ASTRONOMY RELEVANT TO ASTROLOGY (A R T A)

TOPIC – 2

SOLAR SYSTEM.

Milky way is one of the many Galaxy in the Universe. It is referred as SOURA VYUHA
in our Jyotisha.

The Solar system consists of Stars, Planets and Satellites. (Nakshatra, Graha,
Upagraha)

Stars are Self-Luminous bodies which radiate light and heat. Sun is also a star. A
group of Stars is called constellation.

Planets – Other than the stars, Sun and Moon there are other heavenly bodies which
are visible to the Naked eye and moving around the Sun. As their motion is different
for each planet they are called PLANETS or MOVING STARS. Fixed stars twinkle
while planets shine with steady light. The planets which can be seen by naked eye are
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus and Neptune can be seen through
Telescopes.
In Jyotisha even Sun and Moon are considered as Planets and thus we have 7 planets
and 2 mathematical points thus making a total of NINE PLANETS.

Satellites - The Heavenly bodies which move around the planets and in turn move
around the Sun along with the planets are termed satellites. They are also called
Moon of the particular planet.

Our Solar system is centered round the Sun and all other planets are moving in
elliptical orbit around the Sun. There are 8 planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. We are living on Earth. With the Invention of
telescope several other Large and Small planets are seen or identified

The names of the Planets in their order of distance from Sun are

Mercury
Venus INNER PLANETS or INFERIOR PLANETS
(EARTH)

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 Mars OUTER PLANETS or
Asteroids SUPERIOR PLANETS.
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus (Herschel)
Neptune
The Planets whose orbits are between Sun and the orbit of Earth are called INNER or
INTERIOR PLANETS. - Mercury & Venus.
The Planets whose orbits are outside the orbit of Earth are called OUTER or SUPERIOR
PLANETS - Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune.

Mean distance from Sun

Sidereal Mean Mean daily
Period Synodic motion
Astronomical
(Days) Period (d m s) Miles
Unit
Moon 27.3216 29.531 13-10-35 0.00257
Mercury 87.9692 115.878 04-05-32 0.38710 36000000
Venus 224.70080 583.921 01-36-07 0.72333 67200000
Earth 365.25636 ----------- 00-59-08 1.00000 93000000
Mars 686.9798 770.936 00-31-26 1.52369 141600000
(1.9 yrs)
Jupiter 4332.589 398.84 00-04-59 5.20280 483600000
(11.80 yrs)
Saturn 10759.23 378.092 0-02-01 9.53884 886700000
(29.46 yrs)
Rahu 693.470 340.620 ------- ------ -----
(18.60 yrs)

EARTH –

Earth is the 3rd planet in order of the distance from Sun. The orbit of the Earth is not a
perfect circle but an ecliptical one. Sun is at one of its foci.

The Minimum distance - when earth is nearer to the Sun – PERIHELION

Is 91,400.000 miles.
The Maximum distance – when earth is farthest to Sun - APHELION
Is 94.600,000 miles.
Its MASS is about 6 X 10 (21 times). Consists of 77.6 % Nitrogen and 20.70 % Oxygen.

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Earth is not a perfect sphere but an oblate spheroid.
Its diameter is 7926 miles at the Equator and 7900 miles across the poles.
Earth completes its one revolution around the Sun in 365 ¼ days.
The Earth is rotating around its axis from West to East and it causes the formation of
day and night. The rotating axis of the Earth is perpendicular to its Equator.

THE MOON

Moon is the Earth’s only satellite. Moon is the most important planet to us after the
Sun. It takes about 27 days 7 hours and 43 minutes i.e., 27.3217 days to complete one
revolution. This is the sidereal period.
The Synodic month is from one Amavasya to another Amavasya and is 29.5305887
solar days. This is because Sun also moves by 1 degree everyday and 1 sign in a
month. Moon has to catch up with the Sun to have the next Amavasya.(conjunction)
The mean distance of the Moon from Earth is 238,000 miles. Due to the elliptic orbit
the PERIGEE will be 221,460 miles and APOGEE will be 252,700 miles.

Moon is the only satellite of Earth. It is the most important Graha (Planet) after Sun.
In PURUSHA SOOKTA a reference is made –
CHANDRAMA MANASO JAATA CHAKSHO SOORYA AJAAYATA.

meaning Moon symbolizes mind and Sun symbolizes eyes.

The Moon’s orbit is inclined to the ecliptic by a maximum of 5 degrees 15 minutes on
either side of the ecliptic. Moon does not rotate on its axis as such the same side
(face) of the Moon is visible to Earth. Moon reflects the light received by Sun, As Moon
revolves around the Earth and Earth revolves around the Sun, thus Moon also revolves
around Sun. Due to this the Moon is viewed in different sizes everyday and this
phenomenon is called as PHASES OF THE MOON.

PHASES OF THE MOON.

As told above Moon has no light of its own and it reflects the light recvied by
Sun. Moon revolves round the Earth and its path is inclined by 5 degrees
approximately to the ecliptic orbit. It is because of this reason that Eclipses do not
occur on every Amavasya (New Moon) or Pournima (Full Moon)

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In the figure above Earth is shown in the centre and 8 different positions of the Moon
are shown. The Sun light is coming from the Left hand side which is depicted by many
rays of light (arrows).

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At Position-1 Moon is in straight line to Sun and Earth. The illuminated portion of the
Moon is towards Earth, and this portion of the Moon is fully illuminated. As such the
illuminated hemispherical portion of the Moon is seen from Earth. This position is
POURNIMA (FULL MOON)

At positions – 2 & 8 about three-fourths of the disc of the Moon receives Sun light and
the visible portion of the Moon from the earth will be three-fourths.
At positions 3 & 7 only half the hemisphere of the Moon is illuminated by Sun light and
hence only half of the Moon hemisphere is visible from Earth.
At positions 4 & 6 about one-fourth of the disc of the Moon receives Sun light and the
visible portion on the Moon from the earth will be one-fourth.
At position 5 the portion of the Moon which is facing Earth does not receive Sun light
hence Moon is not visible from Earth at this position. This phenomenon is called as
Amavasya (New Moon).

NODES OF THE MOON.

We have seen above that the axis of the Moon is inclined to a maximum extent of 5
degrees with respect to the celestial axis. Due to this the Moon’s axis cuts the
celestial axis at TWO points. The point of intersection at the Northern point is called
the North Node and the point of intersection at the Southern point is called South
Node.

In Vedic Jyotisha North Node is called as RAHU and South Node is called as KETU.

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