Saturn meets Uranus: Part 1
A lot occurred in 1977. One of the most surprising discoveries that year, on March 10, was that Saturn didn’t have a monopoly on rings. Uranus was also found to be encircled by bands. Imagine, Saturn and Uranus actually having something in common!
Since then, two other planets, Jupiter and Neptune, have also been found to be encircled, showing that it is a feature of all the giant planets.
But more recently the rings of Saturn and Uranus were shown to share a unique attribute that did not occur with Jupiter or Neptune: the most outer ring of both Saturn and Uranus is blue!
Since Uranus was found in 1781, astrologers have written extensively about how Uranus is the antithesis of Saturn. But with both sharing the ‘ringed’ nature, as well as both sharing that most unique trait of an outer blue ring, I think it’s time we start looking at what they have in common astrologically.
First, though, I’d like to mention two other significant events that occurred in 1977, so I hope you will forgive my digression.
On August 20, 1977, NASA launched Voyager 2 into the solar system, and on September 5, Voyager 1.
(Why was 1 launched after 2? Because Voyager 1’s trajectory put it on a much faster journey, making it arrive at the outer planets way before Voyager 2.) Voyagers were launched to get close-up looks at the outer planets, and then proceed to the outer reaches of our system. (In fact, it was Voyager 1 that discovered that Jupiter also had rings.)
Right now, Voyager 1 is the farthest out man-made body. According to NASA, as of September 26, 2008, Voyager 1 is about 107.58 AU (16.093 billion km, or 9.94 billion miles) from the Sun, and has thus entered the heliosheath. This is the actual edge of the Sun’s influence…..it marks the dividing line between
our solar system and interstellar space. In other words, Voyager is on the verge of being the first device created by humans on earth to leave the solar system.
When the Voyagers were launched, NASA used a Titan IIIE Centaur rocket. Keep that in mind, will you?
The other event of 1977 I want to mention occurred on November 1. That was the date that Charles Kowal discovered a body located between Saturn and Uranus, which shocked the astronomical world. Nothing was supposed to be located in that space.
Kowal eventually named this body Chiron, the wisest and most beloved of all the Centaurs in mythology, who was son of Saturn, grandson of Uranus. Gee, there’s that word Centaur again.
Chiron’s orbit was eventually shown to reach almost to that of Uranus, and to also reach a point when closest to the Sun where it crosses Saturn’s orbit and moves closer to Jupiter than Saturn ever does. In other words, it goes out to listen to Saturn’s wisdom, comes in and confers with Saturn, then moves further in and bows down in honor of Jupiter. (In mythology, Chiron taught his pupils to honor Zeus, or Jupiter, above all else.)
Back to Saturn and Uranus.
I’m writing this shortly after the first of several exact Saturn/Uranus oppositions have occurred. Since we have four more of these to experience over the next few years, if Saturn and Uranus DO have things in common, it behooves us to try and understand these things as deeply as possible.
And what I hope to show you is that in order to understand the common bonds implied by their both having a blue ring, you must also understand the meanings of Jupiter and Chiron, and then put all the pieces together.
Stay tuned for Part II