I was idly purusing one of my favourite sites

http://www.karmastrology.com/NewPlanets/index.shtml

reading the opening essay which always brings a smile to my face (except for the bit about astronomy being "ego-driven for career advancement", a somewhat ironic claim from an astrologer with a presumably highly profitable practice, and even more ironic when you realise that what it's saying is that Mike Brown, David Jewitt, Jane Luu et al. are prophets- I've been pondering whether to email this page to Mike Brown with the caption, "Did you know you were a prophet?" but I think he might be offended, nice guy though he is), when it suddenly occurred to me, if astrologers are so interested in finding these new planets, why don't they build their own observatories and go looking for them? I mean seriously, it's not like astrology isn't profitable; it's certainly more profitable than astronomy, so why not put some of that money into the furtherance of their profession? For years people have been complaining that the private sector should be put in charge of space exploration, well, here's a great first step. It's not an idea without precedent. The Kuiper belt was discovered, after all, by a telescope built with the private funds of a guy who wanted to talk to Martians. We could even open it up to competition: the first astrologer who discovers a new dwarf planet gets a monopoly on its use in horoscopes for a period of 99 years, along with complete control over the determination of its metaphysical influences. It could do wonders for outer solar system discovery.

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I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

The stars are not favorable for such an undertaking at this time. It is, however, a good time for romance. Build your relationships. Meet someone new.

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Some days I forget how much fun BAUT can be. Then I chance upon threads like this and my heart is filled with joy.

Well done you guys!

Great advice for Cancers, but what about Gemini?

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PW -- Plant Whisperer

head nearly blew-up when saw thread title.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Because it would mean that they had to actually learn how to work a telescope rather than just being able to look at pretty pictures that actual astronomers make available and making stuff up as they go along?

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Girl: Mister Darwin! The stupid people are breeding and taking over the planet!
Charles Darwin: Tut tut, little girl, don't worry! I'll take care of them with my CHAINSAW OF NATURAL SELECTION! Ahahahahahhaha!!!!!!
-QUeen of Wands 12/08/2003

There you go. If astrologers want to be taken seriously, they should get back into the game. They shouldn't just let astronomers do all the work and get all the credit!

On a related subject, I wonder how long it will be before DuPont starts hiring alchemists again?

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Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

First they use charts and tables which can they can get anywhere (some do not go that far).
Second I doubt can even find the major constellations let alone the planets.
The people who look at the pretty pictures and make stuff up as they go along are down in the atm area.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

Plus I doubt if the could find an asteroid with both hands.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

They probably have plenty of those that they can feel, due to sitting on their duffs all the time making up their Spirograph charts.

Oh wait, ahem, you wrote "asteroids".

Sorry.

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ROFL Mak.
(hands Serenitude some paper towel and window cleaner)

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

You have to consider that finding planets is difficult. You have to go through many many stars and observe them looking for telltale wobbles or changes in brightness and then confirm this with additional observations before you can conclude it is a planet.

And then trying to figure out the potential size of the planet and whether or not you may be able to gain some spectroscopic data is even more difficult.


But on the other hand, it's easy to pull something like "Today is a three star day. Take care of your finances and look for the old friend who's been on your mind" out of your @$$.

Hell, I could pull nonsense out all day. I'd like to see an astronomer find planets at the rate I can make stuff up!

I meant planets in our own solar system that are soooo important to their readings.

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If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.
Contact Carl Sagan

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I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

Their telescope is already under constant use by astronomers. Which is a shame, because twins could make Hawaii that much more fun.

The good news is that astrologer observatories could be built underground without any loss of their predictive power.

From the link
So ease up guys, they are very busy.

On a somewhat serious note (also from the website)
Those "new" planets weren't just invented or created, they have been there for about 4 billion years. So how come they haven't influenced humans all along? Do these astrologers believe that you have to observe something before it has an effect on you? If we don't look for Near-Earth-Objects (for example) they can't harm us until we actually find them?

Or is it that there astrological predictions have been garbage up to now, because they didn't have all the information from all the planets, but once we identify ALL of them, and the astrologers sort out "the meaning" of each, then their predictions will be perfect.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

How would this monopoly be enforced?

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Fiction has to be plausible. Reality is under no such constraint.

Because they would have to spend their own hardly-earned -- ahem, I mean hard-earned money to build them, instead of sponging off the work of others.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
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Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort