colored the most blue. Visible are large bubbles of hot gas inflated by the winds of massive stars soon after they form. Current models posit that these expanding bubbles sweep up gas and sometimes even collide, frequently creating regions dense enough to gravitationally collapse into yet more stars. The star factory Cygnus-X spans over 600 light years, contains over a million times the mass of our Sun, and shines prominently on wide angle infrared panoramas of the night sky. Cygnus X lies 4,500 light years away towards the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus). In a few million years, calm will likely be restored and a large open cluster of stars will remain- which itself will disperse over the next 100 million years. (APOD)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1948033092601730897?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-54909678223544462692012-01-18T05:46:00.001-08:002012-01-18T05:49:31.454-08:00From HuffPost Science:<br />"It's high noon for the humble leap second.<br /><br />After ten years of talks, governments are headed for a showdown vote this week on an issue that pits technological precision against nature's whims.<br /><br />The United States, France and others are pushing for countries at a U.N. telecom meeting to abolish the leap second, which for 40 years has kept computers in sync with the Earth day.<br /><br />Leap seconds are necessary to prevent atomic clocks from speeding ahead of solar time. They are added at irregular intervals, effectively stretching atomic time by a heartbeat to make up for the irregular wobble in the Earth's rotation.<br /><br />Critics warn that the scrapping the leap second would break the last link between the passing of time and the course of the sun across the sky. But backers say machines shouldn't any longer be tethered to the imprecise cycle of sunrise and sunset.<br /><br />"This would be an important decision because the problem of introducing the leap second would disappear and we would have a more steady time than we have today," Vincent Meens, an official at the International Telecommunication Union who has chaired technical talks on the issue, said Tuesday.<br /><br />Operators of cell phone networks, financial markets and air traffic control systems could then rely on the near-absolute precision offered by atomic clocks without having to worry about stopping their systems for the length of a heartbeat every year or two.<br /><br />"Most of the people who operate time services favor discontinuing leap seconds," said Judah Levine, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado.<br /><br />"The main problem is that the leap second is usually implemented by stopping the clock for one second. However, the world doesn't stop," he said.<br /><br />Satellite navigation systems like GPS don't use leap seconds, which adds confusion, said Levine. "In addition, the leap second occurs in the middle of the day in Asia and Australia, which is particularly inconvenient."<br /><br />In a world increasingly reliant on computers for mission-critical measurements, any glitch could be costly as well as fatal, said Elisa Felicitas Arias, director of the time department at the Paris-based International Bureau of Weights and Measures.<br /><br />"You can make a dramatic error if, for example, you are trying to land an aircraft," she said, noting that rocket launches, too, are never scheduled on days when a leap second might occur. "This is something we are trying to correct."<br /><br />Critics say the risks are overblown and leap seconds have been used successfully since 1972, despite being hard to predict more than six months in advance.<br /><br />China has warned that any change could hurt astronomers, who need to be able to compare observations spanning thousands of years as part of their work.<br /><br />Canada, too, has raised objections to the proposed plan, while Britain has warned that it could spell the end of Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT, as a meaningful measure.<br /><br />"Leap seconds are an inconvenience to the telecommunications people, but there are many other users of time who should be considered," said Ken Seidelmann, director of astrometry at the U.S. Naval Observatory.<br /><br />Killing off the leap second would also result in atomic clocks slowly outrunning the solar day by a rate of about 90 seconds a century. After many thousands of years, atomic clocks would say it's midday when outside the sun has yet to rise.<br /><br />"This is replacing a small problem with a big problem further down the line," said Daniel Gambis, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory and the man who alerted timekeepers around the world to the next leap second, due on June 30.<br /><br />Arias said solutions could be found for such problems, but conceded that severing the link between the proposed new standard time - as measured by atomic clocks - and the solar time people are accustomed to might seem troubling to many.<br /><br />Still, the time for change has come, she argued.<br /><br />Unless a last minute consensus is reached, delegates at the ITU meeting in Geneva are expected to vote on the issue Thursday or Friday."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5490967822354446269?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-3441697213330799902012-01-17T07:57:00.000-08:002012-01-17T08:35:42.314-08:00A fitting image for the Moon transiting Scorpio.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ne6cH2FhhbILw7-b2TD5sdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x3m8IqP4-mU/TxWaOQKwD5I/AAAAAAAANT4/KSaHxOLYzDg/s400/witch_ratto_900.jpg" height="275" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble -- maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. This suggestively shaped reflection nebula is associated with the bright star Rigel in the constellation Orion. More formally known as IC 2118, the Witch Head Nebula glows primarily by light reflected from bright star Rigel, located just below the lower edge of the above image. Fine dust in the nebula reflects the light. The blue color is caused not only by Rigel's blue color but because the dust grains reflect blue light more efficiently than red. The same physical process causes Earth's daytime sky to appear blue, although the scatterers in Earth's atmosphere are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The nebula lies about 1000 light-years away.<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "The truth, at first hurts, then it heals." ~Rinon Hoxha<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-344169721333079990?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-77345192007249432992012-01-17T07:46:00.001-08:002012-01-17T07:48:12.823-08:00From LiveScience:<br />"A research team has discovered what may be the oldest astrologer's board, engraved with zodiac signs and used to determine a person's horoscope.<br /><br />Dating back more than 2,000 years, the board was discovered in Croatia, in a cave overlooking the Adriatic Sea. The surviving portion of the board consists of 30 ivory fragments engraved with signs of the zodiac. Researchers spent years digging them up and putting them back together. Inscribed in a Greco-Roman style, they include images of Cancer, Gemini and Pisces. <br /><br />The board fragments were discovered next to a phallic-shaped stalagmite amid thousands of pieces of ancient Hellenistic (Greek style) drinking vessels. <br /><br />An ancient astrologer, trying to determine a person's horoscope, could have used the board to show the position of the planets, sun and moon at the time the person was born."<br /><a href=http://www.livescience.com/17943-oldest-astrologer-board-zodiac.html>Read More</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7734519200724943299?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-50342254134987485732012-01-14T19:24:00.000-08:002012-01-14T19:37:37.453-08:00Our self awareness makes us human. We have free will and we are consciously making choices. We feel that our existence have a meaning and our life have a purpose. Deepak talks about how our positive thinking may influence our genes, improve them and if this theory will be prove, how our consciousness, and learning about our consciousness, could redefine life as we know it.<br /><a href=http://www.deepakchopra.com/video/view/136/war_of_the_worldviews_interview_part1__life>Deepak Chopra video</a><br /><br />Deepak's-> <a href=http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Chopra,_Deepak>horoscope</a> .<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5034225413498748573?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-74376981640760796562012-01-14T16:49:00.000-08:002012-01-15T18:44:33.989-08:00Written by Tony Howard<br /><br />"Welcome to 2012. It sure feels like "full steam ahead" in my neck of the woods. If you're feeling a forward whoosh of energy, you're right on track, as we head towards an earth trine of Mars in Virgo to the Sun in Capricorn on January 12. We're just coming out of a Jupiter retrograde cycle, in which you likely did some re-visioning of your big picture plans. You might be itching to put some of those plans into action. If there are projects that have been waiting in the wings, now is a great time to get them moving. These are good days to spend a little more time working, and less time playing. Take care of the details, get the structure in order, establish the foundation. Because just a couple of weeks later, it's going to be time to put the brakes on.<br /><br />The planet Mars relates to our personal will, our ability to take action and assert ourselves, and our sense of "I want." Every two years, Mars has a retrograde cycle which lasts for about 2 1/2 months. But like Mercury retrograde, our experience of the cycle is actually a bit longer, encompassing the entire span of degrees which Mars will traipse back and forth over, emphasizing that sign and house in our chart."<br />Read More-> <a href=http://www.astroraven.com/astrology-news/item/11-mars-retrograde-2012>AstroRaven</a><br />************************************<br /><a href=http://www.evolvingdoor.ca/miscarticles/rxmars.htm>Transforming the Brave Heart</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7437698164076079656?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-40684126543967480542012-01-14T07:49:00.001-08:002012-01-15T08:31:36.133-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MWU4gaP0lVrJqp5g96bSZdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Nj-OoAezdZE/TxGjyid-u8I/AAAAAAAANTc/OerJBDNi1rE/s400/LittleGhost_hst900.jpg" height="333" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />This pretty planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 6369, was discovered by 18th century astronomer William Herschel as he used a telescope to explore the medicinal constellation Ophiucus. Round and planet-shaped, the nebula is also relatively faint and has acquired the popular moniker of Little Ghost Nebula. Planetary nebulae in general are not at all related to planets, but instead are created at the end of a sun-like star's life as its outer layers expand into space while the star's core shrinks to become a white dwarf. The transformed white dwarf star, seen near the center, radiates strongly at ultraviolet wavelengths and powers the expanding nebula's glow. Surprisingly complex details and structures of NGC 6369 are revealed in this tantalizing image composed from Hubble Space Telescope data. The nebula's main ring structure is about a light-year across and the glow from ionized oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen atoms are colored blue, green, and red respectively. Over 2,000 light-years away, the Little Ghost Nebula offers a glimpse of the fate of our Sun, which could produce its own planetary nebula only about 5 billion years from now.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4068412654396748054?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-17510588934061763662012-01-13T05:45:00.001-08:002012-01-13T07:23:27.384-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q4MxWy-kBwCvTNETliDfw9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-V2V26otTnh0/TxA1yVIngqI/AAAAAAAANTE/0F9mchN33gU/s400/iapetus3_cassini_900.jpg" height="356" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />What has happened to Saturn's moon Iapetus? Vast sections of this strange world are dark as coal, while others are as bright as ice. The composition of the dark material is unknown, but infrared spectra indicate that it possibly contains some dark form of carbon. Iapetus also has an unusual equatorial ridge that makes it appear like a walnut. To help better understand this seemingly painted moon, NASA directed the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn to swoop within 2,000 kilometers in 2007. Pictured above, from about 75,000 kilometers out, Cassini's trajectory allowed unprecedented imaging of the hemisphere of Iapetus that is always trailing. A huge impact crater seen in the south spans a tremendous 450 kilometers and appears superposed on an older crater of similar size. The dark material is seen increasingly coating the easternmost part of Iapetus, darkening craters and highlands alike. Close inspection indicates that the dark coating typically faces the moon's equator and is less than a meter thick. A leading hypothesis is that the dark material is mostly dirt leftover when relatively warm but dirty ice sublimates. An initial coating of dark material may have been effectively painted on by the accretion of meteor-liberated debris from other moons. This and other images from Cassini's Iapetus flyby are being studied for even greater clues. (APOD)<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "Beyond the beauty of external forms, there is more here: something that cannot be named, something ineffable, some deep, inner, holy essence. Whenever and wherever there is beauty, this inner essence shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are present." ~Eckhart Tolle<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1751058893406176366?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-20051921567448794652012-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-12T08:02:16.538-08:00Deepak hosts Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer with Seti Institute.<br /><br />Seth claims to have developed an interest in extraterrestrial life at the tender age of ten, when he first picked up a book about the solar system. This innocent beginning eventually led to a degree in radio astronomy, and now, as Senior Astronomer, Seth is an enthusiastic participant in the Institute’s SETI observing programs. He also heads up the International Academy of Astronautics’ SETI Permanent Study Group.<br /><a href=http://www.deepakchopra.com/blog/view/214/life_beyond_earth>Deepak Chopra Radio</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2005192156744879465?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-81573289991194982302012-01-12T07:07:00.000-08:002012-01-12T11:42:53.038-08:00From BBC News:<br />"Astronomers have determined exactly what colour our home galaxy the Milky Way is - and find it is aptly named.<br /><br />They wanted to find out how our galaxy looked from the outside - a difficult task given the Earth is inside it.<br /><br />A comparison of star types in other galaxies gives perhaps an unsurprising result: white. But not just any white: specifically, like spring snow at an hour after sunrise or before sunset.<br /><br />The finding was announced at the 219th American Astronomical Society meeting.<br /><br />"For astronomers, one of the most important parameters is actually the colour of the galaxy," Jeffrey Newman of the University of Pittsburgh told BBC News.<br /><br />"That tells us basically how old the stars in the galaxy are, how recently it's been forming stars - are they forming today or did its stars form billions and billions of years ago?"<br /><br />Prof Newman told the meeting: "But it's worse than that; not only are we looking at the Milky Way from the inside, but our view is blocked by dust."<br /><br />"We can only see about one or two thousand light years in any direction."<br /><br />Colour chart<br />So Prof Newman and his student Tim Licquia went about putting the Milky Way on the map of other galaxies that we can see from outside.<br /><br />They gathered data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with information on about a million galaxies.<br /><br />They compared those data with what they knew about the total mass in the Milky Way, as well as the rate of star formation, looking for near matches among other galaxies.<br /><br />For those most nearly matched to our own galactic home, the team took an average and came up with a precise measure of what colour it must be.<br /><br />"The best description I can give would be that if you looked at new spring snow, which has a fine grain size, about an hour after dawn or an hour before sunset, you'd see the same spectrum of light that an alien astronomer in another galaxy would see looking at the Milky Way," Prof Newman told BBC News.<br /><br />This "colour temperature" is somewhere between that of an old-fashioned incandescent lightbulb and noon-time sunlight; both whites, but subtly different.<br /><br />And what does the colour tell us about our Milky Way's development - is it a cosmic newcomer or past its prime?<br /><br />"It appears our Milky Way is on the road between those two stages - based on the colour we find, the rate of formation of stars has been declining over time," Prof Newman said.<br /><br />"The Milky way is in a very interesting evolutionary state right now."<br /><br />************************************<br /><br />Milky Way May Contain '10 Billion Habitable Planets' University of Copenhagen Scientists Claim: <a href=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/01/11/milky-way-may-contain-billions-of-habitable-planets_n_1199396.html>Huffington Post UK</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8157328999119498230?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-76647686349504572602012-01-10T11:47:00.001-08:002012-01-12T08:45:14.426-08:00Jan 4, 2014<br />By Alexander Backman<br />CRN® Jan 4th 2012- Conciencia Radio is currently conducting an investigation on something massive that occurred in the port town of Ensenada, Baja California Mexico. In or around August 2011, a very big secret meeting took place among the scientific elite at the number one scientific research center in Mexico known as the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE). This preliminary report, not be published as of yet, is being developed to ascertain why prominent scientists from different parts of the world that work at CICESE have decided to suddenly relocate or flee from the Baja California peninsula due to an impending geophysical event of great magnitude.<br /><a href=http://www.earth-issues.com/2012/01/scientists-secretly-evacuating-mexican-port-town-of-ensenada-due-to-impending-cataclysm/>Continued...</a><br /><br />************************************<br /><br />The Dec. 10 total lunar eclipse at 18 Gemini fell right on the horizon in Ensenada, with Uranus (shocks) sharply placed. Transiting Mars- soon to go retrograde, is moving in and out of square to the eclipse degree and the eclipse Ascendant (Ensenada).<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LJ6o3XDeRpHSrSTYT1JCwtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sbI8CVxAxlA/TwzyEaUADSI/AAAAAAAANRw/Uv_g2VwhWLE/s400/lunar-eclipse-ensenada.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><br />Wikipedia says that Ensenada was founded on Sept. 17, 1521. A default noon chart for this date puts the Ascendant and Mars both at 21 degrees of Sagittarius. (Tr. Mars stations-retrograde Jan. 23 at 23 Virgo.) If we direct this natal Mars one degree per year (solar arc) it will hit the IC-4th house cusp (weather and earthquakes) in about 3 months- an indication of possible violence, already in effect. <br /><br />In Feb. 2012, we have double activation of Ensenada's Lunar Nodes. Transiting Saturn will station Feb. 7 precisely on the antiscia (mirror point) of the city's North Node (29.23 Libra), and transiting Neptune will conjoin the North Node (1 Pisces). While Pluto (extreme events- upheavals) will transit the antiscia of Ensenada's Ascendant (8.49 Capricorn) and Mars (8.52 Capricorn)- which can be explosive. Therefore, February's confluence of dynamic hits to Ensenada's founding chart would seem to indicate the probability of an extreme and massive event, if this chart is indeed accurate.<br /><br />Tri-wheel with natal, antiscia, and transits:<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WKeaX1x12DizQxZxFnVOpNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aLR94vXFWfs/TwzO7VoAo7I/AAAAAAAANRU/GtOCvNErkLg/s400/ensenada.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><br /><a href=http://www.skyscript.co.uk/gl/antiscia.html>Antiscia & Contra-Antiscia</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7664768634950457260?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-20587124657133587422012-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:002012-01-10T16:27:03.560-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TTRYEgaYCx6n1UsAbjlavNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Vwq7OXirNek/TwxgDU3pMOI/AAAAAAAANQ4/0vTm3ON9S9o/s400/leoregulus_cook_900.jpg" height="289" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />The star near the top is so bright that it is sometimes hard to notice the galaxy toward the bottom. Pictured above, both the star, Regulus, and the galaxy, Leo I, can be found within one degree of each other toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo). Regulus is part of a multiple star system, with a close companion double star visible to the lower left of the young main sequence star. Leo I is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the Local Group of galaxies dominated by our Milky Way Galaxy and M31. Leo I is thought to be the most distant of the several known small satellite galaxies orbiting our Milky Way Galaxy. Regulus is located about 75 light years away, in contrast to Leo 1 which is located about 800,000 light years away.<br /><br />************************************<br /><br />Astrologically, the fixed star Regulus Alpha Leonis, is known as the heart of the Lion. Regulus was one of the four “royal stars” of the Persians around 3000 BC when it marked the marked the Summer Solstice (0 Cancer). The other three royal stars are Aldebaran Alpha Tauri- the Bull's Eye, Antares Alpha Scorpii- the Scorpion's Heart, and Fomalhaut- the Fishes Mouth. (Aldebaran [10 Gemini] and Antares [10 Sagittarius] define the so-called 'nuclear axis'.)<br /><br />Regulus entered the sign of Virgo in the Fall of 2011, and had been in the sign of Leo since 156 BC. As the star Regulus pertains to power and leadership, astrologers have speculated on what this means regarding emerging persons of worldly importance. In some way, these influential people may tend to lead in a way resonant with the Virgo archetype- perhaps born around the mid 60's when Uranus and Pluto were conjunct in the sign of Virgo. Clearly, holistic health/healing and ecology are related to Virgo, as is the notion of sustainability, which could not be more relevant to the spirit of our current times.<br /><br />Neptune is now at 29 Aquarius, and about to enter the sign of Pisces where it will transit until 2025. So Neptune, of collective dreams and imagination, is in a rare opposition to Regulus at 0 Virgo. Neptune will pull up a degree shy of the royal star Fomalhaut (4 Pisces) in June 2012, but will begin to exactly conjoin Fomalhaut in the Spring of 2013. As both Neptune and Fomalhaut are linked to the spiritual urge, we might surmise that this contact has implications for the collective spiritual consciousness on our planet.<br /><br /><a href=http://www.constellationsofwords.com/stars/Regulus.html>The history of the star Regulus</a><br /><br />Quote of the Day: "Relationships do not cause pain and unhappiness. They bring out the pain and unhappiness that is already in you." ~Eckhart Tolle<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2058712465713358742?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-45679962275674838132012-01-08T08:34:00.002-08:002012-01-08T11:08:41.671-08:00The effects of the Suns activity (flares, Coronal Mass Ejections etc) IMF (Interplanetary Magnetic Field),  SBC (Sector Boundary Crossing) from south to north polarity & vice-versa, the GMF (Geomagnetic Field), Cosmic Rays & negative / positive ionisation, and the connections to weather,  human / animal consciousness, psychology & physiology<br /><br /><a href=http://sites.google.com/site/crabtreescompendiumofesoterica/the-electromagnetic-effect-the-connections>Crabtrees Compendium of Esoterica</a><br /><br />From the introduction:<br />"The first of my three main objectives in writing this booklet is to show that many if not all phenomena are predictable to some greater or lesser degree. The second of the three main objectives is to show how geological, meteorological and astrophysical phenomena are predictable.<br /> <br />The third main objective is to show scientifically how there is a major connection between all of the following phenomena:<br /> <br />Astrology – astronomy – astrophysics – metaphysics - geophysics – meteorology – psychological and physical pathology – biology – and more.<br /> <br />Specifically, I intend to show the (now) undoubted connection between magnetism (electromagnetism and geomagnetism) – solar activity such as, flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and sunspots – the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) – sector boundary crossings (SBC) of the IMF – ionisation – ESP and PSI – health – earthquake, volcanic and meteorological phenomena." ~Richard C. Crabtree <br /> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4567996227567483813?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-39212186126309279832012-01-08T07:00:00.000-08:002012-01-17T10:26:57.677-08:00The world will not end in 2012, although we do have a reset of the 5125 year Mayan Long Count calendar on Dec. 21, 2012. 2013, and 2014 in particular, look more tumultuous then 2012, imo. Here's a list of the important astrological events of 2012. I'll be writing about most of these as the year unfolds.<br /><br />*Dates based on Greenwich Mean Time*<br /><br />Jan. 9- Full Moon at 18 Cancer.<br /><br />Jan. 20- Sun enters the sign of Aquarius the Waterbearer. <br /><br />Jan. 23- New Moon at 3 Aquarius sextile Uranus. <br /><br />Jan. 24- Mars turns retrograde at 23 Virgo, and it's energy is amplified as it shifts direction. During the retrograde phase we might reflect intently on our desires, and on the best course of action to fulfill them.<br /><br />Jan. 28- Uranus crosses the equator at 0 north declination- appears focused in London.<br /><br />Feb. 3- Neptune re-enters Pisces and transits the sign of the Fishes into 2025.<br /><br />Feb. 7- Saturn turns retrograde at the 29th degree of Libra. And Full Moon at 19 Leo. Saturn can provide form and focus to creative self-expression. <br /><br />Feb. 9- Venus at 0 north declination.<br /><br />Feb. 19- Sun enters Pisces the Fishes.<br /><br />Feb. 21- New Moon at 3 degrees of Pisces conjoins Neptune- modern ruler of Pisces.<br /><br />Mar. 1- Mercury at 0 north declination.<br /><br />Mar. 8- Full Moon at 18 Virgo.<br /><br />Mar. 12- Mercury stationary retrograde at 7 Aries. Review, revisit, and revise.<br /><br />Mar. 13- Jupiter trine Pluto. Far reaching endeavors; the desire to lead and influence- spiritual regeneration.<br /><br />Mar. 20- The Sun enters Aries the Ram on the Vernal Equinox.<br /><br />Mar. 22- New Moon at 2 Aries highlights the waxing Uranus-Pluto square- a flashpoint.<br /><br />Mar. 28- Mercury at 0 south declination.<br /><br />Apr. 4- Mercury stationary direct at 24 Pisces.<br /><br />Apr. 6- Full Moon at 17 Libra is a SuperMoon event with Luna at perigee (closest to the earth).<br /><br />Apr. 10- Pluto stationary retrograde at 10 Capricorn. Intensity and extremes- upheavals.<br /><br />Apr. 14- Mars stationary direct at 4 Virgo. Self-assertive energy and/or aggression is heightened and finds outward expression.<br /><br />Apr. 19- The Sun enters Taurus the Bull.<br /><br />Apr. 21- New Moon at 2 Taurus is trine Mars (action & initiative).<br /><br />Apr. 22- Mercury at 0 north declination.<br /><br />May 6- Full Moon at 16 Scorpio is another SuperMoon event.<br /><br />May 15- Venus stationary retrograde at 24 Gemini. "Every time Venus is retrograde, we get an opportunity to review unconscious intentions we may have unwittingly set in motion, fuelled by past suffering and misunderstanding. We may then re-set them in the light of consciousness, made wiser by accepting both love and loss." ~Melanie Reinhart<br /><br />May. 20- Annular solar eclipse at 0 Gemini conjunct Alcyone- central star of the Pleiades cluster, aka the Seven Sisters. The Mayan's believe they came from the Pleiades. This eclipse is visible in the SF Bay Area.<br /><br />June 4- Neptune stationary retrograde at 3 Pisces. Inspiration and/or illusion is accentuated.<br /><br />June 6- Rare transit-passage of Venus across the face of the Sun- aka the inferior conjunction at 16 Gemini (square Mars). <a href=http://www.transitofvenus.org/education/science-math/141-rare-alignment>Rare Alignment</a><br /><br />June 4- Partial lunar eclipse at 14 Sagittarius conjunct the Great Attractor, and the heliocentric Nodes of Uranus. This eclipse is a SuperMoon with Luna at perigee.<br /><br />June 19- New Moon at 29 Gemini conjunct the red star Betelgeuse that has an affinity with disasters.<br /><br />June 20- The Sun enters Cancer the Crab at the Summer Solstice.<br /><br />Jun. 24- The first of seven epic squares between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn. Massive change and awakenings; revolutionary upheaval and/or overthrow. <br /><br />June 25- Jupiter square Neptune. Inflated hopes and dreams- but stationary Saturn can facilitate grounding.<br /><br />June 25- Saturn stationary direct at 23 Libra. Equality in relationships is a matter of concern- and long-term goals get the green light.<br /><br />June 27- Venus stationary direct at 7 Gemini. Love and creativity is enhanced. <br /><br />July 3- Full Moon at 3 Capricorn conjoins Pluto and squares Uranus- a flashpoint.<br /><br />July 5- Mars at 0 south declination.<br /><br />July 13- Uranus stationary retrograde at 9 Aries. The pace of change increases- awakenings.<br /><br />July 15- Mercury stationary retrograde at 13 Leo. Review, revisit, and revise.<br /><br />July 19- New Moon at 27 Cancer.<br /><br />July 22- The Sun enters Leo the Lion. Jupiter sextile Uranus; sudden opportunities and positive reforms- innovation is furthered.<br /><br />Aug. 2- Full Moon at 10 Aquarius.<br /><br />Aug. 8- Mercury stationary direct at 2 Leo. Information and communication start to flow more easily.<br /><br />Aug. 17- New Moon at 25 Leo.<br /><br />Aug. 22- The Sun enters Virgo the Maiden.<br /><br />Aug. 23- Mars enters Scorpio, where it has an affinity.<br /><br />Aug. 31- Full Moon at 9 Pisces.<br /><br />Sept. 1- Mercury enters Virgo, where it has an affinity.<br /><br />Sept. 16- New Moon at 24 Virgo.<br /><br />Sept. 18- Pluto stationary direct at 7 Capricorn. Mercury at 0 south declination.<br /><br />Sept. 19- The 2nd of 7 epic Uranus-Pluto squares with Uranus at 7 Aries and Pluto at 7 Capricorn.<br /><br />Sept. 22- The Libra solar ingress/Autumnal Equinox. Mercury translates the Uranus-90-Pluto world transit. Probably the most crucial season of 2012.<br /><br />Sept. 30- Full Moon conjoins Uranus at 7 Aries and squares Pluto- a flashpoint.<br /><br />Oct. 4- Jupiter stationary retrograde at 16 Gemini- near the degree of the June 6 inferior Venus-Sun conjunction.<br /><br />Oct. 5- Saturn enters Scorpio. A darker placement for Saturn. Hidden agendas and manipulation come under scrutiny. Fear tends to override trust. Hard work and determination pay off. <br /><br />Oct. 7- Mars enters Sagittarius.<br /><br />Oct. 11- Saturn trine Neptune.<br /><br />Oct. 15- New Moon at 23 Libra.<br /><br />Oct. 23- The Sun enters Scorpio the Scorpion. <br /><br />Oct. 28- Venus enters her own sign of Libra.<br /><br />Oct. 29- Full Moon at 7 Taurus. <br /><br />Oct. 31- Venus at 0 south declination.<br /><br />Nov. 6- Mercury stationary retrograde at 4 Sagittarius.<br /><br />Nov. 11- Neptune stationary direct at 0 Pisces.<br /><br />Nov. 13- Total solar eclipse at 22 Scorpio- a SuperMoon event!<br /><br />Nov. 21- The Sun enters Sagittarius the Archer.<br /><br />Nov. 26- Mercury stationary direct at 18 Scorpio.<br /><br />Nov. 28- Annular lunar eclipse at 7 Gemini.<br /><br />Dec. 13- New Moon at 22 Sagittarius. Uranus stationary direct at 5 Aries.<br /><br />Dec. 21- The Sun enters Capricorn the Goatfish.<br /><br />Dec. 27- Saturn sextile Pluto. <br /><br />Dec. 28- Full Moon at 7 Cancer opposes Pluto and squares Uranus- another flashpoint.<br /><br />My colleague Peter Stockinger's 2012 Overview: <a href=http://starsandstones.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/2012-a-preview/>Stars and Stones</a><br /><br />Online Ephemeris for 1999-2013: <a href=http://www.biopscinst.com/bpi/ephm/ERoot.html>BioPsciences</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3921218612630927983?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-91616914182805981602012-01-06T07:40:00.001-08:002012-01-07T06:18:22.605-08:00From EarthSky:<br />This is the first full moon after the December solstice. In North America, we commonly call this full moon the “Old Moon” or “Moon After Yule.”<br /><br />Look for tonight’s full moon to rise in the east around sunset today (Sunday, January 8). Like every full moon, it’ll climb highest in the sky around midnight and will set in the west tomorrow around sunrise. For general reference, we can say the moon is full all night tonight.<br /><br />Astronomically speaking, though, the moon is full for only an instant. That instant occurs when the moon is most opposite the sun for the month. That happens tomorrow (January 9) at 7:30 Universal Time. For the U.S. time zones, that places the full moon at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time, 1:30 a.m. Central Time, 12:30 a.m. Mountain Time, and 11:30 p.m. (on January 8) Pacific Time.<br /><br />In North and South America, the moon turns full during the nighttime hours between sunset and sunrise. At this full moon instant, the moon has to be above our horizon, because the sun is shining below it. In other words, at the instant of full moon, the moon shines above the horizon for the nighttime side of the world and below the horizon for the daytime side.<br /><br />On the daytime side of the world– like in Africa, most of Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand– the moon must be below the horizon because the sun is above it. For the Rocky Mountain region in the United States, the moon turns precisely full at midnight, so the full moon shines high overhead while the sun lies underfoot.<br /><br />Watch the January full moon tonight, as it beams from dusk until dawn!<br /><a href=http://earthsky.org/tonight/full-moon-rises-in-the-east-around-sunset-january-8>EarthSky</a><br /><br />************************************<br /><br />The Jan. 9 (JST) Cancer Full Moon is rising in Fukushima, Japan, where a series of small, shallow earthquakes have recently occurred. Uranus of shocks and uranium is right on the Full Moon Midheaven there. <br /><br />Info on recent quakes in Japan: <a href=http://enenews.com/report-shallow-quake-right-underneath-fukushima-nuke-plant-jnn-live-camera-down-immediately-after-no-word-from-tepco-govt>Enenews</a><br /><br />I still believe the nuclear meltdown(s) at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is the worst environmental disaster ever- but would love to be wrong about this. The astrology is just too compelling.<br /><br />I've mentioned several times previously, that the July 22, 2009 longest solar eclipse of the 21st century was conjunct the Midheaven in Fukushima and Tokyo. This eclipse was clearly a celestial portent that foreshadowed disaster in Japan. As the duration of this eclipse was 6 minutes 38 seconds, it should have an effect for about 6 years and 8 months. And the eclipse degree (29.27 Cancer) is therefore sensitive for the same length of time.<br /><br />Transiting Saturn is stationary-retrograde on Feb. 7, 2012 at 29.30 Libra, in tight square to the solar eclipse degree. But not only that, Saturn rises in Fukushima when it stations- which in itself connects Saturn with this location. Of course, astrological Saturn is the ruler of time (Chronos), lord of karma, and the planet of checks and balances. So if the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century is indeed linked to the Fukushima crisis, we can expect some major developments to unfold there as the eclipse degree gets triggered/activated by Saturn.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/N8H-nsNC_JyOD7TnAgNqv9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sfj75JxzKnY/Twcek-1yGmI/AAAAAAAANPY/MReCAoeI-j8/s400/fuku.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><br /><a href=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2009Jul22T.GIF>NASA: Total Solar Eclipse of 2009 July 22</a><br /><br />The powerful transits from the epic Uranus-Pluto (uranium-plutonium) square to the chart for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, suggests that further shocks and upheavals are likely, and may even intensify beginning in the Spring. <br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/IM0ALliGbkoCkjEMXrjn-tMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-V2VFiVL95mw/TweO1MD0JrI/AAAAAAAANP4/UrLtA-3O9OQ/s400/fuku-daiichi-2012.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/AsiaMideast?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Asia &amp; Mideast</a></td></tr></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-9161691418280598160?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-51066012224257710332012-01-06T05:55:00.001-08:002012-01-06T16:58:46.566-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6Z8PHZLicv3HlMPWVVI39NMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-5YMyOSmBWNA/Twb9D8-6YBI/AAAAAAAANO8/b59Xf34SIWI/s400/gcwide_eder_900.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />From Sagittarius to Scorpius, the central Milky Way is a truly beautiful part of planet Earth's night sky. The gorgeous region is captured in this wide field image spanning about 30 degrees. The impressive cosmic vista, taken in 2010, shows off intricate dust lanes, bright nebulae, and star clusters scattered through our galaxy's rich central starfields. Starting on the left, look for the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae, the Cat's Paw, while on the right lies the Pipe dark nebula, and the colorful clouds of Rho Ophiuchi and Antares (right). The actual center of our Galaxy lies about 26,000 light years away and can be found <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhHUNvEKUY8>here</a> .<br /><br />The Galactic Center (27 Sagittarius)- by <a href=http://www.horary.com/hhcrl/galact.html>Paul O. Hewit</a><br /><br />The <a href= https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zCxkHzn4OHqoERF_PFtLk9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink>Mar. 26, 2011 solar return</a> for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, has the Moon conjunct Her fateful North Node at 27 Sagittarius- the Galactic Center. <br /><br />Quote of the Day: “So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” ~Hunter S. Thompson<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5106601222425771033?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-69044128526618791712012-01-05T08:30:00.000-08:002012-01-07T10:00:03.128-08:00From BBC News:<br />"The US military will become "leaner" as it switches focus to the Asia-Pacific region, US President Barack Obama has announced. In a rare appearance at the Pentagon, he unveiled a far-reaching defence review under which thousands of troops are expected to be axed. He said the tide of war was receding, but the US would still retain its military superiority in the world.<br /><br />The Pentagon faces more than $450bn in cuts in the next 10 years.<br /><br />"So yes, our military will be leaner," Mr Obama told reporters on Thursday, "but the world must know- the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats."<br /><br />Joined by Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, President Obama stressed that the defence budget would still grow, but at a slower pace. He said the US was "turning the page on a decade of war" and faced a "moment of transition".<br /><br />"Even as our troops continue to fight in Afghanistan, the tide of war is receding," he said.<br /><br />President Obama added: "At the same time, we have to renew our economic strength here at home, which is the foundation of our strength around the world. That includes putting our fiscal house in order."<br /><br />The president said the new strategy would end "long-term, nation-building with large military footprints", with the Pentagon instead pursuing a national security strategy based on "smaller conventional ground forces".<br /><br />Mr Panetta said the review would make the US military "more agile, more flexible, ready to deploy quickly".<br /><br />Mr Obama has been closely involved with shaping the blueprint, meeting high-ranking defence officials six times since September." <a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16430405>BBC News story</a><br /><br />************************************<br /><br />Any U.S. horoscope for July 4, 1776, had it's progressed Mars (war and aggression; the military) go stationary retrograde at 19 Libra, about 5-6 years ago. This extremely rare event did not stop the U.S. war machine, but may be a factor in it's recent ineffectiveness. The taste for war would potentially lose it's savoriness under a retrograde Mars. Interestingly- the Jan. 8 Full Moon at 19 Cancer is exactly square the U.S. progressed Mars (19 Libra). And the Dec. 10 lunar eclipse at 18 Gemini conjoined the U.S. Mars (21 Gemini).<br /><br />As of today, transiting Mars at 21 Virgo is exactly square the U.S. Mars (21 Gemini), and conjoining natal Neptune (22 Virgo). Mars stations-retrograde Jan. 23 exactly on President Obama's natal Mars (23 Virgo), and activates the U.S. Mars-90-Neptune till late June. This natal Mars-Neptune square well describes how the U.S. gets drawn into war because of misguided idealism, but also via false flag attacks, manufactured by those with a twisted dream of empire. Violence only begets violence. And the violent shall die a violent death. No one learns from history.<br /><br />It makes sense that President Obama would like to expand the U.S. military presence in Asia, as most of his planetary Midheaven lines run through Asia- best seen in his AstroCartoGraphy map. So this is the region of the globe he would tend to most strongly project his public persona, realize his ambitions, and make his mark on the world.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UTa6SIkcaH7w_zOwMaUqBdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/---rjVHPwGpg/TwYVH4pFTmI/AAAAAAAANOk/VtPifS6WvUU/s400/obama-asia-acg.gif" height="374" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/UnitedStates?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">United States</a></td></tr></table><br /><a href=http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/07>Obama's Pentagon Strategy: A Leaner, More Efficient Empire</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6904412852661879171?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-82835266237904123642012-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:002012-01-06T09:36:28.449-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5lf_tPewZl67O9msmtTJi9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SkPy7YAaEoY/TwW5lFA964I/AAAAAAAANOM/GNOlA5aykoA/s400/PIA14910_900c.jpg" height="337" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Orbiting in the plane of Saturn's rings, Saturnian moons have a perpetual ringside view of the gorgeous gas giant planet. Of course, while passing near the ring plane the Cassini spacecraft also shares their stunning perspective. The rings themselves can be seen slicing across the middle of this Cassini snapshot from May of last year. The scene features Titan, largest, and Dione, third largest moon of Saturn. Remarkably thin, the bright rings still cast arcing shadows across the planet's cloud tops at the bottom of the frame. Pale Dione is about 1,100 kilometers across and orbits over 300,000 kilometers from the visible outer edge of the A ring. Dione is seen through Titan's atmospheric haze. At 5,150 kilometers across, Titan is about 2.3 million kilometers from Cassini, while Dione is 3.2 million kilometers away. (APOD)<br /><br />************************************<br /><br />Astrologically, transiting Saturn is approaching the last degree of Libra and moving into trine with Neptune, but pulling up just short. Saturn won't be in exact trine with Neptune until Oct. 11, 2012, and then again June 11, 2013. This is a very favorable aspect between the planet of crystallization and that of dreams and inspiration. The Saturn-Neptune oppositions (Summer 2006 - Summer 2007) corresponded with the erosion (Neptune) of the housing market (Saturn) and established structures (Saturn) because of fraud (Neptune). The trine is clearly a much better aspect.<br /><br />Saturn in Libra since Oct. 29, 2009, continues to be a period where inequality in society and personal relationships is under pressure-filled scrutiny. Good relationships can get stronger because we are more likely to work at them if they feel viable. But weaker ones may fold under stress. It's the nature of Saturn to test the structural integrity of things- in whatever form. That said, we are also defining and redefining what's important to us in our partnerships, and getting our priorities straight regarding long-term goals- specifically, as these goals involve other people.<br /><br />Saturn stationary retrograde at the 29th degree of Libra on Feb. 7, is a poignant reminder of the Saturnian process or challenges we're all facing both personally and collectively. Fairness and social justice are issues of concern now. How we deal with our responsibilities and commitments is up to us.<br /><br />Moon in Gemini quote: "I discovered that searching can be as interesting as finding."<br />~Paulo Coelho<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8283526623790412364?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-31956052888112234872012-01-03T09:45:00.002-08:002012-01-04T07:00:28.464-08:00Jan. 3 Tweet:<br />The Dec. lunar eclipse featured the Nodes on the horizon in LA square Mars (fires), and Uranus (shocks) at 0 Aries (fire sign) on the 4th house cusp. <a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16385986>Firebug Frenzy</a><br /><br />I mentioned Los Angeles in my write-up here: <a href=http://stellarinsights108.blogspot.com/2011/11/dec-10-total-lunar-eclipse.html>Dec. 10 Lunar Eclipse</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3195605288811223487?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-59946245934326475612012-01-03T09:00:00.001-08:002012-01-03T09:09:08.838-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xVRKFcZQoIDXN4g86yYyptMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4VTNuGhoq_w/TwM1kCPRvxI/AAAAAAAANN0/6LEZpM32OJ8/s400/aurora_voltmer_900.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Higher than the highest building, higher than the highest mountain, higher than the highest airplane, lies the realm of the aurora. Auroras rarely reach below 60 kilometers, and can range up to 1000 kilometers. Aurora light results from energetic electrons and protons striking molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. Frequently, when viewed from space, a complete aurora will appear as a circle around one of the Earth's magnetic poles. The above wide angle image, horizontally compressed, captured an unexpected auroral display that stretched across the sky one month ago over eastern Norway.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5994624593432647561?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-30014663904440730022012-01-03T07:07:00.000-08:002012-01-03T09:09:26.872-08:00Mayan Calendar Corroborates Hindu Prophecy<br /><br />"In the “Brahma-Vaivarta Purana”, Lord Krishna tells Ganga Devi that a Golden Age will come in the Kali Yuga - one of the four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the cycle of eras, as described in Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna predicted that this Golden Age will start 5,000 years after the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and will last for 10,000 years.<br /><br />It is interesting that this prediction of the emergence of a new world is prophesied to appear about the same time that the Mayans predicted it to come! The Mayan calendar began with the Fifth Great Cycle in 3114 BC and will end on 21 December 2012 AD. The Hindu Kali Yuga calendar began on 18 February 3102 B.C. There is only a difference of 12 years between the Hindu's beginning of the Kali Yuga and the Mayan's beginning of the Fifth Great Cycle.<br /><br />The ancient Hindus mainly used lunar calendars but also used solar calendars. If an average lunar year equals 354.36 days, then this would be about 5270 lunar years from the time when the Kali Yuga started until 21 Dec 2012. This is the same year that the Mayans predict rebirth of our planet. It is also about 5113 solar years of 365.24 days per year, and is day number 1,867,817 into the Kali Yuga. By either solar or lunar years, we are over 5,000 years into the Kali Yuga and it is time for Lord Krishna's prophecy to happen according to the ancient Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna's Golden Age could easily begin in 2012!<br /><br />It is amazing that both calendars began at about the same time over 5,000 years ago and both calendars predict a totally new world and/or golden age after about 5,000 years into their calendars! We are definitely on to something with these Mayan and Hindu 2012 predictions. Historically, this is an amazing fact since these two ancient cultures did not have any contact."<br /><a href=http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/a/goldenage.htm?r=facebook>About.com.Hinduism</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3001466390444073002?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-37966272942627669602012-01-02T16:32:00.002-08:002012-01-02T16:39:34.222-08:00By Keith Hunter @ Ancient World Mysteries:<br /><br />Marking the End of a Sheaf: Venus vs. The Pleiades<br /><br />With all that has so far been said of the precise mechanics of the Sheaf cycle, and of the fact that the Maya and Aztecs both held ceremonies to mark the completion of the Sheaf, one could be forgiven for thinking that 2.6 days prior to the end of every 52 calendar year period (18977.4 days), a most accurate conjunction would be in evidence between Venus and the Earth; for indeed, is not the purpose of the Mayan Calendar as with any calendar, to track and harmonise real astronomical cycles?<br /><br />Well, apparently, according to historical records, the Aztecs and Maya, rather than set the end of each sheaf to coincide with an actual Earth-Venus conjunction, instead set it to coincide with an altogether completely different celestial event: a conjunction of the Earth and the Pleiades.<br />Read More-><a href=http://www.ancient-world-mysteries.com/pleiades-venus-mayan-calendar.html>56 minute video</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3796627294262766960?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-55015059695978190392012-01-02T14:48:00.000-08:002012-01-02T14:51:15.548-08:00The Moon conjoins bright Jupiter in tonight's sky. And super brilliant Venus is visible in the west after sunset.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5501505969597819039?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-11740256924987939122012-01-02T14:42:00.000-08:002012-01-02T14:44:04.592-08:00From BBC News:<br />"In the Chinese Zodiac, 2012 is the Year of the Water Dragon- marking a year of transition, uncertainty and change.<br /><br />The Asia-Pacific economies certainly face considerable uncertainty as well as headwinds in 2012, with the eurozone already sliding into recession at the end of 2011, while the momentum of US economic recovery - although encouraging in recent months- remains moderate at best.<br /><br />The Year of the Dragon will also be a year characterised by political uncertainty, with presidential elections in the US and France, as well as leadership change in China.<br /><br />In autumn 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will elect the new Central Committee and Politburo Standing Committee members.<br /><br />The current President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are due to step down from the Standing Committee to make way for the next generation of leaders from whom the new Chinese president and premier will be appointed in March 2013.<br /><br />Despite the political and economic uncertainties facing the global economy, the Asia-Pacific (Apac) is forecast to continue to be the fastest growing region of the world economy in 2012, with growth rising to 5.3% from 4.5% in 2011.<br /><br />This forecast is based on the IHS Global Insight central case scenario that the eurozone experiences only a mild recession in 2012, with gross domestic product (GDP) declining by 0.7%, while moderate positive growth continues in the US, at a pace of 2.0%."<br /><a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16352363>Read More</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1174025692498793912?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-89444172421696505612012-01-02T06:45:00.000-08:002012-01-02T08:08:12.147-08:00The Jan. 8 Full Moon (exact 11:30 pm, PST) is the first lunation of 2012, and falls at the 19th degree of Cancer the Crab, first of the water signs- symbolic of the emotional and psychic life. As the Moon rules Cancer, She is strongly placed in her own sign or domicile, and empowered in fulfilling Her instinctive drives for emotional connection and domestic security- to nurture and be nurtured.<br /><br />According to astrologer Marc Edmond Jones, the Sabian symbol for 19 Cancer and 19 Capricorn (the Full Moon Sun) is as follows: <br /><br />Cancer 19  A priest performing a marriage ceremony  This is a symbol of the spiritual stewardship of man as expressed in his conscious concern for the integrity of human society and for the everyday institutions through which all racial ideals must have their continued embodiment.  There are very full rewards awaiting the individual who is willing to live the life of his fellows through his consistent shaping of his own acts and opinions to dramatize the current aspirations of his kind.  His service to the established rituals becomes a special self-fulfillment.  The keyword is conformity.  When positive, the degree is a genius for bringing various facets life into organic unity, and when negative, bondage to outer forms.<br /> <br />Capricorn 19  A child of about five with a huge shopping bag  This is a symbol of the spiritual stewardship of man as expressed in his inherent sense of responsibility for the welfare of others, and in his desire to serve his community to the extreme of his particular range of skills.  There is wonderful recompense for the individual willing to share the total of his potentialities, and to enjoy those of his fellows to the limit of his understanding.  His quickening to every opportunity of common function becomes a special self-fulfillment.  The keyword is expectation.  When positive, the degree is an effective breadth of participation in everyday living, and when negative, indiscriminate conformity to every passing fad.<br /><br />Another factor to consider in delineating the Full Moon, is it's aspect to the transiting Venus/Node (midpoint)- which pertains to the principle of love-unions. This lunation would then seem to highlight the most personal areas of life, and is best interpreted in the context of our current conditions, per usual.<br /><br />Mundanely- the Full Moon Pluto is sharply placed here in San Francisco, but the set up does not appear stressful enough to suggest that this Pluto in itself, indicates major upheavals. I would expect a few minor incidents of a relatively extreme nature to occur resonant with the Plutonian vibration.<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8944417242169650561?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-79113777161247772012011-12-31T09:47:00.000-08:002012-01-01T06:47:41.818-08:00The 2012 eclipses are a topic of discussion on Twitter today.<br /><br />1. The Nov. 13 total sol eclipse is a SuperMoon event with Luna at perigee- followed by 11/28 lunar eclipse 7 Gemini.<br /><br />2. SuperMoons have a stronger tidal and seismic influence. A total solar eclipse in Scorpio is intense anyway.<br /><br />When asked if the 11/13/12 SuperMoon eclipse would affect the emotional tides...<br />3. Of course! The 11/13/12 eclipse S.Node conjoins Algol Beta Persei- the Medusa's Head/Eye...the dark feminine.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7911377716124777201?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-41153385174004925162011-12-31T08:36:00.000-08:002011-12-31T10:59:56.542-08:00(Reuters)- "Two robotic NASA probes are due to arrive at the moon this weekend to resolve a long-standing mystery of what is inside Earth's natural satellite and how it got there.<br /><br />The 667-pound (303-kg) craft of the U.S. space agency's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission have been flying to the moon since their joint launch in September.<br /><br />GRAIL A is due to begin a 40-minute braking maneuver to put itself into orbit around the moon at 4:21 p.m. ET on Saturday, with GRAIL B following suit 25 hours later. Both are needed for the intricate gravity-mapping mission scheduled to begin in March.<br /><br />"We won't be celebrating a lot until after we get GRAIL B into orbit late afternoon on New Year's Day," said project manager David Lehman with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.<br /><br />Once in position 34 miles above the moon's surface, the GRAIL probes will fly in a line, speeding up and slowing down in response to minute gravitational tugs.<br /><br />By constantly measuring changes in the distance between the two craft, scientists can create a gravity map of the moon. The changes in speed will be as subtle as a fraction of a micron per second. A micron is about the width of a red blood cell.<br /><br />The data will be used to model the moon's interior, a key piece of information still missing despite more than 100 previous missions to the moon.<br /><br />Scientists believe the moon formed when an object about the size of Mars smashed into Earth shortly after the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago.<br /><br />"We understand little really of how this formation happened and how it cooled off after the violent event," said GRAIL lead scientist Maria Zuber with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<br /><br />One long-standing puzzle is why the far side of the moon is so different from the side that permanently faces Earth. The near side is filled with large, dark plains formed by ancient volcanic eruptions but the far side is virtually all highlands.<br /><br />"It seems that the answer is not on the surface," Zuber said. "We think the answer is locked in the interior."<br /><br />Zuber and the team have 82 days to make their measurements. If the solar-powered probes, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, survive beyond the next lunar eclipse in June, the $496 million mission could be extended for a detailed mapping survey from as close as 15.5 miles above the moon's surface."<br /><br />************************************<br /><br />Quote of the Day: “joy and sorrow are inseparable. . . together they come and when one sits alone with you . . remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.” ~Khalil Gibran<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4115338517400492516?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-82186369485750307802011-12-30T11:48:00.000-08:002011-12-30T12:30:11.413-08:00Dec. 30 Tweet:<br />The May 20, 2012 annular solar eclipse that conjoins Alcyone of the Pleiades, is visible here in the SF Bay Area. <a href=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2012.html#SE2012May20A>NASA eclipse</a><br /><br />Also tweeted today: We have 3 events in 2012 linked to the Maya- sol eclipse conjunct Pleiades; VE-SU inferior conjunction; end Mayan long count.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8218636948575030780?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-35927243332783676472011-12-30T08:40:00.000-08:002011-12-30T08:44:34.238-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3yu9rxXWB9LC2Du6RsDwL9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GBzjHNRQayc/Tv3qPXEHd3I/AAAAAAAANNQ/E5YJsWm-p-g/s400/blackhole_hobart.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />In the center of a swirling whirlpool of hot gas is likely a beast that has never been seen directly: a black hole. Studies of the bright light emitted by the swirling gas frequently indicate not only that a black hole is present, but also likely attributes. The gas surrounding GRO J1655-40, for example, has been found to display an unusual flickering at a rate of 450 times a second. Given a previous mass estimate for the central object of seven times the mass of our Sun, the rate of the fast flickering can be explained by a black hole that is rotating very rapidly. What physical mechanisms actually cause the flickering- and a slower quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO)- in accretion disks surrounding black holes and neutron stars remains a topic of much research. (APOD)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3592724333278367647?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-80074584813036923372011-12-29T12:00:00.000-08:002011-12-29T13:02:04.068-08:00Dec. 29 Tweet:<br />The Jan. 8 Cancer Full Moon looks relatively intense here in the SF Bay Area- whatever form that takes. AS = 7 Libra; MC = 8 Cancer = Pluto.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/R3Aj29drJM8rpP_qd_Y6H9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lnoJIYWUj-0/TvzIk5c3gII/AAAAAAAANM0/FUzh7irbflc/s400/cancer-fullmoon.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/CaliforniaSanFrancisco?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">California &amp; San Francisco</a></td></tr></table><br />For those not conversant in astrological notation- AS = Ascendant (1st house cusp), MC = Medium Coeli or Midheaven (10th house cusp), and Pluto is the planet of extremes and upheavals.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8007458481303692337?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-33166644685324665282011-12-29T10:12:00.001-08:002011-12-29T10:15:49.419-08:00"The European Southern Observatory's plan to begin construction of the world's largest telescope- the European Extremely Large Telescope- will take a big step forward in 2012 now that early funding for the project has been secured.<br /><br />The European Southern Observatory (ESO) governing body approved the 2012 budget, which paves the way for preparatory work to begin at the planned site of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) at the Cerro Armazones mountain in the central part of Chile's Atacama Desert.<br /><br />The telescope, which represents a joint collaboration between 15 countries, will be the world's largest ground-based optical telescope. Builders selected the observatory's location in Chile because of the optimal weather conditions in the area, where skies are clear overhead roughly 320 nights of the year, ESO officials have said.<br /><br />The E-ELT's primary mirror will be a staggering 138 feet (42 meters) wide. For comparison, the Keck Observatory in Hawaii has a mirror that measures 33 feet (10 meters) wide, and the Subaru telescope, also in Hawaii, has a primary mirror that is 27 feet (8.2 m) wide."<br />Read More-> <a href=http://www.space.com/14073-worlds-largest-telescope-construction-2012.html>SPACE.com</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3316664468532466528?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-59420098476592245302011-12-29T05:40:00.000-08:002011-12-29T07:08:10.625-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Wji_klPunhquKZm7CGSqV9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ppgjQ8vnevo/TvxuKpPBBfI/AAAAAAAANMc/_j75Lod2vfE/s640/img_07981derosa900h.jpg" height="640" width="425" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />While Comet Lovejoy entertained early morning risers in in the southern hemisphere, a lovely conjunction of a young crescent Moon and Venus graced western skies at sunset. Captured on December 26th the conjunction, with beautiful sunset colors above and below, is seen here over Viverone Lake near Turin, Italy. But if you've been outdoors at all lately enjoying sunsets on planet Earth, then you've probably noticed Venus low in the west as the season's brilliant evening star. Sometimes mistaken for a terrestrial light near the horizon, Venus is the third brightest celestial beacon, after the Sun and Moon. That distinction is particularly easy to appreciate in this peaceful scene. (APOD)<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!" ~Edward Payson Powell<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5942009847659224530?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-2897934405747793982011-12-27T07:33:00.001-08:002011-12-27T09:00:49.891-08:00and Forecast for Each Sign<br />by Tem Tarriktar: <a href=http://mountainastrologer.com/current_issue/sample.html>The Mountain Astrologer</a><br /><br />2012- Keep Paying Your Bills, It's Not the End of the World:<br /><a href=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-lutin/2012-keep-payng-your-bill_b_1170049.html>Michael Lutin's column</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-289793440574779398?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-5276377089760467682011-12-27T07:18:00.000-08:002011-12-27T07:23:13.251-08:00Tue, 20 December 2011<br />4th Gate: Conjunction<br />Venus will soon make Her fourth conjunction with a waxing crescent Moon (Dec. 26) in the western evening sky since her return to visibility in September. This 4th gate on the journey to wholeness correlates with the 4th chakra and the 4th operation of alchemy, Conjunction. Join Gary and Jim in exploring the images and activities associated with Conjunction and illustrate these in the chart of rock musician Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame.<br /><a href=http://ceresastrology.libsyn.com/4th-gate-conjunction>GAP link</a><br /><br />Quote of the Day: "I make no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me." ~Anaïs Nin<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-527637708976046768?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-6073639546416690192011-12-27T05:42:00.001-08:002011-12-27T05:44:18.560-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f4BtEiWylJVuCdqk69EA0tMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-87JCXu9lRAI/TvnLBGmdkAI/AAAAAAAANMA/Am2SCSVULGY/s400/m27_snyder_900.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />The first hint of what will become of our Sun was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets. The 27th object on Messier's list, now known as M27 or the Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula, the type of nebula our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core. M27 is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky, and can be seen toward the constellation of the Fox (Vulpecula) with binoculars. It takes light about 1000 years to reach us from M27, shown above in colors emitted by hydrogen and oxygen. Understanding the physics and significance of M27 was well beyond 18th century science. Even today, many things remain mysterious about bipolar planetary nebula like M27, including the physical mechanism that expels a low-mass star's gaseous outer-envelope, leaving an X-ray hot white dwarf. (APOD)<br /><br />Dec. 26 Tweet: "One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this:  To rise above the little things."  ~John Burroughs<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-607363954641669019?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-52417083035262131292011-12-26T17:39:00.001-08:002011-12-27T19:31:32.608-08:00The 2012 Story + Q&A - filmed at the Megalithomania Conference in Glastonbury, 16th May 2011.<br /><br />The untold story of the incredible sequence of events, discoveries and insights that has unlocked the secret of the Mayan calendar end-date of 2012, from one of the worlds leading scholars on the subject.<br /><a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn--bnLI6xI&feature=topics>YouTube</a><br /><br />John Major Jenkins & the December 2012 Galactic Alignment:<br /><a href=http://www.theawakeningshift.com/2010/03/07/john-major-jenkins-the-december-2012-galactic-alignment/>The Awakening Shift</a><br /><br />************************************************************<br /><br />The message is simple- purification, and renewal. The global paradigm shift is one of consciousness, as the world is a reflection of our consciousness. <br />Hopi Reflections on 2012:<br /><a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie-iT2SvAvQ&feature=related>YouTube</a><br /><br />Mayan Elder and 13th Generation Shaman <br />Don Alejandro Perez Oxlaj: <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbAvF0Qcb2o&feature=related>YouTube video</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5241708303526213129?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-40090918301968982952011-12-26T09:09:00.003-08:002011-12-26T09:13:53.848-08:00From BBC News:<br /><br />In America "storm-chasers" are the intrepid types who pursue tornadoes, and sometimes hurricanes. But the Arctic Circle has its aurora chasers - people who speed around in search of the best views of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.<br /><br />"Last week we saw one that had everything - spiralling, curtains, ribbons, greens and reds, and the whole sky lit up. We were amazed at what was unfolding before us," says Andy Keen.<br /><br />Five years ago he left his job running a charity in the UK to move to Ivalo, a remote village in northern Lapland, Finland, latitude 68 degrees - two degrees above the Arctic Circle.<br /><br />"I saw a TV documentary about the Northern Lights. So I went there to have a look. Now I'm absolutely addicted," he says.<br /><a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16273503>Read More</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4009091830196898295?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-26099853090582545742011-12-26T06:00:00.000-08:002011-12-26T10:17:56.592-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1RwHA3J0_6P5hdOibztqmtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v3Vu4acLjsw/Tvh7Re2lYEI/AAAAAAAANLs/CQYkV3LrBVo/s400/saturnstorm2_cassini_900.jpg" height="302" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />It is one of the largest and longest lived storms ever recorded in our Solar System. First seen late last year, the above cloud formation in the northern hemisphere of Saturn started larger than the Earth and soon spread completely around the planet. The storm has been tracked not only from Earth but from up close by the robotic Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn. Pictured above in false colored infrared in February, orange colors indicate clouds deep in the atmosphere, while light colors highlight clouds higher up. The rings of Saturn are seen nearly edge-on as the thin blue horizontal line. The warped dark bands are the shadows of the rings cast onto the cloud tops by the Sun to the upper left. A source of radio noise from lightning, the intense storm may relate to seasonal changes as spring slowly emerges in the north of Saturn. (APOD)<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "For last year's words belong to last year's language...And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."<br />~T.S. Eliot<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2609985309058254574?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-18754123530045287772011-12-24T07:00:00.000-08:002011-12-26T07:37:16.780-08:00From BBC News:<br /><br />"A small Spanish town has become 720m euro richer after winning the top prize in the country's national Christmas lottery. El Gordo, which means the fat one, was handing out 2.5bn euros ($3.2bn, £2bn) to winners across Spain. The winning numbers were picked and announced by pupils from a school in Madrid in a nationally televised draw.<br /><br />About 1,800 residents in the town of Granen, in the north eastern Los Monegros area, were due to receive around 400,000 euro each. It is common for people to join together to buy shares of several tickets, meaning multiple prizes can go to the same town.<br /><br />Spain is struggling to emerge from a near two-year recession that has left it with an unemployment rate of 21.5 percent."<br /><br />Jupiter, the planet of growth and opportunities, is now transiting the Venus-ruled Taurus, the sign most related with money and wealth. But since Aug. 30 Jupiter's been retrograde, so not as good an influence as it could be. Lucky Jupiter goes direct on Xmas Day- hallelujah! When Jupiter first ingressed Taurus the Bull on June 4, 2011, an exalted Saturn (in Libra) rose in Granen, Spain- and Venus, lord of the Libra Ascendant and dispositor of Jupiter (in Taurus), fell in the 8th house of other people's money. The Ascendant ruler (and planets near the Ascendant) of an ingress chart signify prospective local conditions and the health of it's citizens. As Venus was favorably dignified by sign, it presaged a financial gain for the people of Granen, Spain, sometime during Jupiter's passage through Taurus (6/4/11 - 6/11/12). And this positive indication was supported and perhaps timed by the Dec. 10 lunar eclipse, and the Capricorn solar ingress (Winter Solstice) charts.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DF-2IdBWjrFJxzxp19ba9NMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-K0xEt-B-Ifc/TvYBLnDpqPI/AAAAAAAANLQ/LVkss4ZnaYU/s400/granen2.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1875412353004528777?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-53120225826283449742011-12-24T06:26:00.001-08:002011-12-24T09:01:21.285-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_mtRpyF6yqSdvdR2aHttNdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AIG28Ockpgw/TvXgymX48UI/AAAAAAAANKc/-8H5WTvF1J8/s400/TLE2011Dec10_clark900n.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />December's lunar eclipse graced early morning skies over the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, USA. There, this wintry scene finds the Moon in a cold blue twilight sky near the western horizon, above the snowy North American Continental Divide. About 22 minutes before the sunrise, the reddened lunar disk is almost completely immersed in Earth's dark shadow. This dramatic Rocky Mountain moon set during the eclipse total phase. But all parts of the geocentric celestial event were seen from Pacific regions, Asia, and Australia, including the entire 51 minutes of totality, and parts of the final eclipse of 2011 were shared in skies around much of planet Earth. (APOD)<br /><br />Quote of the Day: “You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.” ~Eckhart Tolle<br /><br />New Moon in Capricorn: <a href=http://www.leahwhitehorse.com/>LUA Astrology</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5312022582628344974?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-64897870832405429352011-12-23T10:52:00.000-08:002011-12-23T10:57:06.011-08:00"The Hubble Space Telescope has sniffed out evidence of complex carbon molecules, the building blocks of life in this corner of the cosmos, lying on the frozen surface of Pluto. The distant dwarf world is known to harbor methane ice and other frigid compounds, but this is the first time scientists have suggested there could be other complex carbon chemicals, too.<br /><br />Something is absorbing ultraviolet light on Pluto’s surface, and it may be organic compounds or some nitrogen-containing material, according to scientists at the Southwest Research Institute. That’s organic not as in life, but as in carbon-based compounds that make up the building blocks of life as we know it.<br /> <br />“This is an exciting finding because complex Plutonian hydrocarbons and other molecules that could be responsible for the ultraviolet spectral features we found with Hubble may, among other things, be responsible for giving Pluto its ruddy color,” said Alan Stern of SwRI in a statement.<br /><br />The team found the high UV absorption using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, a new instrument installed during the final Hubble servicing mission in 2009. The new data marked the first time the COS was turned to Pluto and its largest companion, Charon. The COS is designed to split light apart and measure its components.<br /><br />During measurements made in 2010, the team also discovered evidence of changes in Pluto's ultraviolet spectrum compared to earlier measurements from the 1990s. This indicates the dwarf planet’s surface might be changing, due to some unknown influence, or its atmosphere might have increased in pressure. The paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, shows there’s a lot left to be learned about Pluto, Stern said. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will be able to answer some questions when it arrives in 2015."<br /><a href=http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-12/hubble-spots-complex-carbon-compounds-possibly-organics-plutos-surface>POPSCI</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6489787083240542935?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-11510334889588167342011-12-23T07:14:00.000-08:002011-12-23T14:05:47.323-08:00By Joe Rao:<br />"As a young boy, one of my highlights of the Christmas season was visiting New York's Hayden Planetarium where they would stage their traditional sky show in which astronomers pondered the age-old question of the possible origin of the Star of Bethlehem. <br /><br />Between 1935 and 1959, Hayden's very first Zeiss projector (three others have been installed since) was run back some 2,000 years in an attempt to reproduce the positions of the planets around the time of the birth of Christ. The entire procedure would take four hours with the planets engaged in an incredible fast-moving dance while the moon flipped around the sky a hundred times a minute! <br /><br />Ultimately, the projector was brought to a halt on Feb. 25 in the year 6 BC with the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars forming a triangle low in the western sky.<br /><br />In those days, a silhouette of the skyline of New York was a permanent fixture around the periphery of the planetarium dome, so the planet trio was depicted not above a Middle East desert, but Midtown Manhattan. The audience was then asked: "Was the star seen by the Wise Men an unusual, eye-catching gathering of naked eye planets, or was that fabled 'sign in the sky' a meteor, comet, nova, or something supernatural?"<br />Read More-><a href=http://www.space.com/14036-christmas-star-bethlehem-comet-planet-theories.html>SPACE.com</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1151033488958816734?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-65548283821958399932011-12-22T08:28:00.000-08:002011-12-22T08:45:48.227-08:00<a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16297707>A Wave of Bombings in Baghdad</a><br /><br />The total lunar eclipse of Dec. 10 foreshadowed a heightened violence in already fractured Iraq. The eclipse Ascendant at Baghdad was 29 Gemini, conjunct the massive red star known as Betelgeuse, long associated with violent disasters. (Both 9/11 and the Boxing Day (Sumatra-Andaman) earthquake-tsunami featured the Moon conjunct Betelgeuse.) And the eclipse Mars was in a critical position at the IC-4th house cusp in Iraq's capital, where it's poised to do the most domestic damage possible. As Mars was square the Moon's fateful Nodes when the eclipse occurred, this t-square was sharply focused in Baghdad- forming a tense grand cross with the eclipse Midheaven. <br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hgVCDtcuuuI4u2tb78eErtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YSPl6zCm5Ew/TvNdA54vODI/AAAAAAAANKA/Dtbxw1VXP30/s400/iraq.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6554828382195839993?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-26001751956048660632011-12-22T07:19:00.000-08:002011-12-22T10:11:12.698-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Gdn4vcFIjZeI3fjNlU30Q9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LyzxGP18ni4/TvNK17HMetI/AAAAAAAANJk/xN6zcLpSUjA/s400/SpiralRays_erisoty.jpg" height="400" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />In dwindling twilight at an August day's end, these broad dark bands appeared in the sky for a moment, seen from Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty on the eastern shore of Utah's Great Salt Lake. Outlined by rays of sunlight known as crepuscular rays, they are actually shadows cast by clouds near the distant western horizon, the setting Sun having disappeared from direct view behind them. The cloud shadows are parallel, but seem to converge in the distance because of perspective. Coiled in the salt-encrusted lake surface, Smithson's most famous earthwork provides a dramatic contrast to the converging lines. The Spiral Jetty was constructed in 1970, when the water level was unusually low and was completely submerged in a few years as the level rose. Now just above water again, it has spent much of its existence submerged in the briny lake.<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "The love of heaven makes one heavenly." ~William Shakespeare<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2600175195604866063?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-89144780630481846662011-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:002011-12-21T17:05:44.508-08:00NewsScope for November 29, 2010<br />by Michael Wolfstar<br /><a href=http://www.neptunecafe.com/nsc112910.html>NeptuneCafe</a><br /><br />The BBC's profile of <a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11388628>Kim Jong-un</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8914478063048184666?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-40485605826616592282011-12-21T12:00:00.000-08:002011-12-28T19:22:12.156-08:00The 2011 Winter Solstice occurs on Dec. 21 at 9:30 pm, PST. This marks the shortest day(s) in the northern hemisphere, and the return of the light as the days gradually become longer. Astrologers also refer to the Winter Solstice as the Capricorn solar ingress, because this is when the Sun enters the Saturn-ruled earth sign of Capricorn the Goatfish. Many western cultures see this solstice/ingress as the beginning of the new year, but most astrologers see the Vernal Equinox-Aries ingress as the true birth of the new year. The Sun actually crosses the equator in the east at the Aries ingress-Vernal Equinox.<br /><br />Although the Aries solar ingress has pride of place in determining prospective events for the coming year, the Capricorn ingress is specifically relevant to the planetary trends for the Winter season. Simply put, the 2011 Capricorn ingress with Pluto at the IC-4th house cusp in Washington, DC and New York City, suggests further problems for the housing market, and the party in power- upheavals. The Winter weather in the US is likely to be more extreme then normal too, as the 4th house cusp/angle refers to weather conditions, including earthquakes.<br /><br />The Capricorn New Moon on Xmas Eve follows shortly after the Winter Solstice. This New Moon (3 Capricorn) translates the epic Uranus-Pluto square which reflects breakdowns and breakthroughs, but also trines stationary Jupiter. Benefic Jupiter goes direct on Xmas Day after being retrograde since Aug. 30. It's this trinal aspect between the New Moon in Capricorn and hopeful Jupiter that offers the prospect of real progress. Set your intentions concerning long-term goals at the New Moon for best results. And enjoy the renewed sense of faith and enthusiasm that Jupiter brings.<br /><br />Capricorn the Goatfish, by Deborah Houlding:<br /><a href=http://www.skyscript.co.uk/capricorn.html>Skyscript</a><br /><br />Quote of the Day: “Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” ~Goethe<br /><br /><a href=http://shamanicastrology.com/archives/2788#more-2788>Dancing in the Dark at the Winter Solstice 2011</a><br /><br /><a href=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-illuminations-20111222,0,7863372,full.story>Winter Solstice Sun Illuminates California Mission</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4048560582661659228?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-83258810858754768272011-12-21T07:34:00.000-08:002011-12-21T07:36:42.719-08:00By Barbara Hand Clow:<br /><br />"Humans and societies function within cycles that are mirrored in the sky by the locations of the planets and the Moon going around the Sun. Just as it is possible to consider the basic personalities of the people invited to a party and predict what kind of party might result, it is possible to use planetary analysis to anticipate the qualities of the human social field on Earth during a given period of time. Astrology can predict how individuals might be feeling, just by knowing the archetypal influence of each planet plus the Moon. Just like a wild rock-n-roll dance party is very different from a black-tie dinner party, life on Earth is very different during wartime than it is during peacetime. Astrology also states clearly when an influence begins and is finished; this makes it possible to look back or go forward in time to identify patterns."<br /><a href=http://shiftfrequency.com/barbara-hand-clow-2011-winter-solstice-report/>Read More</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8325881085875476827?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-79854861737288790262011-12-21T07:23:00.000-08:002011-12-21T07:25:15.184-08:00MEXICO CITY (AP)- Seize the day.<br /><br />"Only 52 weeks and a day are left before Dec. 21, 2012, when some believe the Maya predicted the end of the world.<br /><br />Unlike enthusiasts of other doomsday theories who suggest putting together survival kits, southeastern Mexico, the heart of Maya territory, plans a yearlong celebration.<br /><br />Mexico's tourism agency expects to draw 52 million visitors by next year only to the regions of Chiapas, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Campeche. All of Mexico usually lures about 22 million foreigners in a year.<br /><br />It's selling the date, the Winter Solstice in the coming year, as a time of renewal. Many archeologists argue that the 2012 reference on a 1,300-year-old stone tablet only marks the end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar.<br /><br />"The world will not end. It is an era," said Yeanet Zaldo, a tourism spokeswoman for the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancun. "For us, it is a message of hope."<br /><a href=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_MEXICO_APOCALYPSE_2012?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-20-15-15-48>Read More</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7985486173728879026?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-61021725718071436852011-12-21T06:21:00.001-08:002011-12-21T08:14:07.787-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jAMQ7G4huG3V6T7fi81my9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-grAtCUJbc50/TvHsKcH5GoI/AAAAAAAANJQ/QvUrcabrzQY/s400/lensshoe_hubble_900.jpg" height="289" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />What's large and blue and can wrap itself around an entire galaxy? A gravitational lens mirage. Pictured above, the gravity of a luminous red galaxy (LRG) has gravitationally distorted the light from a much more distant blue galaxy. More typically, such light bending results in two discernible images of the distant galaxy, but here the lens alignment is so precise that the background galaxy is distorted into a horseshoe -- a nearly complete ring. Since such a lensing effect was generally predicted in some detail by Albert Einstein over 70 years ago, rings like this are now known as Einstein Rings. Although LRG 3-757 was discovered in 2007 in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the image shown above is a follow-up observation taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3. Strong gravitational lenses like LRG 3-757 are more than oddities -- their multiple properties allow astronomers to determine the mass and dark matter content of the foreground galaxy lenses. (APOD)<br /><br />Quote of the Day: <br />Here's a sigh to those who love me,<br />And a smile to those who hate;<br />And, whatever sky's above me,<br />Here's a heart for every fate.<br />~Lord Byron<br /><br /><a href=http://t.co/q15VKCnN>2012 Lunation Charts</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6102172571807143685?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-11592139583340725862011-12-20T05:45:00.000-08:002011-12-20T05:48:10.303-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6KdcCogBBd8nbdChwCfi3dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0e4GfXIqb60/TvCR1kgQ69I/AAAAAAAANI4/3YofDcGlUc0/s400/ngc253_lau_900.jpg" height="288" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />NGC 253 is not only one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, it is also one of the dustiest. Discovered in 1783 by Caroline Herschel in the constellation of Sculptor, NGC 253 lies only about ten million light-years distant. NGC 253 is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest group to our own Local Group of Galaxies. The dense dark dust accompanies a high star formation rate, giving NGC 253 the designation of starburst galaxy. Visible in the above photograph is the active central nucleus, also known to be a bright source of X-rays and gamma rays. (APOD)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1159213958334072586?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-55028838977957554152011-12-17T07:55:00.001-08:002011-12-17T16:06:14.511-08:00<a href=http://www.reuters.com/video/2011/12/17/aerial-views-reveal-philippines-storm-da?videoId=227060085&videoChannel=75>Reuters video</a><br /><br />We would expect the recent lunar eclipse to portend such a natural disaster- and in hindsight, it does. The planet Mercury is astrological ruler of wind, and both the lord of the Gemini eclipse and the eclipse chart Ascendant at Cagayan de Oro. This Mercury was at it's most critical position in Mindanao- conjunct the eclipse IC-Nadir (the weather), and square the eclipse Ascendant (2 Virgo) which it rules.<br /><br />Chiron in Pisces and Neptune, lord of the seas, were both angular (powerful), as we would expect given the nature of this tragic event. Chiron first entered the watery sign of Pisces the exact day of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. While mythological Chiron's accidental wounding makes it a key significator in charts for injuries suffered by accident. And of course, astrological Neptune is primarily related with water, the oceans, and flooding.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YO_9BnVCTNkp1xg3A0VEstMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vB5PdOxa4LE/TuzA2Mb_aBI/AAAAAAAANIc/RRtaL2IyZlA/s400/washi.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><br />So in hindsight, the Dec. 10 total lunar eclipse did foreshadow a natural disaster involving wind and water at Mindanao.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5502883897795755415?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-35800437232258446312011-12-17T07:27:00.000-08:002011-12-17T07:30:24.733-08:00From The Christian Post:<br />"When former high school astronomy teacher Irene Worthington Baron received 60 astronomy computer programs from NASA for her classroom, she started wondering if she could use them to prove there really was a Christmas star.<br /><br />Baron, recently retired after almost 40 years of teaching, just released a new ebook, Unraveling the Christmas Star Mystery. In it, she explains how she used ancient astronomy symbols and modern computer programs to uncover events surrounding the birth of Christ.<br /><br />She told The Christian Post, “I always thought there was one Christmas star and I wanted to find it.” So she started studying the symbols of ancient astronomers.<br /><br />In her book, Baron claims that her findings reveal there were 10 major, celestial events announcing the birth of Jesus Christ, the last being the position marker over Bethlehem.<br /><br />She writes, “The sixth significant event of Jesus’ birth announcement occurred on September 1st, 0004 when a spectacular solar eclipse occurred close to Mars, Venus, and Saturn while the Sun was partially eclipsing the slow moving Saturn. The Moon then moved in front of the Sun and totally eclipsed it. To have the Sun eclipsing Saturn and the Moon eclipsing the Sun simultaneously is an extremely rare event at any time, let alone for a dawn sky.”<br /><br />She told CP that the “Christmas star was, in fact, Saturn.” It was on the other side of the sun during that time and was very bright in the night sky. It was moving right over Bethlehem during a two-week time period.<br /><br />The author began using the NASA programs to research the dawn sky around the time of Christ’s birth. Baron figured she could go back in time with the computer programs to look at what the star patterns were like during that time.<br /><br />She set all calculations during her computer searches for dawn in the local time zone of Bethlehem while using the correct latitude and longitude for that location. The computer programs would then go back in time and print out sky maps from the time and place in the sky she indicated.<br /><br />When the computer would finally print something out, sometimes after days of waiting, Baron would look at the sky charts for unusual patterns like eclipses.<br /><br />Once she located different sky patterns she would then look at the symbolism of ancient cultures during the time around the birth of Christ that had also noted similar occurrences. She began an extensive study of books written by historians and archeologists. Their data was based primarily on historical records, paintings and carvings on ancient temples, coins and legal seals.<br /><br />The planets and stars have set patterns, so astronomers as far back as 4,000 years ago, beginning in Babylonian times, could use mathematics to predict how the celestial objects would move for a year or more in advance. For ancient cultures, each motion, interaction, and happening in the sky meant something.<br /><br />They used their symbolism to interpret what happened in the sky. And each planet or star symbolized a god. When they began seeing the eclipses surrounding the birth of Christ, they took this to symbolize a larger more powerful god was coming to earth.<br /><br />Because of this, Baron said, the wise men had advance knowledge through their study of the stars that Christ would be born because of different happenings among the movement of the planets and stars. So they were able to have enough time to travel from their homelands to Bethlehem to pay homage to Jesus.<br /><br />In her ebook, Baron provides charts and pictures to further explain her findings. She says her research “will confirm what Christians believe, and validate the Bible.”<br /><br />The digital book, being sold on Amazon, was written and illustrated by the author to enable persons ages 12 and older to understand the information presented, and the birth announcement events are explained in an easy-to-comprehend format."<br /><a href=http://www.christianpost.com/news/the-star-of-bethlehem-discovered-64980/>The Christian Post</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3580043723225844631?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-30239378382484809032011-12-16T15:36:00.000-08:002011-12-16T17:01:14.487-08:00"If you're out during the very late evening hours tonight (Dec. 16), check out the eastern sky just before midnight. <br /><br />There you'll see a waning gibbous moon less than a day before it arrives at last quarter (half) phase. Hovering well off to its left and at a slightly higher altitude above the horizon is a rather conspicuous "star," shining with a fiery tint, which is the planet Mars."<br /><a href=http://www.space.com/13971-mars-moon-skywatching-tips.html>read more-> SPACE.com</a><br /><br />Mars turns retrograde on Jan. 24 (GMT) at 23 Virgo, and stations-direct Apr. 14 (GMT) at 4 Virgo. More on the important Mars retrograde in future posts. But in the meantime, it will be interesting to watch if Mars triggers the latent power of the Dec. 10 lunar eclipse (18 Gemini) when the red planet reaches 18 Virgo on Xmas Eve.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3023937838248480903?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-8836428600832092122011-12-16T05:35:00.000-08:002011-12-16T06:13:25.052-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jepXq-Cv_bRMNR81diJOE9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_RdIkW7nWFY/TutI-LbtgOI/AAAAAAAANIE/6ofCe19AL20/s400/TLE2011Dec10_901oshin_600h.jpg" height="261" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />This surreal, wintry scene is a composite picture recorded on December 10 as the Moon rose behind the Zagros Mountains of Iran. A total lunar eclipse was already in progress. The image combines nearly 500 successive frames taken over 1.5 hours beginning in twilight as the eclipsed Moon steadily climbed above the rugged landscape. The reddened lunar disk and deep blue twilight make for a striking contrast, yet the contrasting colors have the same root cause. The eclipsed Moon is red because the Earth's umbral shadow is suffused with a faint red light. The ruddy illumination is from all the reddened sunsets and sunrises, as seen from a lunar perspective. But the sunsets and sunrises are reddened because the Earth's atmosphere scatters blue light more strongly than red, creating the twilight sky's dim, blue glow.<br /><br />Virgo Moon Quote: "The first duty of a human being is to assume the right functional relationship to society- more briefly, to find your real job, and do it." ~Charlotte Perkins Gilman<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-883642860083209212?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-81050734939447107282011-12-15T06:36:00.001-08:002011-12-15T11:14:57.848-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/r-IufQDgGd1nCLXY80uQldMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RtI3VtJbiS0/TuoGcHezoiI/AAAAAAAANHs/ZOHu73Y5dIA/s400/umbra.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />The dark, inner shadow of planet Earth is called the umbra. Shaped like a cone extending into space, it has a circular cross section most easily seen during a lunar eclipse. For example, last Saturday the Full Moon slid across the southern half of Earth's umbral shadow, entertaining moonwatchers around much of the planet. In the total phase of the eclipse, the Moon was completely within the umbra for 51 minutes. Recorded from Beijing, China, this composite eclipse image uses successive pictures from totality and partial phases to trace out a large part of the umbra's curved edge. Background stars are visible in the darker eclipse phases. The result shows the relative size of the shadow's cross section at the distance of the Moon, as well as the Moon's path through Earth's umbra.<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices." ~Deepak Chopra<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8105073493944710728?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-33624091425735404272011-12-14T20:18:00.004-08:002011-12-15T08:54:50.356-08:00From The Telegraph - Dec. 15:<br />"An avalanche of more than 100 apples rained down over a main road in Keresley, Coventry on Monday night.<br /><br />The street was left littered with apples after they pelted car windscreens and bonnets just after rush-hour.<br /><br />The bizarre downpour may have been caused by a current of air that lifted the fruit from a garden or orchard, releasing it over the junction of Keresley Road and Kelmscote Road.<br /><br />One driver said: "The apples fell out of the sky as if out of nowhere. They were small and green and hit the bonnet hard.<br /><br />"There were other cars on the road at the time too and everyone had to stop their cars suddenly.<br /><br />"It wouldn't surprise me if some cars were damaged. I know the area well and there are no apple trees around."<br /><br />Yesterday, the smashed apples could still be seen up and down the 20-yard stretch of road.<br /><br />Dave Meakins, a retired fork lift truck driver, said he thought the apples had been thrown as a prank by children.<br /><br />"I honestly don't know where the apples could have come from," he said.<br /><br />"I assumed kids must have thrown them because we do get the occasional egg and apple thrown but there's way too much for that.<br /><br />"I would love to know where they came from."<br /><br />Some said they thought the apples had fallen from a passing plane.<br /><br />Keresley parish councillor Sandra Camwell said a freak black-out happened on the same road last year.<br /><br />She said: "Strange things do happen in this part of the world. I think it's highly likely that apples did fall from the sky.<br /><br />"We're in an area with a spooky history, where there have been witches for centuries, after all."<br /><br />The Met Office said it was possible the apples had been scooped up by a tornado.<br /><br />He said: "It's hypothetically possible that a tornado could have picked them up and that they were transported in turbulent air until they fell."<br /><br />Jim Dale, senior meteorologist, from British Weather Services, said: "The weather we have at the moment is very volatile and we probably have more to come.<br /><br />"Essentially these events are caused when a vortex of air, kind of like a mini tornado, lifts things off the ground rising up into the atmosphere until the air around it causes them to fall to earth again.<br /><br />"Returning polar maritime air is such an unstable condition and it basically means air returning from the polar regions which is very unstable.<br /><br />"We've all heard of the fish and frogs falling from the sky and apples is certainly unusual because they have some weight to them but it is not out of the realms of possibility." <a href=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8956076/Apples-fall-from-the-sky-over-Coventry.html>The Telegraph</a><br /><br />Although this odd event occurred on Monday evening, the total lunar eclipse in the mutable air sign of Gemini was Saturday. And perhaps most importantly- the eclipse chart Ascendant in Coventry was 26 Taurus conjunct the powerful star Algol Beta Persei- the Medusa's head or eye. Algol is an eclipsing binary also known as Gorgonia Prima, the Demon Star. Apples falling from the sky was strange, but possibly the least malefic event possible with Algol on the eclipse Ascendant.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6SsSWTkesj5PKknyAQna5dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xXDDor_UIck/Tul76ENxv1I/AAAAAAAANHM/x2EG3o4ZEx0/s400/coventry.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3362409142573540427?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-66539183707906019822011-12-14T08:32:00.001-08:002011-12-14T08:33:23.782-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yGOHTYYILxctZhPnUZoeG9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2uWJt58TINo/TujPaOP1CfI/AAAAAAAANGw/f1S2Xb4OOb8/s400/lunareclipse_devgun_900.jpg" height="375" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Our Moon turned red last week. The reason was that during December 10, a total lunar eclipse occurred. The above digitally superimposed image mosaic captured the Moon many times during the eclipse, from before the Moon entered Earth's shadow until after the Moon exited. The image sequence was recorded over a Shanti Stupa Peace Pagota near the center of New Delhi, India. The red tint of the eclipsed Moon was created by sunlight first passing through the Earth's atmosphere, which preferentially scatters blue light (making the sky blue) but passes and refracts red light, before reflecting back off the Moon. Differing amounts of clouds and volcanic dust in the Earth's atmosphere make each lunar eclipse appear differently. The next total lunar eclipse will occur only in 2014.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6653918370790601982?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-84272715624171324352011-12-13T15:34:00.000-08:002011-12-13T17:02:59.044-08:00- 2008 -<br />Solar Eclipse Feb 07 2008 at 17° Aquarius 44'<br />Lunar Eclipse Feb 21 2008 at 01° Virgo 52'<br />Solar Eclipse Aug 01 2008 at 09° Leo 32'<br />Lunar Eclipse Aug 16 2008 at 24° Aquarius 21'<br /><br />- 2009 -<br />Solar Eclipse Jan 26 2009 at 06° Aquarius 30'<br />Lunar Eclipse Feb 09 2009 at 20° Leo 59'<br />Lunar Eclipse Jul 07 2009 at 15° Capricorn 25'<br />Solar Eclipse Jul 22 2009 at 29° Cancer 27'<br />Lunar Eclipse Aug 06 2009 at 13° Aquarius 43'<br />Lunar Eclipse Dec 31 2009 at 10° Cancer 15'<br /><br />- 2010 -<br />Solar Eclipse Jan 15 2010 at 25° Capricorn 01'<br />Lunar Eclipse Jun 26 2010 at 04° Capricorn 46'<br />Solar Eclipse Jul 11 2010 at 19° Cancer 24'<br />Lunar Eclipse Dec 21 2010 at 29° Gemini 21'<br /><br />- 2011 -<br />Solar Eclipse Jan 04 2011 at 13° Capricorn 38'<br />Solar Eclipse Jun 01 2011 at 11° Gemini 02'<br />Lunar Eclipse Jun 15 2011 at 24° Sagittarius 23'<br />Solar Eclipse Jul 01 2011 at 09° Cancer 12'<br />Solar Eclipse Nov 25 2011 at 02° Sagittarius 37'<br />Lunar Eclipse Dec 10 2011 at 18° Gemini 11'<br /><br />- 2012 -<br />Solar Eclipse May 20 2012 at 00° Gemini 21'<br />Lunar Eclipse Jun 04 2012 at 14° Sagittarius 14'<br />Solar Eclipse Nov 13 2012 at 21° Scorpio 57'<br />Lunar Eclipse Nov 28 2012 at 06° Gemini 46'<br /><br />- 2013 -<br />Lunar Eclipse Apr 25 2013 at 05° Scorpio 46'<br />Solar Eclipse May 10 2013 at 19° Taurus 31'<br />Lunar Eclipse May 25 2013 at 04° Sagittarius 07'<br />Lunar Eclipse Oct 18 2013 at 25° Aries 46'<br />Solar Eclipse Nov 03 2013 at 11° Scorpio 16'<br /><br />- 2014 -<br />Lunar Eclipse Apr 15 2014 at 25° Libra 16'<br />Solar Eclipse Apr 29 2014 at 08° Taurus 51'<br />Lunar Eclipse Oct 08 2014 at 15° Aries 05'<br />Solar Eclipse Oct 23 2014 at 00° Scorpio 25'<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8427271562417132435?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-74008918794626458832011-12-13T06:47:00.001-08:002011-12-13T06:48:32.287-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gldTM3hwAM8jt4QRFRdTiNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TWvlmKwQoxo/Tudk_8An-OI/AAAAAAAANGc/lWafWvpp-Jc/s400/cone_willasch_900.jpg" height="333" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Strange shapes and textures can be found in neighborhood of the Cone Nebula. The unusual shapes originate from fine interstellar dust reacting in complex ways with the energetic light and hot gas being expelled by the young stars. The brightest star on the right of the above picture is S Mon, while the region just below it has been nicknamed the Fox Fur Nebula for its color and structure. The blue glow directly surrounding S Mon results from reflection, where neighboring dust reflects light from the bright star. The red glow that encompasses the whole region results not only from dust reflection but also emission from hydrogen gas ionized by starlight. S Mon is part of a young open cluster of stars named NGC 2264, located about 2500 light years away toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros). The origin of the mysterious geometric Cone Nebula, visible on the far left, remains a mystery.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7400891879462645883?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-65818708620268571152011-12-12T14:30:00.001-08:002011-12-12T16:08:51.263-08:00The Mars in Virgo energy is excellent for cleaning and organizing- getting things in order.<br /><br />Also tweeted...The Cap ingress (Winter Solstice) with Pluto at IC in DC and NYC suggests further problems for housing market, and party in power- upheavals.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6581870862026857115?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-79716432001449944492011-12-12T06:46:00.001-08:002011-12-12T07:33:12.623-08:00Transiting Mars will trigger the Dec. 10 lunar eclipse degree (18 Gemini) on Dec. 24, and Feb. 20, 2012. Thus the latent power of the eclipse may be released around these dates.<br /><br />The Capricorn New Moon (3 Capricorn) occurs on Dec. 24 Xmas Eve. This New Moon translates the epic Uranus-Pluto square which is shaking the status quo, but also trines stationary Jupiter. Benefic Jupiter goes direct on Xmas Day after being retrograde since Aug. 30. It's this trinal aspect that offers the prospect of real progress. Set your intentions concerning long-term goals at the New Moon for best results.<br /><br />As of today, Mercury is still retrograde. But the planetary messenger goes direct tomorrow (Dec. 13) at 5:44 pm, PST. The flow of information and communication will slowly star to improve from that point on- although some would argue that we are still in the shadow phase until Jan. 1, 2012, when Mercury reaches the 20th degree of Sagittarius- where it went station-retrograde Nov. 24.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7971643200144994449?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-69917905675893650852011-12-12T05:30:00.002-08:002011-12-13T07:41:38.716-08:00As of today, Ceres is located at 20 degrees of Pisces, and enters the first sign of Aries on Jan. 19, 2012.<br /><br />Ceres<br />By Barbara Fahringer<br /><br />Finally! The asteroid that should seriously be considered for planetary ranking has received an upgrade. Why should it be considered? Ceres is:<br /><br />1.located where Bode's law says a planet should be located<br /><br />2.was the first asteroid discovered<br /><br />3.is the largest asteroid<br /><br /><a href=http://www.astrologynyc.org/ncgrnyc-articleg.html>NCGR article</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6991790567589365085?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-7031552055395761552011-12-11T08:52:00.001-08:002011-12-11T08:53:55.132-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cBrj9B9bVtI-lePu195PndMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E0R48-0-PdA/TuTfo5xuQgI/AAAAAAAANGE/faBey0SSr8w/s400/Charlie-Kiesel1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br /><br />Quote of the Day: ‎"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-703155205539576155?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-46603247152665457862011-12-10T09:19:00.001-08:002011-12-10T09:22:01.789-08:00Rahu is the Moon's North Node or Dragon's Head. Ketu is the Moon's South Node or Dragon's Tail.<br /><a href=http://jyotishvidya.com/rahu.htm>Rahu the God of Eclipses</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-4660324715266545786?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-29180945594315292112011-12-09T14:44:00.003-08:002011-12-09T15:08:45.735-08:00From NASA Science News:<br />Dec. 2, 2011: Waking up before sunrise can be tough to do, especially on a weekend.  On Saturday, Dec. 10th, you might be glad you did.  A total eclipse of the Moon will be visible in the early morning skies of western Northern America.<br />The action begins around 4:45 am Pacific Standard Time when the red shadow of Earth first falls across the lunar disk.  By 6:05 am Pacific Time, the Moon will be fully engulfed in red light. This event—the last total lunar eclipse until 2014—is visible from the Pacific side of North America, across the entire Pacific Ocean to Asia and Eastern Europe.<br /><a href= http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/02dec_lunareclipse/>Read More</a> <br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6kwHh-UTeGTFDZKPzz9IddMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GltR2mRO77A/TuKP9r60_RI/AAAAAAAANFs/zEVap5Y_PeE/s400/image_full.jpg" height="331" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br /><a href=http://shadowandsubstance.com/>Total Lunar Eclipse Animation</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2918094559431529211?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-19462057561204165112011-12-09T07:17:00.003-08:002011-12-10T07:16:55.471-08:00If the point was not emphasized before- the Dec. 10 total lunar eclipse conjoins the Moon's South or Descending Node. Astrologically, the South Node of the Moon (Ketu in Jyotish) pertains to endings and loss. Energy is dissipated or released at the South Node, as planets here are losing latitude as they cross the Moon's orbital plane in a southerly direction. And this why the South Node of the Moon is considered somewhat regressive or even negative- as it signifies the past and habitual tendencies. But endings lead to new beginnings. And the light that is eclipsed returns in due time. <br /><br />A graphic mundane event related to the eclipse at the Moon's South Node, is Friday's tragic fire in Kolkata (Calcutta), India- where the eclipsed Moon/South Node (midpoint) is sharply focused at this time and location. In notation form the planetary picture looks like this: <br />Dec. 10 lunar eclipse Moon/S.Node (loss) = 16.14 Gemini = Ascendant/Midheaven (at this time & place) 15.32 Gemini @ Kolkata-Calcutta. <br /><a href= http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/09/us-india-fire-idUSTRE7B80EH20111209>Deadly hospital fire in eastern India</a><br /><br />Quote of the Day: ‎"The moon was as though drenched with blood." ~refers to a lunar eclipse in AD 734...from The Anglo Saxon Chronicles<br /><br />The Deeper Meanings of the Moon's Nodes: <a href=http://www.learnastrologyfree.com/may04astro.htm>Hank Friedman</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-1946205756120416511?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-25629777676598912382011-12-09T05:55:00.000-08:002011-12-09T06:57:13.408-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UpAM4bSNySqLl1RBim15dNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tE58E_p6_ro/TuISmWjsC4I/AAAAAAAANE8/d6FIA2zIotI/s400/MorningEclipseTafreshi950c.jpg" height="253" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Tomorrow, December 10, the Full Moon will slide through planet Earth's shadow in a total lunar eclipse. The entire eclipse sequence, including 51 minutes of totality, will be visible from Asia and Australia, but moonwatchers in Europe and Africa will miss out on the beginning partial phases because for them, the eclipse will start before moonrise. In central and western North America the earlier phases of the eclipse will be in progress as the Moon sets. In fact, while those in the east will miss out, North Americans far enough west could see a scene very much like this one, with a mostly eclipsed Moon low and near the western horizon during morning twilght. This morning twilight view of another lunar eclipse approaching its total phase at moonset was captured in 2008 on February 21, from the Zagros Mountains of Iran.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AvR5ZGjGrkrMfaWJAU3h8tMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KSgIWs74b-Y/TuIVJfB3LLI/AAAAAAAANFQ/vbN5aPQOeCg/s400/eclipse.jpg" height="252" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />LRO Observes Final Eclipse of 2011: <a href=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/dec2011-eclipse.html>NASA</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2562977767659891238?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-61117750994021409402011-12-08T09:26:00.001-08:002011-12-08T09:28:34.238-08:00By Dwight Ennis:<br />"Few astronomical phenomenon are as impressive as an eclipse. Whether it be a total eclipse of the Sun, with the turning of day into night, and the filmy, iridescent corona surrounding a black disk where, moments before, the fiery brightness was blinding, or a total eclipse of the Moon, when its usually silvery disk turns blood-red, eclipses have awed man since history began. Historically, they have been said to be harbingers of catastrophe, and astrologers have always placed great meaning upon them. Part of the reason for this is that they always happen in proximity to one of the Moon's Nodes - either North or South - bringing an additional energy into an otherwise normal New Moon. Additionally, the declinations of the Sun and Moon are always the same, or nearly so, during an eclipse, adding a Parallel Aspect between the two, and throwing further "fuel on the fire." There are, naturally enough, astronomical principles at work behind these events. Explaining these principles is the purpose of this article."<br /><a href=http://www.astrologyclub.org/articles/nodes/nodes.htm>Read More</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6111775099402140940?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-34974148789169569872011-12-08T07:42:00.001-08:002011-12-08T07:43:40.231-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZKle2U1AO5lpF8rp3jjiI9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-fDsDzg8Vk_Y/TuDawVdCzBI/AAAAAAAANEg/83aDfMQhSaQ/s400/sh2_239block900c.jpg" height="362" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />The cosmic brush of star formation composed this alluring mix of dust and dark nebulae. Cataloged as Sh2-239 and LDN 1551, the region lies near the southern end of the Taurus molecular cloud complex some 450 light-years distant. Stretching for nearly 3 light-years, the canvas abounds with signs of embedded young stellar objects driving dynamic outflows into the surrounding medium. Included near the center of the frame, a compact, tell-tale red jet of shocked hydrogen gas is near the position of infrared source IRS5, known to be a system of protostars surrounded by dust disks. Just below it are the broader, brighter wings of HH 102, one of the region's many Herbig-Haro objects, nebulosities associated with newly born stars. Estimates indicate that the star forming LDN 1551 region contains a total amount of material equivalent to about 50 times the mass of the Sun.<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer." ~Shunryu Suzuki<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3497414878916956987?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-31933410077608013122011-12-07T19:34:00.001-08:002011-12-07T19:36:56.926-08:00This animation shows the geocentric phase, libration, position angle of the axis, and apparent diameter of the Moon throughout the year 2011, at hourly intervals.<br /><a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9pVaTQinIw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fearthsky.org%2Fspace%2Fone-year-of-the-moon-in-2-5-minutes&feature=player_embedded>NASA</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3193341007760801312?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-86881668090420621992011-12-06T08:28:00.002-08:002011-12-06T19:28:09.658-08:00From BBC News:<br />"Russian protesters defying a police ban on unapproved rallies in Moscow have been facing off with Putin supporters on a square in the city centre.<br /><br />Protesters chanted slogans against the ruling party as the Putin loyalists beat drums and chanted "Putin, Russia", and police made arrests.<br /><br />Police and elite interior troops have been patrolling the city since a rally on Monday over alleged election fraud.<br /><br />Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has played down losses by his party.<br /><br />United Russia won Sunday's parliamentary election with just under 50% of the vote, a sharp drop in its support.<br /><br />Correspondents say the result reflects Mr Putin's declining popularity ahead of his bid for the Russian presidency in March.<br /><br />Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) say the election was slanted in favour of Mr Putin's party, United Russia."<br /><br />The rare June 8, 2004 Venus transit/passage (inferior conjunction) at 18 Gemini fell in the 10th house of government in Moscow. The Sun is a symbol of masculine leaders- and Venus signifes popularity, or the loss thereof in this case. The Dec. 10 total lunar eclipse (18 Gemini) is exactly opposing the 2004 Venus transit (18 Gemini). Benefic Venus is great afflicted at this point in her synodic cycle- both combust and retrograde. And the eclipse activation would seem to be a timing factor. Transiting Mercury opposing the radix (2004 Venus transit) 10th house Mercury- dispositor of the Venus-0-Sun (18 Gemini) and lord of the Midheaven, is another relevant trigger. Mercury actually stations-direct on Dec. 14 at 4 Sagittarius, tightly -180- the radix Mercury (5 Gemini).<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6gQsx5HdriZVUyQxfTEtA9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-wsg4ptNwTco/Tt5B13_n8OI/AAAAAAAANC8/N9bNTf70-W4/s400/moscow.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><br />December's lunar eclipse also activates the 2011 Aries ingress chart for Moscow which reflects the tone of national events for the whole year. Transiting Saturn conjunct the Aries ingress Midheaven suggests restrictions and hardships for Putin and the Russian government in power.<br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/d3DOPiKfrin63U-T-GjxONMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UmYO5OHE8Io/Tt6XWTKvhCI/AAAAAAAANDs/6ef-lT586z0/s400/moscow-ingress-eclipse.jpg" height="306" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/MundaneCharts2?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Mundane Charts 2</a></td></tr></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8688166809042062199?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-30436262791690813752011-12-06T07:18:00.001-08:002011-12-06T07:22:08.615-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/E3feXyXsCkY3WjZSgemDvdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PomSYW-1jOo/Tt4x_XGPIeI/AAAAAAAANCg/wC583BUCg-I/s400/paranal.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Quote of the Day: "Be a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd." ~Rumi<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3043626279169081375?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-63273421227830632002011-12-05T12:43:00.001-08:002011-12-07T19:42:15.460-08:00"Astronomers have confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet in the "habitable zone" around a star not unlike our own. The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years away and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth, and has a temperature of about 22C. It is the closest confirmed planet yet to one like ours- an "Earth 2.0".<br /><br />However, the team does not yet know if Kepler 22-b is made mostly of rock, gas or liquid. During the conference at which the result was announced, the Kepler team said that it had spotted some 1,094 new candidate planets.<br /><br />The Kepler space telescope was designed to look at a fixed swathe of the night sky, staring intently at about 150,000 stars. The telescope is sensitive enough to see when a planet passes in front of its host star, dimming the star's light by a minuscule amount.<br /><br />Kepler identifies these slight changes in starlight as candidate planets, which are then confirmed by further observations by Kepler and other telescopes in orbit and on Earth.<br /><br />Kepler 22-b was one of 54 candidates reported by the Kepler team in February, and is just the first to be formally confirmed using other telescopes.<br /><br />More of these "Earth 2.0" candidates are likely to be confirmed in the near future, though a redefinition of the habitable zone's boundaries has brought that number down to 48.<br /><br />Kepler 22-b lies at a distance from its sun about 15% less than the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and its year takes about 290 days. However, its sun puts out about 25% less light, keeping the planet at its balmy temperature that would support the existence of liquid water.<br /><br />The Kepler team had to wait for three passes of the planet before upping its status from "candidate" to "confirmed".<br /><br />"Fortune smiled upon us with the detection of this planet," said William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at Nasa's Ames Research Center.<br /><br />"The first transit was captured just three days after we declared the spacecraft operationally ready. We witnessed the defining third transit over the 2010 holiday season."<br /><br />The results were announced at the Kepler telescope's first science conference, alongside the staggering number of new candidate planets. The total number of candidates spotted by the telescope is now 2,326- of which 207 are approximately Earth-sized.<br /><br />In total, the results suggest that planets ranging from Earth-sized to about four times Earth's size- so-called "super-Earths"- may be more common than previously thought." <a href=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16040655>BBC News</a><br /><table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iI15_vQRDz7-E64oD6nUedMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mBhiE0nRHRc/Tt90lPVNN9I/AAAAAAAANEM/rUsLI6-A22Q/s400/kepler22.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=davidcrook108&target=ALBUM&id=5159270953873608385&feat=embedwebsite"></a></td></tr></table><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-6327342122783063200?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-89508086229289188452011-12-04T08:16:00.001-08:002011-12-04T08:16:51.836-08:00"It began with a life-or-death decision to remove the Needle of False Security from my arm, turn away from the Medusa of Routine, part the Veil of Bogus Guarantees and pass on into that vital place where, regardless of the question, all you have to say is yes." ~Sol Luckman<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-8950808622928918845?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-79467946684367903562011-12-03T08:30:00.000-08:002011-12-03T08:31:47.810-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nS1RYf2AnP2MpavBLSYpF9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EmgtauhSw7o/TtpOdmW131I/AAAAAAAANBY/kE26Ob6TfkE/s400/saturday.jpg" height="269" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />A single, long exposure captured these star trails above a remarkably colorful sea of clouds. As seen from Medvednica mountain, the surrounding peaks and lights illuminating the clouds from below are north of Zagreb, Croatia. Near the center of the also colorful star trail arcs, the North Celestial Pole is off the upper right edge of the frame. Even though this is the age of the digital camera, the well composed skyscape was recorded using color slide film in a medium format camera. The dreamlike scene's starry sky and ephemeral ocean could be reminiscent of an older age still, when the Pannonian Sea covered this part of central Europe some 10 million years ago.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-7946794668436790356?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-56554978635601010752011-12-02T08:47:00.000-08:002011-12-02T08:50:00.356-08:00I think we all knew this already.<br /><br />MEXICO CITY(AP)— "The end is not near. At least that's according to a German expert who says his decoding of a Mayan tablet with a reference to a 2012 date denotes a transition to a new era and not a possible end of the world as others have read it.<br />The interpretation of the hieroglyphs by Sven Gronemeyer of La Trobe University in Australia was presented for the first time Wednesday at the archaeological site of Palenque in southern Mexico.<br /><br />His comments came less than a week after Mexico's archaeology institute acknowledged there was a second reference to the 2012 date in Mayan inscriptions, touching of another round of talk about whether it predicts the end of the world.<br /><br />Gronemeyer has been studying the stone tablet found years ago at the archeological site of Tortuguero in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Tabasco.<br /><br />He said the inscription describes the return of mysterious Mayan god Bolon Yokte at the end of a 13th period of 400 years, known as Baktuns, on the equivalent of Dec. 21, 2012. Mayans considered 13 a sacred number. There's nothing apocalyptic in the date, he said.<br /><br />The text was carved about 1,300 years ago. The stone has cracked, which has made the end of the passage almost illegible.<br /><br />Gronemeyer said the inscription refers to the end of a cycle of 5,125 years since the beginning of the Mayan Long Count calendar in 3113 B.C.<br /><br />The fragment was a prophecy of then ruler Bahlam Ajaw, who wanted to plan the passage of the god, Gronemeyer said.<br /><br />"For the elite of Tortuguero, it was clear they had to prepare the land for the return of the god and for Bahlam Ajaw to be the host of this initiation," he said.<br />Bolon Yokte, god of creation and war, was to prevail that day in a sanctuary of Tortuguero.<br /><br />"The date acquired a symbolic value because it is seen as a reflection of the day of creation," Gronemeyer said. "It is the passage of a god and not necessarily a great leap for humanity."<br /><br />Last week, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology said a second inscription mentioning the 2012 date is on the carved or molded face of a brick found at the Comalcalco ruin, near the Tortuguero site. It is being kept at the institute and is not on display.<br /><br />Many experts doubt the second inscription is a definite reference to the date cited as the possible end of the world, saying there is no future tense marking like there is in the Tortuguero tablet.<br /><br />The institute has tried to dispel talk of a 2012 apocalypse, the subject of numerous postings and stories on the Internet. Its latest step was to arrange a special round table of Mayan experts this week at Palenque, which is where Gronemeyer made his comments."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-5655497863560101075?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-39482566884182646982011-12-02T06:49:00.001-08:002011-12-02T07:01:20.553-08:00<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LNuJaGmD_NkrEKUm-ZipNtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-OkWqNYm2CnM/TtjlLl2htaI/AAAAAAAANAU/jfTu6azMIKc/s400/IMG_6172_zelayeta900.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/davidcrook108/Images108?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Images 108</a></td></tr></table><br />Last Friday, the fourth and final partial solar eclipse of 2011 was only visible from high latitudes in the southern hemisphere. If you missed it, check out this dramatic picture of the geocentric celestial event from a very high southern latitude on the continent of Antarctica. From a camera positioned at San Martín Station (Argentina) near the antarctic peninsula mountain range, the picture looks toward the south and east. The Sun and silhouetted lunar disk are seen through thin, low clouds. Perhaps fittingly, the mountainous slope in the foreground is part of the larger Roman Four Promontory, named for its craggy, snow covered face that resembles the Roman numeral IV. For 2011, there is actually one more eclipse to go, a total eclipse of the Moon. Parts of that eclipse be visible from most of planet Earth (but not Antarctica ...) on December 10.<br /><br />Quote of the Day: "Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself." ~Hermann Hesse<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-3948256688418264698?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17266882.post-24876948271409814032011-11-30T06:42:00.000-08:002012-01-03T13:02:19.360-08:00The Dec. 10 lunar eclipse (18 Gemini) belongs to the 1262 yr. Saros series 135 which began Apr. 13, 1615 with an eclipse near the Moon's South Node. This 1615 seed-eclipse (23 Libra) fell spot on the meridian (MC-IC axis) in Los Angeles, CA. And the most recent eclipse of Saros 135, took place Nov. 28, 1993 with a heavy Saturn-90-Pluto (structural collapse-upheavals) on the angles in LA, shortly before the major Northridge earthquake hit (1/17/94). <br /><br />The Dec. 10, 2011 total lunar eclipse has the Moon's Nodes (square Mars) on the horizon in Los Angeles, with Uranus at the IC-4th house cusp. As Uranus is stationary direct now, it's radical energy is even more powerfully focused around the longitude of Los Angeles. (Occupy LA was evicted from City Hall park earlier this week.) <br />Dec. 1 update: <a href=http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/02/us-winds-california-idUSTRE7B02GA20111202>LA Wind Storm Disrupts Flights & Cuts Power</a><br /><br />In fact, Uranus is changing direction precisely at 0 Aries- the World Point or World Axis. 0 Aries marks the Vernal Point, where the ecliptic and equator intersect in the east. Planets at 0 Aries, 0 Cancer, 0 Libra, or 0 Capricorn (the solstices & equinoxes) have a greater influence in shaping world events. Uranus was exactly at 0 Aries with the meltdown of nuclear reactors in Fukushima on Mar. 12, 2011. So the correspondence between the lunar eclipse and Uranus stationary-direct at 0 Aries is significant.<br /><br />2011 Aries Ingress<br />The chart for the astrological new year 2011, the Aries ingress (Vernal Equinox), has Uranus on the IC-4th house cusp in Rome, Italy. And recent events there have confirmed the erratic and disruptive nature of Uranus the awakener. Prime Minister Berlusconi was forced to resign under a cloud of controversy, while the financial situation remains tenuous.<br /><br />The nation of Spain is also on the edge of economic disaster, and it's Nov. 22, 2011 solar return shows a 2nd house (money & assets) emphasis, with the Part of Fortune at 18 Sagittarius 26. The Dec. 10 lunar eclipse falls in the 8th house (debt & loss) of this return chart, tightly opposing the return Part of Fortune (in 2nd). <a href=https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ovai2S26eJmdlJrb_OeWO9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink>Spain's 2011 solar return</a><br /><br />The Dec. 10 Gemini eclipse is a flash-point for shocking or upsetting events, because of it's correlation with the Uranus station. And with Mercury, lord of Gemini, still retrograde until Dec. 14, we could be subject to delays or mis-communication, and may not have all the facts we need to make major decisions. The mutable nature of Gemini and Mercury indicate highly changeable conditions. But the Full Moon eclipse can bring heightened awareness, and Mercury's direct-station (Dec. 14) will stimulate mental energy and the flow of information. The square from Mars to the eclipse axis suggests dynamic tension or conflict. Later in December, Jupiter, the greater benefic, will station direct on Christmas Day. Let faith, hope, and goodwill reign.<br /><br />Astronomical information about the lunar eclipse: <a href=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2011.html#LE2011Dec10T>NASA's eclipse site</a><br /><br />My colleague Peter Stockinger's blog post on the Dec. 10 Lunar Eclipse: <a href=http://starsandstones.wordpress.com/blog-posts/>Stars and Stones</a><br /><br />The 2004 Transit of Venus: <a href=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/transit04.html>NASA</a><br /><br /><a href=http://stellarinsights108.blogspot.com/2011/09/rare-venus-transit-2012.html>Rare Venus Transit 2012</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/17266882-2487694827140981403?l=stellarinsights108.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>David Crookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14547480310381842373noreply@blogger.com0