Transits Pluto

Looking at that chart, I would have noticed that Saturn, the planet of lessons, was transiting back and forth over her Sun (and had twice made an exact conjunction with it earlier that year) that Uranus and Neptune, traveling in tandem in the ninth house, were conjunct her Saturn and opposed to her natal Pluto and that transiting Pluto had been dueling with her Ascendant for about a year and was approaching an exact opposition. 

In this chapter, I focus on the slower-moving planets, beginning with Mars and ending with Pluto. I consider the conjunctions and oppositions that those planets make to your natal chart. And I try, as best I can, to highlight the possibilities that they open up for you. Transits don t change your natal chart. 

To identify the transits in effect now, turn to the Appendix at the back of this book and look up the current position of the planets. The planetary tables in the Appendix tell you what sign each planet is in. Jot down the positions of the planets from Mars to Pluto. Then make a copy of your birth chart and position the transiting planets around it. As models, look at Figures 16-2 and 16-3, which present Anne Morrow Lindbergh s chart. In each case, the inner wheel represents the birth chart, and the outer wheel shows the location of the transiting planets. 

Here s the rule The transits that pack the biggest wallop are those made by the slowest planets — Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto — to the Sun, the Moon, the Ascendant, and the faster planets. Contacts made by the faster planets are usually short-lived. Contacts made by the slower planets to the slower planets (such as Uranus opposite your Pluto or Neptune conjunct your Saturn) may be too subtle to detect (unless the natal planet happens to occupy a prominent position in your chart). But contacts made by a slow planet to one of your personal planets — Pluto conjunct your Moon, Uranus opposite your Sun, and so on — signify the chapters of your life. 

In 2006, astronomers reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. This may make a difference to astrophysicists (though I can t see why it should). Astrologers essentially don t care. In our interpretation of the universe, Pluto is associated with power, regeneration, and the underworld of the psyche — a place where alchemy is the operative metaphor and size is deeply, truly meaningless. Plutonian transits, which last for two or three years, coincide with periods of profound change. 

Pluto opposite Neptune Unless you re well over 100 years old, this transit isn t one you have to worry about. 

Pluto brings disintegration, regeneration, and metamorphosis. External conflicts with power and internal rumbles within the psyche characterize these transformative transits. 

Observing all of this, I might have uttered cheerful words about transformation (Pluto) and responsibility (Saturn). I certainly would have told her that Saturn transiting through the tenth house often correlates with professional success. But secretly, I would have been worried. Like a lot of people, I find it... 

Element 94 was named plutonium after the planet discovered last, Pluto. In 1941, the first 0.5 /rg of the fissionable isotope Pu were produced by irradiating 1.2 kg of uranyl nitrate with cyclotron-generated neutrons. In 1948, trace amounts of Pu were found in nature, formed by neutron capture in uranium. In chemical studies, plutonium was shown to have properties similar to uranium and not to osmium as suggested earlier. The actinide concept advanced by G. T. Seaborg, to consider the actinide elements as a second / transition series analogous to the lanthanides, systematized the chemistry of the transuranium elements and facilitated the search for heavier actinide elements. The actinide elements americium (95) through fermium (100) were produced first either via neutron or helium-ion bombardments of actinide targets in the years between 1944 and 1955. 

Spectroscopic evidence collected from Pluto before the discovery of Charon is in general applicable to both bodies. For example, the first near infrared multispectral radiometry of Pluto (and Charon) showed the signature of methane. At this time, Pluto was close to perihelion (Cmikshank et al., 1976). After the discovery of Charon, it became pmdent to take advantage of the transit and occultation of Charon mentioned above to separate the spectra of both objects. Near infrared spectra were taken first with both bodies in the field of view and then at a time when Pluto occulted Charon completely. In the latter case, only Pluto contributed to the signal, while the difference spectmm (both objects minus Pluto only), was then due... 

Such a process can be also found on the dwarf planet Pluto. Infrared measurements made with the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii have shown that Pluto has about 10 degrees lower surface temperature than its satellite Charon. Sunlight causes the nitrogen ice on the surface of Pluto to sublimate (phase transition from frozen to gas) which causes a cooling. 

K-band spectra of Triton and Pluto reveal a series of absorption features attributable to ices of N2, CH4, CO and CO2 (Owen et oZ. 1993, CruikshaiLk et al. 1993). Studying these frozen sinfaces is important because they represent a transitional stage between the dust and gas in interstellar clouds and planets and satellites. CO and CO2 on the surface of Triton, and N2 and CO on Pluto (which does not have any CO2) Rtc all new discoveries in the C6S4 spectra. 

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