What if there was more going on out there in space than we knew? Certainly the recent meteor appearance over Russia caught us off guard; ironically at a time when so much focus was on a significantly sized asteroid getting too close for comfort. As this year goes on, previously unknown comets promise to put on quite the show. No doubt there is more.
My favorite astronomer Mike Brown recently began blogging again (Mike Brown’s Planets) after a long sabbatical. He posted a most curious statement in his returning blog: “If I had my way we would never have to talk about planetary definitions again, but I fear that topic may even come up again now and then.”
Hmm. This from the guy, who during a lecture at the University of Arizona, said it was a bad idea to run probabilities and permutations forward to predict what will come to be discovered in our solar system based upon what we now know, and then did it anyway. And he noted there may be a number of objects/planets in the realm of Sedna yet to be discovered... awaiting orbital positioning that our technology can perceive. And he noted high odds that there could be something out there the size of Mars. I have my fingers crossed.
If this came to pass would it give us Pluto back?
Maybe not, but we are potentially getting a name for another of Pluto’s moons. While not official yet, a poll sponsored by the SETI Institute (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) to name the known unnamed moons of the dwarf planet Pluto, finds Vulcan leading nearly two to one over the second and third runners up, Cerberus and Styx.
Wait! Wasn’t/isn’t Vulcan a planet? No, it’s not despite the fact than an ephemeris for the body based upon perturbations in Mercury’s orbit existed in the 1970's. There were astrological books on the delineation for the planet, who was supposed to be invisible most of the time because of proximity to the Sun. As space probes orbited the Sun and the Sun was seen from a wide range of perspectives, the astronomical community abandoned the idea of Vulcan. Astrologers, though, clung to the interpretations much as they have those of Trans-Pluto. Incidentally, Trans-Pluto, with the discovery of the Kuiper Belt and refinement of the orbit of Uranus late in the 20th Century, has been reassigned as a hypothetical body by most astrologers.
Meanwhile, since tires are no longer repaired with the process of vulcanization, one wonders if the naming of a Plutonian moon as Vulcan will render impact on earth - symbolic or otherwise. Well, in the week that the SETI polling hit an apex, President Obama referred to a “Jedi mind meld.” Mr. Spock’s devotees immediately began criticizing the President for mixing metaphors and confusing Jedis and Vulcans. Funny how Vulcans seem so Virgo-like with all the Spock-logic and precision in linear thinking.
But anyway, back to the plum on the galactic grapevine... is it possible there is another planet out there? Is it likely? Define likely. Has its existence been implied? Well, Dr. Mike Brown is a clever Gemini and a wordsmith extra-ordinaire. It is my opinion the hint is there. The hint can also be implied by reviewing the Minor Planet Center’s Centaur and Scattered Disk Object postings. This year, after two months, nine such bodies have been documented. That’s more than half of what posted in 2012, and just under half what was posted in 2011 - a reversal of the declining number of such discoveries seems evident.
Anyway, back to the plum on the galactic grapevine...
Can we feel the influence for this planet now? Yes. Underneath the subterfuge of life, careful spiritual siphoning reveals some interesting collective yearnings. There seems to be a longing for a spiritual belief that one can wrap around without the pinnings of most religions. There seems to be a search for knowing what happens to a soul after life on Earth. There seems to be an urge for people to be more direct in calling a spade a spade. There is a momentum building for facts without spin, something any Vulcan can endorse. There seems to be a search for leaders who can cooperate with others and find reasonable solutions to long-standing issues. There is definitely a quest to find a belief system that allows one at the end of the day to review one’s efforts with supreme satisfaction - a contentment in life index quotient quest.
Can the insights of unknown planets be applied? Absolutely. The influence grows and all that is required - to make a deep spiritual quest seem as easy as pie (or is it pi?) - is to listen. Feel and sense. Access the insights. Work them. Avoid selective perception and applying suppositions to downloaded truths. Let them declare what they have to reveal. What the insights have to say likely will exceed the expectations of what we can hope they mean... if allowed to unfold as they may. After all, that which is beyond our base of knowledge hopes to expand our knowledge, lighten our spirits and evolve our consciousness - personal and global.
Regardless of when/if a new planet will be announced - and I believe it will (wish I knew when) - Jupiter, in Gemini, soon reaches the positions of Great Attractor and the Galactic Center (please visit the Galactic Anomalies link on my website for more information). Respectively, these intervals easily exert influence for a week, possibly more, either side of April 13th and either side of June 13th. During these times the pipeline is open for anyone pausing to take a listen and perceive.
There is a plum out there. It may be a galactically motivated insight. It might be a planet. Either way, it’s good picking.