Moon’s transit through the Zodiac
The Sea Ranch, CA is a nice place for celestial observation as the sky is very dark. Apart from observing deep-sky objects, it is nice to observe the Moon’s movement in the Zodiac near the 27 stars mentioned in the almanacs.
It may help to keep in mind the following facts about the ecliptic, orbit of the Moon and Zodiac.
Moon’s Orbit is inclined about 5 degrees to the ecliptic.
The Zodiac is a patch of 8 degrees about the ecliptic, where the planets move relative to the fixed stars.
The Moon takes about one month to orbit the Earth (27.3 days to complete a revolution, but 29.5 days to change from New Moon to New Moon).
As the Moon completes each 27.3-day orbit around the Earth both Earth and Moon are moving around the Sun.
The Zodiac is divided into 108 segments, each of 3 degrees, 20 mins.
The motion of the Moon is described as close to 27 stars, some of which are bright. Twelve signs of the Zodiac, each sign measures 30 degrees and is made of 9 segments.
Now coming to Moon’s motion in May 2022, from NASA’s guide,
May 9-10, the waxing Moon is 5 degrees above Regulus.
May 13-14, the Moon and Spica appear about 5 degrees apart.
May15-16, Total Lunar Eclipse
May16-17, the bright star Antares appears about 3 degrees to the lower right of the Full Moon.
It is interesting to note that on the 14th, the Moon and bright star are far apart, though the almanac (ephemeris) says it is near Arcturus. It is possible in older times the 27 stars were close to the Zodiac and the faint stars were also observable with the naked eye. One must keep in mind the range allotted to a given star is 13 deg, 20 min.
This is divided into 4 segments each (called a pada) in Vedic Astrology.
It is possible Arcturus is at a distance near 13 deg 26 min from the Moon, so the Moon is being mentioned as being close to the star.
It is possible the Moon passed through the four segments related to a star during the time (24 hours) allotted to it.
The Moon’s diameter is about 30 min of the arc.
This information is of importance for casting a horoscope in Vedic Astrology and probably in other Ancient Systems.
It is to be noted that there are instruments to measure the angular separation between stars and the Moon.
NightSkyInSanskrit 