Wednesday, 28 September 2005

(10199) Chariklo, flowing with life (zen)

(10199) Chariklo is a centaur (Saturn-Uranus) discovered in February of 1997. There are prediscovery images back to January of 1996, December of 1995, October of 1989 and November of 1988. It was oficially named in September of 1999.

It reached the perihelion in February of 2004 (also in March of 1941). It reached the aphelion in August of 1972 (also in September of 1909).

The orbit is between Saturn ans Uranus. It has a perihelion of 13.09 AU and an aphelion of 18.54 AU. The semimajor axis is at 15.82 AU. It has an orbital period of 62 years and 340 days. It has an inclination of 23.4º ((bi)untrigintile@23º14', 0º09' orb; quincile 24º, 0º37' orb). It has a diameter of 260 km.


Orbital resonance:
4:3 with Uranus (99.9)
21:8 with Neptune (99.8)



Greek mythology

Athenea was bathing in a spring with the nymph Chariklo, who was a particular friend of hers. When the young Teiresias (son of Chariklo), who was hunting on the mountain with his dogs, happened to come to the spring to quench his thirst, he accidentally saw Athenea naked. She blinded him right away (because of the divine law: if a mortal sees a immortal naked with out his agreement, he will be deprived of his eyesight forever). Chariklo cried out in reproach and distress. When she asked her to restore his sight, she was unable to do so, but compensated him instead by enabling him to understand the language of birds.

(10199) Chariklo walks the path of zen: accepts and interacts with everything that appears, adapting and flowing with life, like in "The Alchemist", an allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988; or in the movie "Titanic" (1997).


The innocence that comes from a deep experience of life is childlike, but not childish. The innocence of children is beautiful, but ignorant. It will be replaced by mistrust and doubt as the child grows and learns that the world can be a dangerous and threatening place. But the innocence of a life lived fully has a quality of wisdom and acceptance of the ever-changing wonder of life. (Osho-Zen Tarot, 1994)

Paulo Coelho, author of the book "The Alchemist" (1988), has Chariklo in Scorpio (7th Moon-Node House) in conjunction with Jupiter; in binobile with Venus in Leo (10th Moon-Node House); and sextile with the Black Moon in Capricorn (5th Moon-Node House), which is in novile with the Moon.

Michael J. Fox, actor in the movies "Back to the Future" (1985, 1989, 1990), has Chariklo in Aquarius (7th Moon-Node House) in trine with the Crossing Point of Age Progressions (Signs Horoscope) in Gemini (3rd Moon-Node House), which is in conjunction with the Sun and in sextile with Mars in Leo (1st Moon-Node House).