There are a great many Centaurs to explore, and each one is being studied by astrologers worldwide. But with so many bodies, what relationship do they have to each other? Are there some Centaurs that work in partnership with others? Are there different classes of Centaurs? And are Centaurs with similar orbital characteristics somehow similar in astrological meaning?And what about Centaurs that share some elements with other bodies in our solar system....do they have anything in common astrologically?
On this page are several tables, each one grouping the Centaurs by a particular characteristic. In the tables, I have also included Planets, Dwarf Planets, Plutino's, Damocloids, Cubewanos, Scattered Disk Objects, and other bodies out past Neptune/Pluto. I've even included Halley's Comet! Do Centaurs who share orbital traits with one of these bodies also share astrological traits?
Look over each list. Does something jump out at you? Does your intuition reveal something hidden there? Or do you have a suggestion for an additional table to add to this page? If so, by all means drop me a line! Mr.Chiron@zanestein.com
PERIHELION: the closest a body gets to the Sun. Perhaps at this point the body's influence is the strongest, or most concentrated? Or perhaps, the most subjective or personal? Distances are measured in AU's (Astronomical Units - One AU is equal to the average distance between the Sun and Earth or about 93 million miles.)
APHELION:the furthest a body gets from the Sun. Is its influence weakest here? Or perhaps, most objective, or most oriented toward the universal? (Distance measured in AU's, just as Perihelia.)
INCLINATION:The inclination of a planet's orbit is the angle between the plane of its orbit and the ecliptic. At first I thought this could describe how far a body's influence varies from the status quo, until I saw that Uranus, planet of the unconventional, has a very low inclination...much lower than Saturn's. Juan Revilla asks: "How much "skewed" is the orbit's perspective?" Does it mean anything that Chiron's inclination is virtually the same as that of Mercury? What does it mean for Pholus that it is one of the steepest inclinations among the Centaurs?
ECCENTRICITY: (e) is a number which measures how elliptical orbits are. If e=0, the orbit is a circle. Venus, the planet of peace and harmony, has the least eccentric, most circular orbit of any of these bodies. Pluto, ruling death and transformation, is the most eccentric of the planets, but there are many bodies with even greater eccentricity. Could eccentricity relate to change? To going outside of the familiar? If so, it would explain why Chiron's orbit is so eccentric. Imagine what this might mean for one of the most eccentric bodies discovered so far, Sedna!
ORBITAL PERIOD: As astrologers, we are used to discovering meanings in recurring cycles. Saturn returns, for example, are a staple in the astrologer's toolbox. Do Centaurs with orbits of similar length have similar properties? Do Aphidas (121725), Asbolus (8405) and Halley's Comet have a connection, since the length of one orbit is approximately the same?
ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDES:It is very difficult to verify the actual size of the Centaurs, and other bodies far from us. One method to get a very rough estimate utilizes something called Absolute Magnitude. This is the amount of visual magnitude an observer would record if the body were placed 1 Astronomical Unit (AU) away, and 1 AU from the Sun and at a zero phase angle. (In other words, just how bright would the body be to you if it were 1 AU from the Sun AND so was that body.) (The absolute magnitude, combined with something called Albedo (The ratio of the light reflected by a body to the light received by it) can be used to give a quite accurate estimate of a body's diameter. However, albedo's for Centaurs are very difficult to arrive at.)
In any event, this is one measure of a Centaur's brightness. Do Asbolus, Thereus and Crantor have anything in common because their Absolute Magnitudes are almost identical?
SUN SIGN AT DISCOVERY: The charts for the discovery of a planet have proven quite revealing. The Sun, being the most important part of any chart, tells us a lot about the focus of the newly found body. What does it tell us that 9 Centaurs were discovered with the Sun in Aquarius, the sign Pluto was in when discovered? And is #44594 (1999 OX3) unique in some way because it was the only one discovered when the Sun was in Cancer?