Mississauga Astronomical Society

57th Meeting

Members’ Night and General Meeting

Day:                February 24, 2006

Chair:         Phil Mozel

Speaker:     Roy Swanson

 An Amateur Astronomer’s Take on Astrology

Roy Swanson had spoken to the Mississauga Astronomical Society one year ago about precession and Ophiuchus and its relationship to astrology.  He noted that a large group of people are interested in astrology.  In astrology the person’s exact birth date is used to create a horoscope based on the alignment of heavenly bodies; essentially a fortune telling technique. Various countries use astrology in different ways. In China and India, the Moon’s position is used for horoscopes.  In India the horoscopes of bride and groom are matched as well as possible and in both the countries astrology (including “fake” horoscopes) is big business.  Roy showed how planetarium programs, because they show accurate planet positions,  are very useful in testing astrological tenets.  His own horoscope for Dec. 1, 1933 as determined by astrologers does not correspond with the true planetary positions ascertained through planetarium programs for that date. The positions of the planets, Sun and Moon are generally one full constellation away from their true places.  Astrological horoscopes are also filled with bland general statements and flattery which appeal to many but do not contain useful or factual information. 

Roy has contacted Phil Booth, the astrologer writer for the Toronto Star on 86 occasions.

In every case, the planetary positions have been far off and as a result, references to positions in the Star have greatly decreased.  In summary, there is a huge framework of fortune telling material based on erroneous positions of the heavenly bodies. In actual fact, it has nothing to do with the heavens, only to the idea of what people want to hear.  

Recent Aspects of Space Exploration

Randy Attwood described and showed a video on the recent New Horizons mission, integration of the spacecraft with the 3^rd stage, and the spacecraft launch to Pluto.  He also gave predictions for the ISS passes over Mississauga in the next few days.

Phil Mozel described Comet Pojmanski and asked members to try to observe it.

General Meeting

The remaining time was devoted to the 1^nd annual general meeting of the society (see members' stuff on the M.A.S. website).

Submitted by Chris Malicki, Secretary  Chris Malicki, Secretary                               back to M.A.S. meeting reports page
Mississauga Astronomical Society