What's Out There? Part IClass 2

Before we start today's lesson, let's first take a short quiz on the material presented in the last lesson to see if you remember the ideas and concepts that were presented.

A score of 70% or better means that you understand the material and are ready to proceed with this lesson.

Today we will learn:1. A little astronomy.2. What the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars look like from the viewpoint of a person on earth 3. All planets rise and set, in similar fashion to the Sun.4. An astronomical view of the astrological houses.

As we discussed in the previous class, astrology is a correlation of celestial events with behavior on earth. Here is a listing of some of the kinds of things that can be correlated:

Celestial phenomenon Behavior or Characteristics on earth1. A planet is forming a particular 1. A person wins the lottery. angle with another planet. 2. A dog is hit by a car.2. A planet is in a section of the 3. A person loses their keys. sky known as a zodiac sign. 4. It is a rainy day.3. A planet is in a section of the 5. An earthquake occurs. sky known as a house. 6. Jim and Sally get married.4. One planet is halfway between two other planets.

As you can see from the above list, the behavior on earth does not necessarily need to be human behavior. Behavior of any animal, and even behavior of inanimate things, such as geological events and weather conditions are analyzed in astrology.

We are familiar with the behaviors on earth. We all know what a rainy day is or what an earthquake is. However, we may not be as familiar with the other side of the correlation: how celestial bodies move in the sky and what celestial phenomena are important to astrologers.

SOME BASIC ASTRONOMY

As we all know from elementary and high school, we live on a planet called Earth, which is revolving around a star called the Sun, and the Earth is the third planet from the Sun. [Click here to see a diagram of our solar system]

This is how our earth looks if we were in a space ship or floating around in outer space looking at our planet from a distance. But how do the planets look from our point of view? Your point of view can dramatically change how something appears. For example, if you are standing on railroad tracks and a train is approaching, you can see only the front of the train and the train appears to get larger and larger as it approaches, but viewed from a distance you can see the entire train, and you can clearly see how fast it is moving.

Interestingly, many of us have a better understanding of how planets look from the point of view of a spaceship in outer space, even though we have never been in a spaceship, than we do of how the

planets move in the sky from our position on Earth!

There is one celestial body that all of us are very familiar with: the Sun! We all know that it rises in the East and sets in the West and it takes about 24 hours for the Sun to make its journey around the Earth. We also know (if we haven't forgotten everything we learned in elementary school and high school!) that the daily movement of the Sun across the sky is actually caused by the Earth spinning on its axis every 24 hours. We are all victims of a massive optical illusion! The Sun appears to be revolving around us, but in fact we on Earth are revolving around the Sun, and the Sun's movement around the sky is caused by the earth rotating on its axis.

Most astrology is based on how the planets appear from our point of view on earth (geocentric perspective) rather than from the point of view of someone in a space ship above earth or from the point of view of the Sun (heliocentric perspective).

All of us are familiar with the daily movement of the Sun but are you familiar with the movement of the other planets? Test your knowledge by reading the following questions and then clicking on the "Answer" button to see if you know the answers to these questions. It is best to answer each question before reading the next question.

QUIZ ON BASIC ASTRONOMY