Astromaze News: Zodiac profiles and Astrologio e-book series

All of the Zodiac profiles will be complete by the beginning of July, so stay tuned to read up a lot on your Sun sign or your favorite Zodiac personality.

Astromaze will also be releasing a fun e-book series to read for anyone interested in astrology. It can also be used to educate yourself about astrology or to get introduced to it. We will be releasing several series of the e-book to buy for a low price, but will also have the entire e-book available for purchase as well. Stay tuned! Check back by mid-June!

We currently have Aries, Taurus, and Leo zodiac profiles but will be updating them and adding all of them consistently so stay tuned. If you have ANY suggestions whatsoever you can always contact me via my e-mail: dev@astromaze.com.

We also plan to release reports on long term planetary transits that affect the entire globe astrologically speaking, and Moon reports, as well as other reports. These you will be able to print out, in color and keep for your personal astrological use. If we get enough interested e-mails it would speed up the process as well, so if you're genuinely interested in seeing what Astromaze has in store, contact us via our form or e-mail me.

Future Retrograde and Direct Planetary Stations in 2009

June 15, 2009 — October 13, 2009 — Jupiter turns retrograde (27 Aquarius 01)
When the big planet of Jupiter turns retrograde, it is time to evaluate how our mind works and what philosophy we follow day to day. What Jupiter represents is reversed thus helping us focus on ourselves and our inner-thoughts and inner-awareness. Whatever opportunities arise at this time, will be as a result of something you did in the past, or because of a foundation created in the past. Be wary and cautious when Jupiter's retrograde is affecting your natal planets.

July 1, 2009 — December 1, 2009 — Uranus turns retrograde (26 Pisces 37)
When Uranus turns retrograde in July, it's effect seems to be more direct and potent. This time favors activities that require intuitive or inventive energy. It also favors psychological counseling/therapy, especially if there is a feeling of disconnection with the world around you. During this time, some people tend to question nearly everything or anything.

September 7, 2009 — Mercury turns retrograde (06 Libra 13)
September 11, 2009 — Pluto turns direct (00 Capricorn 39)
September 29, 2009 — Mercury turns direct (21 Virgo 36)
October 13, 2009 — Jupiter turns direct (17 Aquarius 09)
November 4, 2009 — Neptune turns direct (23 Aquarius41)
December 1, 2009 — Uranus turns direct (22 Pisces 42)
December 20, 2009 — Mars turns retrograde (19 Leo 41)
December 26, 2009 — Mercury turns retrograde (21 Capricorn 47)

Red giant star Betelgeuse getting ready to explode?

Long-term monitoring by UC Berkeley's Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) on the top of Mt. Wilson in Southern California shows that Betelgeuse (bet' el juz), which is so big that in our solar system it would reach to the orbit of Jupiter, has shrunk in diameter by more than 15 percent since 1993.

"To see this change is very striking," said Charles Townes, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of physics who won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the laser and the maser, a microwave laser. "We will be watching it carefully over the next few years to see if it will keep contracting or will go back up in size."

"But we do not know why the star is shrinking," Wishnow said. "Considering all that we know about galaxies and the distant universe, there are still lots of things we don't know about stars, including what happens as red giants near the ends of their lives."

Some very amazing clouds are appearing throughout the world

These are simply amazing. It would be interesting to find out if there are more of these clouds elsewhere.

Whipped into fantastical shapes, these clouds hang over the darkening landscape like the harbingers of a mighty storm. But despite their stunning and frequent appearances, the formations have yet to be officially recognised with a name. They have been seen all over Britain in different forms - from Snowdonia to the Scottish Highlands - and in other parts of the world such as New Zealand, but usually break up without producing a storm.

Nobody apparently knows yet what is causing them to appear this way. But they sure are beautiful. This planet really is something amazing, no doubt about it.

The Sun is apparently getting more active for a change

The sun kicked up a whopping storm Tuesday and more yesterday, as seen by the orbiting STEREO-B spacecraft. The activity is hidden from our terrestrial view, so scientists are eager for a better look. They think two sunspot regions are involved.

Today astronomers are waiting to see if a sunspot rotates into view, as expected. Sunspots are dark regions where strong magnetic activity puts a lid on the release of energy below. When it blows, it's like the cork popping off a champagne bottle, and a solar flare and space storm of charged particles is produced.

NASA Searches for Solar System's Lost Planet

The solar system might once have had another planet named Theia, which may have helped create our own planet's moon. Theia is thought to have been about Mars-sized. If the planet crashed into Earth long ago, debris from the collision could have clumped together to form the moon. Many scientists figure that indeed some large object crashed into Earth, and the resulting debris coalesced to form the moon. It is unclear though if that colliding object was a planet, asteroid or comet.

An even deeper solar minimum?

Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days (87%). It adds up to one inescapable conclusion: "We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Quadruple Saturn moon transit snapped by the Hubble telescope

These rare moon transits only happen when the tilt of Saturn's ring plane is nearly "edge on" as seen from Earth. Saturn's rings will be perfectly edge on to our line of sight August 10 and September 4, 2009. Unfortunately, Saturn will be too close to the Sun to be seen by viewers on Earth at that time. This "ring plane crossing" occurs every 14-15 years. In 1995-96, Hubble witnessed the ring plane crossing event, as well as many moon transits and even helped discover several new moons of Saturn.

Ancient Language of Universal Symbols Discovered

This strange collection of symbols was first examined by Dr. James Harris, a petroglyph expert and archaeologist from Brigham Young University. He identified the alphabet as being a proto-Canaanite system, which successfully translated by using old-Hebrew or Thalmudic phonetic sounds.

Strangely, both the writing in Colorado and Yemen spoke of a similar event, possibly related to the Sun, which was prophesied to change human civilization. Subsequent translations of sites in Oklahoma, Australia and South America have added more details about this future event.

NASA launches the Kepler spacecraft, a mission to search for Earth-like planets.

The observatory was launched on March 7, 2009 at 3:49:57 UTC (10:49:57 pm EST time on March 6) aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch was a complete success and all 3 stages were successfully completed by 4:55am UTC.