Monday 2 January 2012

Charts for spacecarft destined to leave the solar system

The following posts provide astrological star charts (free ones via the web) for the space craft which are destined to leave the solar system (Voyager V1 and 2, Pioneer P10 and 11 and New Horizons, NH)



This is part of a wider project (link not available) on Voyager 1 and the Golden Record.

Current data on these probes are available via the Heavens Above website.

http://www.heavens-above.com/solar-escape.asp?lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET

I've called this blog "Astro Illogical" since on the face of it star charts for things that leave our sun's sphere of influence are non-sensical. But perhaps others can provide another interpretation.

They are compiled here because I think its interesting to reflect on these probes which are all expected to leave the sphere of influence of our solar system. The astrological charts provide information on the influence the solar system had on the craft when they were launched. Unlike people, for whom star charts are routinely complied, these objects are leaving the solar system.

I don't know whether astrologists would argue that the influence of the stars is decreasing as the probes make their way out of our solar system. I'm interested in the poetry of such objects so far from earth, but made here, and their destiny amongst the stars.

As of 2/1/2012 (January) the positions of these 5 craft were as follows:





Or numerically:


Pioneer 10 Pioneer 11 Voyager 2 Voyager 1 New Horizons
Distance from Sun (AU) 104.938 84.77 97.334 119.339 22.08
Speed relative to Sun (km/s) 12.048 11.393 15.449 17.051 15.52
Speed relative to Sun (AU/year) 2.542 2.403 3.259 3.597 3.274
Ecliptic Latitude 3.0° 14.3° -33.9° 35.0° 1.8°
Declination (J2000) 25.90° -8.88° -55.28° 11.92° -21.33°
Right Ascension (J2000) 5.106 hrs 18.734 hrs 19.843 hrs 17.173 hrs 18.715 hrs
Constellation Tau Sct Tel Oph Sgr
Distance from Earth (AU) 104.041 85.723 98.147 120.058 23.062
One-way light time (hours) 14.42 11.88 13.6 16.64 3.2
Magnitude of Sun from spacecraft -16.6 -17.1 -16.8 -16.3 -20
Spacecraft still functioning ? No No Yes Yes Yes
Launch date 03/03/72 04/06/73 08/20/77 09/05/77 01/19/06


Note: the two Pioneer craft's launch times were given in UTC time. I have converted this to local time by adding 5 hours to the reported launch time (UTC=GMT). I hope this is right. If you know otherwise, please let me know.

Thursday 19 January 2006

New Horizons

The youngest of the spacecraft destined to leave our solar system was launched on 19/1/2006 at 2pm EST.

"Extremely active by nature, you like to get around, meet people and do different things. Very restless, you just can't seem to stay put.
"




Wikipedia entry:

New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra and S/2011 P 1. Its estimated arrival date at the Pluto-Charon system is July 14, 2015. NASA may then also attempt flybys of one or more other Kuiper belt objects if a suitable one can be located.

New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006, directly into an Earth-and-solar-escape trajectory with an Earth-relative velocity of about 16.26 km/s (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph) after its last engine shut down. Thus, the spacecraft left Earth at the greatest ever launch speed for a man-made object. It flew by the orbit of Mars on 7 April 2006, the orbit of Jupiter on 28 February 2007, the orbit of Saturn on 8 June 2008; and the orbit of Uranus on 18 March 2011.

Here is its star chart.



Interpretation via Astrolabe is as follows:

Name: New Horizons
January 19 2006
2:00 PM Time Zone is EST
cape canaveral, FL

Rising Sign is in 07 Degrees Gemini
Extremely active by nature, you like to get around, meet people and do different things. Very restless, you just can't seem to stay put. You need to be involved in several projects at once in order to keep your mind stimulated. You like to read books and to write letters and to talk -- constantly. Seemingly ageless, you will always appear to be much younger than you really are. Very adaptable and inquisitive, you are always open to new ideas and experiences. A "jack-of-all-trades", you are lively and versatile. Because of the high nervous tension that you always seem to have, athletic activity would be a good way for you to burn off energy. But be careful of a tendency to experience things only superficially -- try to dig in and absorb things at a deeper level.

Sun is in 29 Degrees Capricorn.
Extremely serious and mature, you are capable of accepting responsibilities and do so willingly. Others expect you to be dutiful as a matter of course. You tend to get angry when people get rewards after not having worked anywhere near as hard as you. You are goal-oriented and an achiever by nature -- you're a hard worker and are justifiably proud of the tangible results of your efforts. You tend to have "tunnel-vision" -- this allows you to block out extraneous matters that might distract others and to concentrate totally on the matter at hand. As such, you are the ideal one to manage or administrate any ongoing project and to be practical and efficient at it. You are not a fast worker, but you are quite thorough. You are known for being totally persistent, tenacious and tireless in reaching your goals.

Moon is in 28 Degrees Virgo.
You tend to be serious-minded but cheerful for the most part. You need tasks that engage both your mind and your hands. A careful worker, you enjoy making things. You are neat and orderly, and are very concerned with good health habits. Fastidious to the extreme, you cannot tolerate messes and will immediately clean them up. Reserved, shy, and very self-critical, you tend to be very hard on yourself. You usually will go out of your way to be helpful and useful to others. Practical, reliable, efficient and conservative, at times you are a bit of a prude. You are known to lead a simple, uncomplicated, frugal, methodical and unemotional lifestyle. You are devoted and caring to those you love.

Mercury is in 24 Degrees Capricorn.
You are a careful thinker, very cautious and conservative. You are quite skillful at organizing, directing and planning activities. Practical and useful things interest you -- you are not attracted to abstract thoughts or ideas. With your tendency to be highly focused and very goal-oriented, you have a good head for business. But beware of a tendency to be narrow-minded and dogmatic. Your sense of humor tends toward being earthy and slapstick crude.

Venus is in 20 Degrees Capricorn.
You tend to keep your feelings under control -- emotions are only released in serious or important situations. You are distrustful of others whose behavior could be judged excessive or immoderate. As such, you prefer to relate only to those who are older than you or to those whose position is such that respect and duty are more important for both of you than passion or emotional response. Be careful, however, of relationships that are merely based on practicality or utility or you will ultimately be lonely.

Mars is in 17 Degrees Taurus.
Careful, slow and thorough about all that you do, at times you are also willful and stubborn when others try to alter your course. You are definitely not a quitter -- you will work long and hard to get what you want. Your possessions are very important to you. One of your continuing problems is that you tend to regard the significant people in your life much the same way as you do your possessions -- you become overly attached and much too jealous. You repress your anger when you get upset and that is not healthy. Try to learn to show your anger immediately in order to avoid painful explosions later.

Jupiter is in 15 Degrees Scorpio.
You love to dig deep beneath surface appearances in order to find out what is really happening. A persistent researcher, you are very interested in the psychology of any situation. You tend to become overwhelmed by the complexity of what you uncover, however, and that makes you a bit gun-shy about explaining things to others. But you must learn to try to communicate as best you can because what you know is really very valuable to others.

Saturn is in 08 Degrees Leo.
Extremely self-reliant, you set very high standards of conduct and decorum for yourself, and you expect others with whom you associate to be that way, too. It is important that you had a strong father figure or role model early in life to mold your life course and direction. When you feel that those around you are unworthy or behaving badly, you withdraw, preferring solitude rather than associating with those who might besmirch your reputation.

Uranus is in 08 Degrees Pisces.
You, and most of your peers, are extremely idealistic and want to change society by completely reorienting its highest religious goals and aspirations. Just be careful to make sure that your new goal structures are properly grounded in reality so that they have a chance of being accepted by the majority.

Neptune is in 16 Degrees Aquarius.
You, and your entire generation, will idealize and even venerate the ability to remain detached as well as the ability to objectively analyze any given situation. There will be a concerted effort on your part to cure the ills of society as a whole. But be very careful to continue to maintain and protect the rights of individuals in the midst of these potentially far-reaching changes.

Pluto is in 25 Degrees Sagittarius.
For your entire generation, society's cherished beliefs and totems will be radically changed. Many traditional concepts will be totally altered, if not completely destroyed. The rights of individuals to pursue their own course in life will be reasserted.

N. Node is in 06 Degrees Aries.
You're at your most comfortable when involved in group activities outside of your immediate family circle. You delight in getting involved with others in neighborhood civic or political activities, especially if you can be a part of the leadership of the group. Your zeal and overabundant energy bring out your real creativity when you can work toward tangible results -- things that will immediately benefit those around you. You have a real gift for getting the most out of charity drives and community benefits. Take time out between projects though, because you tire out easily and your effectiveness becomes greatly diminished when your energy is depleted. Also, don't even think of trying to get involved at a peripheral level -- you need a total commitment to feel personally fulfilled. Let others bake the cookies and set up the chairs -- you should be the one to tell everyone what to do and when to do it!