Are We to Trines and Squares, Yet?

In Astrology, we have a number of names for events when forces of planetary bodies come into alignment: trines, squares, conjunctions, and oppositions to name a few. We also see these events in Astronomy. For instance when the Sun and the Moon are in opposition or conjunction (i.e., the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are in a line), the tides are more severe, with higher high tides and lower low tides, and the Moon is full or new.

Modern theories on the solar system state that just after the first 1/2 billion years of the solar system, Saturn and Jupiter were in orbital resonance. So for every one time that Saturn circled the Sun, Jupiter circled twice. This caused a greater number of conjunctions (in the astronomical sense) between the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn. This resonance was so strong that the solar system vibrated like a guitar having it's strings played. This resonance is believed to have cleared the solar system of debris (a time known as the late heavy bombardment), which gives the Earth and other planets clear paths around the sun, minimizing the chance of any further asteroid impacts. It also knocked Uranus over and threw Neptune into the outer solar system.

While the effects of astronomical aspects are not nearly as extreme now, as with the early solar system, the Saturn-Jupiter resonance is an interesting look at how much power astrological aspects can have.

Mercury Direct

Other than the heavenly objects that we can see without too much effort, the Sun and the Moon, the tiny planet of Mercury is the easiest to understand from an astrological standpoint. When Mercury goes backward (retrograde), we enter a period of internal contemplation, and when Mercury goes forward (direct), our communication amongst each other improves.

Over the weekend, Mercury stalled (from our perspective) and began to move in a forward motion. From our perspective this happened in the constellation of Gemini in the Cancer area of the sky. Robert Wilkinson describes this event in the Aquarius Papers as:

"A quickening of the ability to coordinate, put things together, understand the whole and the parts, the process and the larger cycles. "

Mercury will continue to accelerate for the next 10 weeks or so. What are you doing to better understand the world and communicate with other over the next couple months?

Are We Living in or Around a Torus or Two?

When I say "torus," I'm not misspelling an astrological constellation from the Zodiac. Nor am I referring to a Ford 4-door sedan. I am referring to a perhaps mythical, quasi-scientific shape that may or may not exist from the tiniest atom to the largest galaxy. In short, it's a glorified donut shape.

A torus

The below picture was published in the journal Nature in 2003. It shows something called the Oort cloud (pink), which extends about 1/3 of the way to the next nearest star. The Oort cloud is made up of icy objects like the Kuiper Belt and is in the "freeze zone" of the solar system, which extends out from just before Uranus's orbit, as shown by the red in the diagram. In the freeze zone, most everything is solid ice, including methane. The Oort cloud appears to take the shape of the torus, or it might be better seen as 2 toruses, one on top of the other and bottom to bottom.

The Oort Cloud

If we are in fact wedged between two toruses, we might be able to more easily navigate the solar system at some time in the near future, perhaps utilizing solar sails or something similar to utilize the energy.

I have heard arguments that the universe is simply a series of toruses layered one on top of another, and we can already harness some of this energy. For instance in 1901, Tesla invented something called the "free energy device," which is said to pull energy from these toruses in which we live. Follow this link for a YouTube video on how to make a "free energy device" for about $2.

Interestingly enough, Belgium also appears to be building a torus shaped structure as a giant battery to store wind energy in the North Sea. The Wired report seems to be based on Reuters and IEEE Spectrum (a journal for Electrical Engineers) reporting. So, there might be something to this strange shape after all.

New YouTube Channel

Created a YouTube channel linking to videos that are pertinent to this blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7qLbfjwh6o&list=PLv9SIDzZC2D2bdkMcUW-bp4syw93ugiGZ

Covers non controversial subjects such as quantum physics, more controversial subjects like global warming, and questionable subjects such as the electric universe.

While the electric universe explanation isn't perfect, with some of the analysis being downright sloppy, it's an interesting way of thinking about the universe.

What is Space? A Nova episode.