SPOTLIGHT
Tiny Pluto, lying in the outer reaches of the Solar System and bothering nobody, is at the centre of a controversy rewriting almost 80 years of accepted science, writes Surasak Tumcharoen
A fortune-teller reads the stars of his female client at Tha Prachan. Thai astrologers say the rebranding of Pluto won't affect astrologers' predictions. |
For nearly eight decsades, people have believed the Solar System has consisted of one star and nine planets. That's no longer true, says the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Now, there are officially only eight planets orbiting the Sun, according to the France-based agency.
Pluto, considered the ninth planet since its discovery by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, was relegated to the status of "plutoid" by the IAU earlier this month.
This term refers to celestial bodies which orbit the Sun at a greater distance than Neptune but which are not large enough to have cleared the neighbourhood around their orbit.
But the reclassification of Pluto is disputed by some non-European astronomers, although few objected to the IAU's earlier relegation of Pluto to "dwarf planet" in 2006.
Astronomers who dispute the IAU's decision will meet at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in August to debate the Pluto controversy.
But the downgrading of Pluto has repercussions in astrology as well as astronomy.
Today our solar system has only eight planets. From the top, they are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto is now classified as a plutoid, a newly created class of celestial body. |
Scientifically, Pluto has no influence on the Earth, but its status is important for horoscopes, as most astrology systems base their predictions on the Solar System having a sun, nine planets and their moons. Does reducing the number of planets to eight cause a problem for astrological predictions?
In Thailand, astrology is taken seriously, particularly among certain politicians and high-ranking officials.
Many top politicians are said to seek advice from astrologers before making any significant political decisions. Even the Council for National Security (CNS) reportedly consulted an astrologer in Chiang Mai before staging the Sept 19, 2006, coup.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who was ousted by the CNS, is a big proponent of astrology and, in his latest remark, said that the heavens have dictated the current political turmoil would be eased after July 2.
But leading astrologer Mor Luck disagrees, saying July 2 will be the worst day for the country and violence is likely to take place on July 6.
Pluto is essential to Thai astrology, in which it is called "Dow Yom", or the star of the Supreme Being of the Nether World.
However, Thailand's noted astronomer Sitthichai Chantharasilapin says there are a number of Pluto-like objects travelling highly elliptical orbits around the Sun in the outer reaches of the Solar System, and these are likely to soon be classified as plutoids as well. At present, there are only two plutoids, the other being Eris, which was discovered in 2005.
Given that Pluto is smaller than the Earth's moon and takes 248 years to complete a single orbit of the Sun, its downgrading should not be of great concern to astronomers, says Mr Sittichai.
Phinyo Phongcharoen, head of the International Astrologers Association of Thailand, says the rebranding of Pluto will by no means affect the arcane formulae of calculated predictions by astrologers and fortune-tellers based on the movements of celestial bodies.
Whatever its official status, Pluto is always in the far reaches of the solar system, unchanged in nature and substance, the Thai astrologer concludes.
Also, Pluto is rarely considered in the astrological forecasting of the fortunes of a place or of individuals.
To predict a nation's future or a politician's ups and downs, mainstream astrologers tend to look no further than the span of Mercury to Uranus, the association head says.
So, for a body so small, so far away and which has little or no impact on the Earth either astronomically nor astrologically, Pluto certainly is attracting a lot of attention.
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