Planet 9: Is there a Starman Waiting in the Sky – or Not?

Caltech Scientist Mike Brown – the discoverer of many of our new exo-planets which have expanded our cosmological landscape, and more controversially for demoting Pluto to dwarf planet status, announced this week the discover of a possible ninth planet  orbiting in the far reaches of space. This planet which the researchers have nicknamed Planet 9 bur many are referring to as Starman in honour of David Bowie, is through to have a mass twenty time that of Earth and is so far away it would take between 10,000 and 20,000 years to orbit the Sun.

Of course, some scientist are sceptical as are some astrologers who would treat any news of this nature broadcast during a Mercury retrograde with caution. NASA issued a statement saying that while this was the start of ‘a process that could lead to an exciting result’; it was ‘too early to say with certainty that there’s a Planet X out there’. Of course, this did not stop conspiracy theorists saying that this was the discovery of the long-speculated doomsday planet Nibiru which is supposed to wander into Earth’s orbit one day in total disregard for gravity and the physics of motion and wipe us all out. But let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story. But the facts at the moment are that as Mike Brown and his team have themselves pointed out, their paper is actually entitled ‘Evidence for a Distant Giant Planet in the Solar System; and that until a telescope spots it, it remains unsubstantiated evidence.

Supposing Starman, Planet 9 or whatever we end up calling it does exist? From an astrological perspective, how will it affect us? Well, for one thing we have to first look at the time the planet takes to orbit the Sun – the calculation at the moment is between 10 – 20,000 years. So, this planet in our charts would be very similar to a fixed star as we could say it would not move much during our lifetime. Then there would be the things or the issue the planet rules. When a new planet is discovered, it always coincides with a big leap forward in our understanding of how our world works, our conscious minds and how the universe works too. If the planet is found then we have to look at what is happening and emerging around the time of the discovery to start to understand its energy and what may come under its rulership. The fact that it is located so far from Earth yet would still be part of our solar system suggests to that this planet may be acting as a ‘bridge’ between our solar system and the wider universe.

Of course, all this is speculation and we have to wait and see when and if a telescope discovers this far off but large body out there in the far reaches of space. If it is there, we can be assured it will eventually be found – the question now is – when.

To astrologers, the solar system never stopped having nine planets as anyone who has experienced a Pluto transit will tell you he packs a planet-sized punch. So, from an astrological perspective we could end up with 10 major ones. However, to quote Mike Brown: “All those people who are mad that Pluto is no longer a planet can be thrilled to know that there is a real planet out there still to be found,” he says. “Now we can go and find this planet and make the solar system have nine planets once again.”