Planets, Schmanets

As you may know by now, astronomers are proposing to add three new heavenly bodies to the pantheon of planets:

Besides reaffirming the solar system status of Pluto, the IAU draft resolution recognizes 2003 UB313, the farthest-known object in the solar system; Pluto's largest moon, Charon; and the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted.

As an astrologer, I don't think this re-classification affects me much. Ceres is already recognized as one of the four major asteroid goddesses. Some astrologers are already studying the astrological meaning of UB313 by looking at its travels in relation to personal horoscopes. And I don't know how much credence to give to one of Pluto's moons (although Lynn Hayes ventures a guess into its astrological meaning by looking at its mythology).

Astrologers use fixed stars as well as hypothetical points (trans-Neptunians), so what difference does re-classification by astronomers make? The discovery of a heavenly body is much more important than whether scientists call it a planet, a pluton, a plutoid or a schmutoid.

Tags: astrology astronomy xena ub313 ceres charon