Polidoro da Caravaggio -painting                                                   THE PLANET SATURN  - TAKEN BY CASSINI SATTELITE

Dee Finney's blog

start date July 20, 2011

today's date May 24, 2013

page 506

TOPIC:  THE SATURN - EARTH CONNECTION

5-12-13 There was a large, tall man standing at the corner of a large gold plated structure such as a rectangle or square that was almost as tall and just as wide, with a feature like balls in a cup in an even spaced grid system of design.

What comes to mind is a cycle of time such as the Golden Age, and the 'ball in the cup' is a design that even the aliens have presented in a crop circle.

Joe Mason explains that the 'Golden Age' is presided over by the God Saturn who was the Father of Jupiter, in the Roman mythology.

On 5-24-13 - Dr. Bill Deagle quoted Dr. James McCanney as saying that we are now in an Earth-Saturn electrical connection which is causing the bad weather we are having.

The 2006 Crop Circle Formations - Part Two

www.greatdreams.com/crop/2006ccs/2006ccs2.htm 

The half ring "cup" may represent the ancient "U" symbol of the abyss, a deep hole, or valley. .... T-Tau rising to stand in U-cup. --- ..... sperm circle ball in cup. --- ...

July 7, 2007 - Crop Circle - Eastfield, UK

www.greatdreams.com/crop/777/july_7_07-eastfield.htm   

Jul 7, 2007 ... The ball in the cup appeared in Germany in 1991 at Grasdorf. ... I noticed last year that the ancient "Om" symbol has a ball in the cup design: ...

Saturn (mythology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(mythology) - 

Saturn (Latin: Saturnus) was a god in ancient Roman religion and a character in myth. Saturn is a complex figure because of his multiple associations and long ...

All about Saturn, Roman god, sixth planet from the Sun | ...

www.wyzant.com/help/english/etymology/planets/saturn 

Saturn. Saturn, god of Harvest or Time of Reaping (sixth planet from the Sun). Saturn, Roman god of the harvest. Harvest time in ancient Italy belonged to the ...

Saturn - Encyclopedia Mythica

www.pantheon.org/articles/s/saturn.html -

Mar 3, 1997 ... The Roman god of agriculture concerned with the sowing of the seeds. ... Saturn. In memory of this Golden Age, each year the Saturnalia was ...

• Cronus or Saturn: God of Agriculture and Sky - InDepthInfo

  www.indepthinfo.com/greek-gods/cronus.htm 

   

  Cronus, known to the Romans as Saturn, was the Greek God of Agriculture and the sky.

• Saturn God of Time - Metasymbology

  www.metasymbology.com/saturn.html 

  Based upon the theory of the esoteric meanings of playing cards, Metasymbology uses Playing Cards as a calendar of earth and a map of the stars for prediction ...

• Saturn *** - Roman and Greek Gods and Goddesses

  www.talesbeyondbelief.com/roman-gods/saturn.htm 

  Visit the Ancient world of the Roman god Saturn (Saturnus). ... The legends and mythology about the Saturn the Roman god of time, harvest and agriculture.

   

• The Worship of Saturn - The Immanuel Velikovsky Archive

  www.varchive.org/itb/satwor.htm 

   

  Before Jupiter (Zeus) became the chief god, Saturn (Kronos) occupied the celestial throne. In all ancient religions the dominion passes from Saturn to Jupiter.

• The Mythology of Saturn - Tripod

  avalon100.tripod.com/Saturn.html 

  Astrological Saturn has always been associated with the letter of the law and Gnostics and Kabbalists have identified Saturn with the god of Early Scripture, ...

*********************

Beinsa Douno’s Last Prophecy of the Golden Age

Posted by Steve Beckow on May 24, 2013   /   

 

Ellie Miser sends along the last prophecy of Beinsa Douno (Peter Deunov), which is of interest if you remember that he died in 1944.

I’d imagine that many of the events he describes here have come about through such things as HAARP. But some of the events may also either be in our future or not be slated to happen at all because of the degree to which people have opened to the light. It isn’t necessary for Gaia, I believe, to go through many possible purification events if we divest ourselves of negativity willingly.

The Divine Fire that the White Brotherhood master refers to may be the Light that carries us to full restoration. It may be the Light from the Source that comes to us through the galactic Sun and our own local Sun, Sol. 

It isn’t literally a fire, I’m quite sure. So read with an eye to applying his words to the events that have actually occurred or will occur, but don’t draw what he says he through a filter of hellfire and catastrophe.

Beinsa Douno spoke about the New Age throughout most of his career as a prophet so this is not by a long shot the only piece he wrote about it.   For me, its chief significance lies in showing how many others saw clearly the events that were coming within a short time of when they wrote.

http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/peterr/ProphecyOfPeterDeunov.html

The last prophecy of Peter Deunov regarding the end of our civilization and the beginning of the Golden Age on earth. 

 

Also known under the spiritual name of Beinsa Douno, the Bulgarian Master Peter Deunov (1864-1944) was a being of a very high level of consciousness, at the same time an incomparable musician, that gave during his whole life an example of purity, wisdom, intelligence and creativity. For years he was established close to Sofia where he lived surrounded by numerous disciples, he, by his radiance awakened the spirituality of thousands of souls in Bulgaria as well as the rest of Europe.

Some days before his departure to the other world, he was in a profound mediumistic trance, he made an extraordinary prophecy in regards to our troubled epoch that we are crossing today, a prophecy about the “end of time” and the coming of a new Golden Age of humanity.

Here is this deeply moving testament. It is current and so vibrant that one doubts that these words were spoken almost 60 years ago.

~=~ -:- ~=~ -:- ~=~ -:- ~>>-<>~+~<>-<<~ -:- ~=~ -:- ~=~ -:- ~=~

“During the passage of time, the consciousness of man traversed a very long period of obscurity. This phase which the Hindus call “Kali Yuga”, is on the verge of ending. We find ourselves today at the frontier between two epochs: that of Kali Yuga and that of the New Era that we are entering.

A gradual improvement is already occurring in the thoughts, sentiments and acts of humans, but everybody will soon be subjugated to divine Fire, that will purify and prepare them in regards to the New Era. Thus man will raise himself to a superior degree of consciousness, indispensable to his entrance to the New Life. That is what one understands by “Ascension”.

Some decades will pass before this Fire will come, that will transform the world by bringing it a new moral. This immense wave comes from cosmic space and will inundate the entire earth. All those that attempt to oppose it will be carried off and transferred elsewhere.  Although the inhabitants of this planet do not all find themselves at the same degree of evolution, the new wave will be felt by each one of us. And this transformation will not only touch the Earth, but the ensemble of the entire Cosmos.

The best and only thing that man can do now is to turn towards God and improve himself consciously, to elevate his vibratory level, so as to find himself in harmony with the powerful wave that will soon submerge him.

The Fire of which I speak, that accompanies the new conditions offered to our planet, will rejuvenate, purify, reconstruct everything: the matter will be refined, your hearts will be liberated from anguish, troubles, incertitude, and they will become luminous; everything will be improved, elevated; the thoughts, sentiments and negative acts will be consumed and destroyed.

Your present life is a slavery, a heavy prison. Understand your situation and liberate yourself from it. I tell you this: exit from your prison! It is really sorry to see so much misleading, so much suffering, so much incapacity to understand where one’s true happiness lies.

Everything that is around you will soon collapse and disappear. Nothing will be left of this civilization nor its perversity; the entire earth will be shaken and no trace will be left of this erroneous culture that maintains men under the yoke of ignorance. Earthquakes are not only mechanical phenomena, their goal is also to awaken the intellect and the heart of humans, so that they liberate themselves from their errors and their follies and that they understand that they are not the only ones in the universe.

Our solar system is now traversing a region of the Cosmos where a constellation that was destroyed left its mark, its dust. This crossing of a contaminated space is a source of poisoning, not only for the inhabitants of the earth, but for all the inhabitants of the other planets of our galaxy. Only the suns are not affected by the influence of this hostile environment.

This region is called “the thirteenth zone”; one also calls it “the zone of contradictions”. Our planet was enclosed in this region for thousands of years, but finally we are approaching the exit of this space of darkness and we are on the point of attaining a more spiritual region, where more evolved beings live.
The earth is now following an ascending movement and everyone should force themselves to harmonize with the currents of the ascension. Those who refuse to subjugate themselves to this orientation will lose the advantage of good conditions that are offered in the future to elevate themselves. They will remain behind in evolution and must wait tens of millions of years for the coming of a new ascending wave.

The earth, the solar system, the universe, all are being put in a new direction under the impulsion of Love. Most of you still consider Love as a derisory force, but in reality, it is the greatest of all forces! Money and power continue to be venerated as if the course of your life depended upon it. In the future, all will be subjugated to Love and all will serve it. But it is through suffering and difficulties that the consciousness of man will be awakened.

The terrible predictions of the prophet Daniel written in the bible relate to the epoch that is opening. There will be floods, hurricanes, gigantic fires and earthquakes that will sweep away everything. Blood will flow in abundance. There will be revolutions; terrible explosions will resound in numerous regions of the earth. There where there is earth, water will come, and there where there is water, earth will come.

God is Love; yet we are dealing here with a chastisement, a reply by Nature against the crimes perpetrated by man since the night of time against his Mother; the Earth.

After these sufferings, those that will be saved, the elite, will know the Golden Age, harmony and unlimited beauty. Thus keep your peace and your faith when the time comes for suffering and terror, because it is written that not a hair will fall from the head of the just. Don’t be discouraged, simply follow your work of personal perfection.

You have no idea of the grandiose future that awaits you. A New Earth will soon see day. In a few decades the work will be less exacting, and each one will have the time to consecrate spiritual, intellectual and artistic activities. The question of rapport between man and woman will be finally resolved in harmony; each one having the possibility of following their aspirations. The relations of couples will be founded on reciprocal respect and esteem.
Humans will voyage through the different planes of space and breakthrough intergalactic space. They will study their functioning and will rapidly be able to know the Divine World, to fusion with the Head of the Universe.

The New Era is that of the sixth race. Your predestination is to prepare yourself for it, to welcome it and to live it. The sixth race will build itself around the idea of Fraternity. There will be no more conflicts of personal interests; the single aspiration of each one will be to conform himself to the Law of Love. The sixth race will be that of Love. A new continent will be formed for it. It will emerge from the Pacific, so that the Most High can finally establish His place on this planet.

The founders of this new civilization, I call them “Brothers of Humanity” or also “Children of Love” They will be unshakeable for the good and they will represent a new type of men. Men will form a family, as a large body, and each people will represent an organ in this body. In the new race, Love will manifest in such a perfect manner, that today’s man can only have a very vague idea.

The earth will remain a terrain favorable to struggle, but the forces of darkness will retreat and the earth will be liberated from them. Humans seeing that there is no other path will engage themselves to the path of the New Life, that of salvation. In their senseless pride, some will, to the end hope to continue on earth a life that the Divine Order condemns, but each one will finish by understanding that the direction of the world doesn’t belong to them.

A new culture will see the light of day, it will rest on three principal foundations: the elevation of woman, the elevation of the meek and humble, and the protection of the rights of man.

The light, the good, and justice will triumph; it is just a question of time. The religions should be purified. Each contains a particle of the Teaching of the Masters of Light, but obscured by the incessant supply of human deviation. All the believers will have to unite and to put themselves in agreement with one principal, that of placing Love as the base of all belief, whatever it may be. Love and Fraternity that is the common base!

The earth will soon be swept by extraordinary rapid waves of Cosmic Electricity. A few decades from now beings who are bad and lead others astray will not be able to support their intensity. They will thus be absorbed by Cosmic Fire that will consume the bad that they possess. Then they will repent because it is written that “each flesh shall glorify God”.  Our mother, the earth, will get rid of men that don’t accept the New Life. She will reject them like damaged fruit. They will soon not be able to reincarnate on this planet; criminals included. Only those that possess Love in them will remain.

There is not any place on earth that is not dirtied with human or animal blood; she must therefore submit to a purification. And it is for this that certain continents will be immersed while others will surface.

Men do not suspect to what dangers they are menaced by. They continue to pursue futile objectives and to seek pleasure. On the contrary those of the sixth race will be conscious of the dignity of their role and respectful of each one’s liberty. They will nourish themselves exclusively from products of the vegetal realm. Their ideas will have the power to circulate freely as the air and light of our days.

The words “If you are not born again.” apply to the sixth race. Read Chapter 60 of Isaiah it relates to the coming of the sixth race the Race of Love.
After the Tribulations, men will cease to sin and will find again the path of virtue. The climate of our planet will be moderated everywhere and brutal variations will no longer exist. The air will once again become pure, the same for water.

The parasites will disappear. Men will remember their previous incarnations and they will feel the pleasure of noticing that they are finally liberated from their previous condition.  In the same manner that one gets rid of the parasites and dead leaves on the vine, so act the evolved Beings to prepare men to serve the God of Love.

They give to them good conditions to grow and to develop themselves, and to those that want to listen to them, they say: “Do not be afraid! Still a little more time and everything will be all right; you are on the good path. May he that wants to enter in the New Culture study, consciously work and prepare.”

Thanks to the idea of Fraternity, the earth will become a blessed place, and that will not wait. But before, great sufferings will be sent to awaken the consciousness. Sins accumulated for thousands of years must be redeemed. The ardent wave emanating from On High will contribute in liquidating the karma of peoples.  The liberation can no longer be postponed. Humanity must prepare itself for great trials that are inescapable and are coming to bring an end to egoism.

Under the earth, something extraordinary is preparing itself. A revolution that is grandiose and completely inconceivable will manifest itself soon in nature. God has decided to redress the earth, and He will do it!

It is the end of an epoch; a new order will substitute the old, an order in which Love will reign on earth.”

Saturn (mythology)

Mythology of Saturn

The Romans identified Saturn with the Greek Cronus, whose myths were adapted for Latin literature and Roman art. In particular, Cronus's role in the genealogy of the Greek gods was transferred to Saturn. As early as Livius Andronicus (3rd century BC), Jupiter was called the son of Saturn.^[1]

Saturn had two consorts who represented different aspects of the god. The name of his wife Ops, the Roman equivalent of Greek Rhea, means "wealth, abundance, resources."^[2] The association with Ops though is considered a later development, as this goddess was originally paired with Consus.^[3] Earlier was Saturn's association with Lua ("destruction, dissolution, loosening"), a goddess who received the bloodied weapons of enemies destroyed in war.^[4]

Under Saturn's rule, humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor in a state of social egalitarianism,^[5] in the "Golden Age" described by Hesiod.

Etymology and epithets

According to Varro,^[6] Saturn's name was derived from satu, "sowing." Even though this etymology looks implausible on linguistic grounds (for the long quantity of the a in Sāturnus and also because of the epigraphically attested form Saeturnus)^[7] nevertheless it does reflect an original feature of the god.^[8] A more probable etymology connects the name with Etruscan god Satre and placenames such as Satria, an ancient town of Latium, and Saturae palus, a marsh also in Latium. This root may be related to Latin phitonym satureia.^[9] Another epithet of his that referred to his agricultural functions was Sterculius or Stercutus, Sterces^[10] from stercus, "manure." Agriculture was important to Roman identity, and Saturn was a part of archaic Roman religion and ethnic identity. His name appears in the ancient hymn of the Salian priests,^[who?] and his temple was the oldest known to have been recorded by the pontiffs.

Temple

The temple of Saturn was located at the base of the Capitoline Hill, according to legend formerly known as Saturnius Mons, and a row of columns from the last rebuilding of the temple still stand.^[11] The temple was consecrated in 497 BC but the area Saturni was built by king Tullus Hostilius as confirmed by archaeological studies conducted by E. Gjerstad.^[12] It housed the state treasury (aerarium) throughout Roman history.

Festival's time

The position of Saturn's festival in the Roman calendar led to his association with concepts of time, especially the temporal transition of the New Year. In the Greek tradition, Cronus was often conflated with Chronus, "Time," and his devouring of his children taken as an allegory for the passing of generations. The sickle or scythe of Father Time is a remnant of the agricultural implement of Cronus-Saturn, and his aged appearance represents the waning of the old year with the birth of the new, in antiquity sometimes embodied by Aion. In late antiquity, Saturn is syncretized with a number of deities, and begins to be depicted as winged, as is Kairos, "Timing, Right Time".^[13]

In Roman religion

Theology and worship

Ruins of the Temple of Saturn (eight columns to the far right) in February 2010, with three columns from the Temple of Vespasian and Titus (left) and the Arch of Septimius Severus (center)

The figure of Saturn is one of the most complex and intriguing of Roman religion. G. Dumézil refrained from discussing Saturn in his work on Roman religion on the grounds of our insufficient knowledge.^[14] On the contrary, his follower D. Briquel has attempted a thorough interpretation of Saturn utilising Dumézil's three-functional theory of Indoeuropean religion, taking the ancient testimonies and the works of A. Brelich and G. Piccaluga as his basis.^[15]

The main difficulty scholars find in studying Saturn is in assessing what is original of his figure and what is due to later hellenising influences. Moreover, some features of the god may be common to Cronus but are nonetheless very ancient and can be considered proper to the Roman god, whereas other are certainly later and arrived after 217 BC, year in which the Greek customs of the Cronia were introduced into the Saturnalia.^[16]

Among the features which are definitely authentic of the Roman god, Briquel identifies:

1. the time of his festival in the calendar, which corresponds to the date of the consecration of his temple (the Greek Cronia on the other hand took place in June-July);

2. his association with Lua Mater, and

3. the location of his cult on the Capitol, which goes back to remote times.^[17]

These three elements in Briquel's view indicate that Saturn is a sovereign god. The god's strict relationship with the cults of the Capitoline Hill and in particular with Jupiter are highlighted by the legends concerning the refusal of gods Iuventas and Terminus to leave their abode in the shrines on the Capitol when the temple of Jupiter was to be built. These two deities correspond to the helper gods of the sovereign in Vedic religion (Briquel refers to the figures of the Mahabharata Dhrtarastra and Vidura) and to the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires in Hesiod. Whereas the helper gods belong to the second divine generation they become active only at the level of the third in each of the three instances of India, Greece and Rome, where they become a sort of continuation of Jupiter. ^[18])

Dumézil postulated a split of the figure of the sovereign god in Indoeuropean religion, which is embodied by Vedic gods Varuna and Mitra.^[19] Of the two, the first one shows the aspect of the magic, uncanny, awe inspiring power of creation and destruction, while the second shows the reassuring aspect of guarantor of the legal order in organised social life. Whereas in Jupiter these double features have coalesced, Briquel sees Saturn as showing the characters of a sovereign god of the Varunian type. His nature becomes evident in his mastership over the annual time of crisis around the winter solstice, epitomised in the power of subverting normal codified social order and its rules, which is apparent in the festival of the Saturnalia, in the mastership on annual fertility and renewal, in the power of annihilation present in his paredra Lua, in the fact that he is the god of a timeless era of plenty and bounty before time, which he reinstates at the time of the yearly crisis of the winter solstice. Also, in Roman and Etruscan reckoning Saturn is a wielder of lightning; no other agricultural god (in the sense of specialized human activity) is one.^[20] Hence the mastership he has on agriculture and wealth cannot be that of a god of the third function, i.e. of production, wealth, and pleasure, but it stems from his magical lordship over creation and destruction. Although these features are to be found in Greek god Cronus as well, it looks they were proper to the most ancient Roman representations of Saturn, such as his presence on the Capitol and his association with Jupiter, who in the stories of the arrival of the Pelasgians in the land of the Sicels^[21] and that of the Argei orders human sacrifices to him.^[22]

Sacrifices to Saturn were performed according to "Greek rite" (ritus graecus), with the head uncovered, in contrast to those of other major Roman deities, which were performed capite velato, "with the head covered." Saturn himself, however, was represented as veiled (involutus), as for example in a wall painting from Pompeii that shows him holding a sickle and covered with a white veil. This feature is in complete accord with the character of a sovereign god of the Varunian type and is common with German god Odin. Briquel remarks Servius had already seen that the choice of the Greek rite was due to the fact that the god himself is imagined and represented as veiled, thence his sacrifice cannot be carried out by a veiled man: this is an instance of the reversal of the current order of things typical of the nature of the deity as appears in its festival.^[23] Plutarch writes his figure is veiled because he is the father of truth.^[24]

Pliny notes that the cult statue of Saturn was filled with oil; the exact meaning of this is unclear.^[25] Its feet were bound with wool, which was removed only during the Saturnalia.^[26] The fact that the statue was filled with oil and the feet were bound with wool may relate back to the myth of "The Castration of Uranus". In this myth Rhea gives Cronus a rock to eat instead of Zeus thus tricking Cronus. Although mastership of knots is a feature of Greek origin it is also typical of the Varunian sovereign figure, as apparent e.g. in Odin. Once Zeus was victorious over Cronus, he sets this stone up at Delphi and constantly it is anointed with oil and strands of unwoven wool are placed on it.^[27] It wore a red cloak,^[28] and was brought out of the temple to take part in ritual processions^[29] and lectisternia, banquets at which images of the gods were arranged as guests on couches.^[11] All these ceremonial details identify a sovereign figure. Briquel concludes that Saturn was a sovereign god of a time that the Romans perceived as no longer actual, that of the legendary origins of the world, before civilization.^[30]

Little evidence exists in Italy for the cult of Saturn outside Rome, but his name resembles that of the Etruscan god Satres.^[31] The potential cruelty of Saturn was enhanced by his identification with Cronus, known for devouring his own children. He was thus equated with the Carthaginian god Ba'al Hammon, to whom children were sacrificed. Later this identification gave rise to the African Saturn, a cult that enjoyed great popularity til the 4th century. It had a popular but also a mysteric characters and required child sacrifices. It is also considered as inclining to monotheism.^[32] In the ceremony of initiation the myste intrat sub iugum ritual that Leglay compares also to the Roman tigillum sororium.^[33] Even though their origin and theology are completely different the Italic and the African god are both sovereign and master over time and death, fact that has permitted their encounter. Moreover here Saturn is not the real Italic god but his Greek counterpart Cronus.

Saturn was also among the gods the Romans equated with Yahweh, whose Sabbath (on Saturday) he shared as his holy day. The phrase Saturni dies, "Saturn's day," first appears in Latin literature in a poem by Tibullus, who wrote during the reign of Augustus.^[34]

Saturnalia

Main article: Saturnalia

Saturn is associated with a major religious festival in the Roman calendar, Saturnalia. Saturnalia celebrated the harvest and sowing, and ran from December 17–23. During Saturnalia, the social restrictions of Rome were relaxed. The figure of Saturn, kept during the year with its legs bound in wool, was released from its bindings for the period of the festival.^[26] The revelries of Saturnalia were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost "Golden Age" before the rule of Saturn was overthrown, not all of them desirable except as a temporary release from civilized constraint. The Greek equivalent was the Kronia.^[35]

 

Macrobius (5th century AD) presents an interpretation of the Saturnalia as a festival of light leading to the winter solstice.^[36] The renewal of light and the coming of the new year was celebrated in the later Roman Empire at the Dies Natalis of Sol Invictus, the "Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun," on December 25.^[37]

 

Roman legend of Saturn

 

Relief held by the Louvre thought to depict
the veiled throne of Saturn, either a Roman
work of the 1st century AD or a Renaissance copy

It was customary for the Romans to represent divine figures as kings of Latium at the time of their legendary origins.

Macrobius states explicitly that the Roman legend of Janus and Saturn is an affabulation, as the true meaning of religious beliefs cannot be openly expressed.^[38] In the myth^[39] Saturn was the original and autochthonous ruler of the Capitolium, which had thus been called the Mons Saturnius in older times and on which once stood the town of Saturnia.^[40] He was sometimes regarded as the first king of Latium or even the whole of Italy.^[41] At the same time, there was a tradition that Saturn had been an immigrant god, received by Janus after he was usurped by his son Jupiter and expelled from Greece.^[42] In Versnel's view his contradictions—a foreigner with one of Rome's oldest sanctuaries, and a god of liberation who is kept in fetters most of the year—indicate Saturn's capacity for obliterating social distinctions.^[43]

Alatri's main gate of the cyclopical walls

Roman mythology of the Golden Age of Saturn's reign differed from the Greek tradition. He arrived in Italy "dethroned and fugitive,"^[44] but brought agriculture and civilization for which things was rewarded by Janus with a share of the kingdom, becoming he himself king. As the Augustan poet Vergil described it, "He gathered together the unruly race" of fauns and nymphs "scattered over mountain heights, and gave them laws … . Under his reign were the golden ages men tell of: in such perfect peace he ruled the nations."^[45] He was also said to have founded the five Saturnian towns of Latium: Aletrium (today Alatri), Anagnia (Anagni), Arpinum (Arpino), Atina and Ferentinum (Ferentino, also known as Antinum) all located in present day Ciociaria, province of Frosinone. All these towns are surrounded by cyclopical walls; their foundation is traditionally ascribed to the Pelasgians.^[46]

 

But Saturn also had a less benevolent aspect, as indicated by the blood shed in his honor during gladiatorial munera. His consort in archaic Roman tradition was Lua, sometimes called Lua Saturni ("Saturn's Lua") and identified with Lua Mater, "Mother Destruction," a goddess in whose honor the weapons of enemies killed in war were burned, perhaps as expiation.^[47] H.S. Versnel, however, proposed that Lua Saturni should not be identified with Lua Mater, but rather refers to "loosening"; she thus represents the liberating function of Saturn.^[48]

Gladiator munera

 

Saturn's chthonic nature connected him to the underworld and its ruler Dis Pater, the Roman equivalent of Greek Plouton (Pluto in Latin) who was also a god of hidden wealth.^[49] In 3rd-century AD sources and later, Saturn is recorded as receiving gladiatorial offerings (munera) during or near the Saturnalia.^[50] These gladiator combats, ten days in all throughout December, were presented by the quaestors and sponsored with funds from the treasury of Saturn.^[51]

 

The practice of gladiatorial munera was criticized by Christian apologists as a form of human sacrifice.^[52] Although there is no evidence of this practice during the Republican era, the offering of gladiators led to later theorizing that the primeval Saturn had demanded human victims. Macrobius says that Dis Pater was placated with human heads and Saturn with sacrificial victims consisting of men (virorum victimis).^[53] The figurines that were exchanged as gifts (sigillaria) during the Saturnalia may have represented token substitutes.^[54]

 

On coins

 

Saturn driving a quadriga on the reverse
of a denarius issued by Saturninus

In 104 BC, the plebeian tribune Lucius Appuleius Saturninus issued a denarius depicting Saturn driving a four-horse chariot (quadriga), a vehicle associated with rulers, triumphing generals, and sun gods. Saturninus was a popularist politician who had proposed reduced-price grain distribution to the poor of Rome. The head of the goddess Roma appears on the obverse. The Saturnian imagery played on the tribune's name and his intent to subvert the social hierarchy by basing his political support on the common people (plebs) rather than the senatorial elite.^[55]

 

See also

Saturn Cutting off Cupid’s Wings with a Scythe (1802) by Ivan Akimov (Tretyakov Gallery)

• Saturnalia

References

1. ^ Saturni filius, frg. 2 in the edition of Baehrens.
2. ^ Hans Friedrich Mueller, "Saturn," Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 222.
3. ^ G. Dumézil p. 244.
4. ^ G. Dumézil "Lua Mater" in Déesses latines et mythes védiques Bruxelles 1968 1959 p. 98-115. D. compared this Roman figure with Indian deity Nírŗti.
5. ^ Patricia A. Johnston, "Saturnus and the Agricultural Golden Age," Vergil's Agricultural Golden Age: A Study of Georgics, Leiden E. J. Brill (1980).
6. ^ Varro, De lingua latina 5.64.
7. ^ CIL I 2nd 449.
8. ^ Briquel p. 144.
9. ^ G. Alessio "Genti e favelle dell' antica Apulia" Taranto Cressati 1949 = Archivio Storico Pugliese 1949 II 1 p. 14.
10. ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7.25.
11. ^ ^{a b} Mueller, "Saturn," p. 222.
12. ^ In Mélanges A. Grenier Bruxelles 1962 p. 757-762 as cited by Briquel p. 141.
13. ^ Samuel L. Macy, entry on "Father Time," in Encyclopedia of Time (Taylor & Francis, 1994), pp. 208–209.
14. ^ G. Dumézil La religion romain archaïque Paris 1974 part I chap. 5; Italian translation Milan 1977 p. 244-245.
15. ^ D. Briquel "Jupiter, Saturn et le Capitol. Essai de comparaison indoeuropéenne" in Revue de l' histoire des religions 198 2 1981 p. 131-162. A. Brelich Tre variazioni romane sul tema delle origini Roma 1956. G. Piccaluga Terminus Roma 1974.
16. ^ Briquel 1981 pp. 142 ff.
17. ^ Macrobius Saturnalia I 7. Cited by Briquel above p. 143.
18. ^ Iuventas shows a clear Varunian character in the liaison of Romulus with the iuvenes the young soldiers; Terminus has a Mitran character even though he shows Varunian traits in allowing the enlargement of the borders (propagatio finium): Briquel p. 134 n. 8.
19. ^ G. Dumézil Mitra-Varuna Paris 1940; Les dieux souverains des Indo-Europééens Paris 1977.
20. ^ Briquel p. 151 citing Pliny II 138-139; Servius Ad Aeneidem I 42; XI 259. Saturn's lightningbolts are those of wintertime.
21. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Anitiquities I 19 1; Macrobius Saturnalia I 7 27-31
22. ^ Ovid Fasti V 621-662, particularly 626-629.
23. ^ Briquel p. 148 who cites Servius Ad Aenaeidem III 407.
24. ^ Briquel p. 148 n. 63 who cites Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae II.
25. ^ Pliny, Natural History 15.32.
26. ^ ^{a b} Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.8.5.
27. ^ Robert Graves, "The Greek Myths: 1" page 41
28. ^ Tertullian, De testimonio animae 2.
29. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 7.72.13.
30. ^ Briquel p. 155.
31. ^ Found on the Piacenza Liver; see also Martianus Capella 1.58. Mueller, "Saturn," p. 222.
32. ^ M. Leglay Saturn africaine. Histoire Paris BEFRA 1966.
33. ^ Leglay p. 385-386.
34. ^ Mueller, "Saturn," p. 221.
35. ^ William F. Hansen, Ariadne's Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature (Cornell University Press, 2002), p. 385.
36. ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.1.8–9; Jane Chance, Medieval Mythography: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433–1177 (University Press of Florida, 1994), p. 71.
37. ^ see Robert A. Kaster, Macrobius: Saturnalia, Books 1–2 (Loeb Classical Library, 2011), note on p. 16.
38. ^ Macrobius Saturnalia I 7, 18.
39. ^ Macrobius Saturnalia I, 9; Vergil Aeneis VII, 49
40. ^ Varro Lingua Latina V 42 and 45; Vergil Aeneis VIII 357-8; Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities I 34; Festus p. 322 L; Macrobius Sat. I 7, 27 and I 10, 4; Pliny the Elder Natural History III 68; Minucius Felix Octavius 22; Tertullian Apologeticum 10 as cited by Briquel p. 154.
41. ^ Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," pp. 138–139.
42. ^ Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," p. 139. The Roman theologian Varro listed Saturn among the Sabine gods.
43. ^ Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," pp. 139, 142–143.
44. ^ Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," p. 143.
45. ^ Vergil, Aeneid 8.320–325, as cited by Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," p. 143.
46. ^ Mario Pincherle, Giuliana C. Volpi: La civiltà minoica in Italia. Le città saturnie Pisa 1990 Pacini.
47. ^ Mueller, "Saturn," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, p. 222.
48. ^ Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," p. 144.
49. ^ H.S. Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," in Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual (Brill, 1993, 1994), pp. 144–145. See also the Etruscan god Satre.
50. ^ For instance, Ausonius, Eclogue 23 and De feriis Romanis 33–7. See Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," pp. 146 and 211–212, and Thomas E.J. Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators (Routledge, 1992, 1995), p. 47.
51. ^ Eight days were subsidized from the Imperial treasury (arca fisci), and two mostly by the sponsoring magistrate himself; Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (University of California Press, 1990), p. 186.
52. ^ Mueller, "Saturn," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, p. 222; Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," p. 146.
53. ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7.31; Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," p. 146.
54. ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.10.24; Carlin A. Barton, The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the Monster (Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 166. For other Roman practices that may represent substitutes for human sacrifice, see Argei and oscilla, the latter of which were used also at the Latin Festival and the Compitalia: William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1908), p. 272.
55. ^ Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," p. 162.

Bibliography

 

• Georges Dumézil La religion romain archaïque Paris Payot 1974 2nd; Italian translation La religione romana arcaica Milano Rizzoli 1977. Edizione e traduzione a cura di Furio Jesi.

• Dominique Briquel "Jupiter, Saturn et le Capitol. Essai de comparaison indoeuropéenne" in Revue de l' histoire des religions 198 2. 1981 p. 131-162.

• Marcel Leglay Saturn africain. Histoire BEFAR Paris de Boccard 1966.

• H.S. Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia," in Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual (Brill, 1993, 1994), pp. 144–145.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saturnus (deus)

• Guirand, Felix (Editor); Aldington, Richard (Translator); Ames, Delano (Translator); & Graves, Robert (Introduction). New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. ISBN 0-517-00404-6

External links

 

• Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 300 images of Saturn)

Roman mythology and religion Deities Apollo Bona Dea Castor and Pollux Ceres Cupid Diana Dis Pater Faunus Genius Hercules Janus Juno Jupiter Lares Liber Mars Mercury Minerva Orcus Neptune Penates Pluto Priapus Proserpina Quirinus Saturn Silvanus Sol Venus Vesta Vulcan Abstract deities Concordia Fides Fortuna Pietas Spes Roma Terra Legendary founders Aeneas Romulus and Remus Numa Pompilius Servius Tullius Ancus Marcius Texts Vergil Aeneid Ovid Metamorphoses Fasti Propertius Apuleius The Golden Ass Concepts and practices Religion in ancient Rome Festivals interpretatio graeca Imperial cult Temples See also Glossary of ancient Roman religion Greek mythology myth and ritual classical mythology

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Named after the Roman god of agriculture, Saturn, its astronomical symbol (♄) represents the god's sickle. Saturn is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth.^[10][11] While only one-eighth the average density of Earth, with its larger volume Saturn is just over 95 times more massive than Earth.^[12][13][14]

Saturn's interior is probably composed of a core of iron, nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds), surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium and an outer gaseous layer.^[15] The planet exhibits a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. Electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is slightly weaker than Earth's and around one-twentieth the strength of Jupiter's.^[16] The outer atmosphere is generally bland and lacking in contrast, although long-lived features can appear. Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph), faster than on Jupiter, but not as fast as those on Neptune.^[17]

Saturn has a prominent ring system that consists of nine continuous main rings and three discontinuous arcs, composed mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty-two^[18] known moons orbit the planet; fifty-three are officially named. This does not include the hundreds of "moonlets" within the rings. Titan, Saturn's largest and the Solar System's second largest moon, is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to retain a substantial atmosphere.^[19]

Saturn is classified as a gas giant planet because the exterior is predominantly composed of gas and it lacks a definite surface, although it may have a solid core.^[20] The rotation of the planet causes it to take the shape of an oblate spheroid; that is, it is flattened at the poles and bulges at the equator. Its equatorial and polar radii differ by almost 10% — 60,268 km versus 54,364 km, respectively.^[3] Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, the other gas giants in the Solar System, are also oblate but to a lesser extent. Saturn is the only planet of the Solar System that is less dense than water — about 30% less.^[21] Although Saturn's core is considerably denser than water, the average specific density of the planet is 0.69 g/cm³ due to the gaseous atmosphere. Jupiter has 318 times the Earth's mass,^[22] while Saturn is 95 times the mass of the Earth,^[3] Together, Jupiter and Saturn hold 92% of the total planetary mass in the Solar System.^[23]

Internal structure

Saturn is termed a gas giant, but it is not entirely gaseous. The planet primarily consists of hydrogen, which becomes a non-ideal liquid when the density is above 0.01 g/cm³. This density is reached at a radius containing 99.9% of Saturn's mass. The temperature, pressure and density inside the planet all rise steadily toward the core, which, in the deeper layers of the planet, cause hydrogen to transition into a metal.^[23]

Standard planetary models suggest that the interior of Saturn is similar to that of Jupiter, having a small rocky core surrounded by hydrogen and helium with trace amounts of various volatiles.^[24] This core is similar in composition to the Earth, but more dense. Examination of the gravitational moment of the planet, in combination with physical models of the interior, allowed French astronomers Didier Saumon and Tristan Guillot to place constraints on the mass of the planet's core. In 2004, they estimated that the core must be 9–22 times the mass of the Earth,^[25][26] which corresponds to a diameter of about 25,000 km.^[27] This is surrounded by a thicker liquid metallic hydrogen layer, followed by a liquid layer of helium-saturated molecular hydrogen that gradually transitions into gas with increasing altitude. The outermost layer spans 1,000 km and consists of a gaseous atmosphere.^[28][29][30]

Saturn has a very hot interior, reaching 11,700 °C at the core, and the planet radiates 2.5 times more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. Most of this extra energy is generated by the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism of slow gravitational compression, but this alone may not be sufficient to explain Saturn's heat production. An additional mechanism may be at play whereby Saturn generates some of its heat through the "raining out" of droplets of helium deep in its interior. As the droplets descend through the lower-density hydrogen, the process releases heat by friction and leaves the outer layers of the planet depleted of helium.^[31][32] These descending droplets may have accumulated into a helium shell surrounding the core.^[24]

Atmosphere

The outer atmosphere of Saturn contains 96.3% molecular hydrogen and 3.25% helium.^[33] The proportion of helium is significantly deficient compared to the abundance of this element in the Sun.^[24] The quantity of elements heavier than helium are not known precisely, but the proportions are assumed to match the primordial abundances from the formation of the Solar System. The total mass of these heavier elements is estimated to be 19–31 times the mass of the Earth, with a significant fraction located in Saturn's core region.^[34]

Trace amounts of ammonia, acetylene, ethane, propane, phosphine and methane have been detected in Saturn's atmosphere.^[35][36][37] The upper clouds are composed of ammonia crystals, while the lower level clouds appear to consist of either ammonium hydrosulfide (NH₄SH) or water.^[38] Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun causes methane photolysis in the upper atmosphere, leading to a series of hydrocarbon chemical reactions with the resulting products being carried downward by eddies and diffusion. This photochemical cycle is modulated by Saturn's annual seasonal cycle.^[37]

Cloud layers

A global storm girdles the planet in 2011.
 The head of the storm (bright area) passes
the tail circling around the left limb.

Saturn's atmosphere exhibits a banded pattern similar to Jupiter's, but Saturn's bands are much fainter and are much wider near the equator. The nomenclature used to describe these bands is the same as on Jupiter.

 Saturn's finer cloud patterns were not observed until the flybys of the Voyager spacecraft during the 1980s.

 Since then, Earth-based telescopy has improved to the point where regular observations can be made.^[39]

The composition of the clouds varies with depth and increasing pressure. In the upper cloud layers, with the temperature in the range 100–160 K and pressures extending between 0.5–2 bar, the clouds consist of ammonia ice. Water ice clouds begin at a level where the pressure is about 2.5 bar and extend down to 9.5 bar, where temperatures range from 185–270 K. Intermixed in this layer is a band of ammonium hydrosulfide ice, lying in the pressure range 3–6 bar with temperatures of 290–235 K. Finally, the lower layers, where pressures are between 10–20 bar and temperatures are 270–330 K, contains a region of water droplets with ammonia in aqueous solution.^[40]

Saturn's usually bland atmosphere occasionally exhibits long-lived ovals and other features common on Jupiter. In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged an enormous white cloud near Saturn's equator that was not present during the Voyager encounters and in 1994, another, smaller storm was observed. The 1990 storm was an example of a Great White Spot, a unique but short-lived phenomenon that occurs once every Saturnian year, roughly every 30 Earth years, around the time of the northern hemisphere's summer solstice.^[41] Previous Great White Spots were observed in 1876, 1903, 1933 and 1960, with the 1933 storm being the most famous. If the periodicity is maintained, another storm will occur in about 2020.^[42]

The winds on Saturn are the second fastest among the Solar System's planets. Voyager data indicate peak easterly winds of 500 m/s (1800 km/h).^[43] In images from the Cassini spacecraft during 2007, Saturn's northern hemisphere displayed a bright blue hue, similar to Uranus. The color was most likely caused by Rayleigh scattering.^[44] Infrared imaging has shown that Saturn's south pole has a warm polar vortex, the only known example of such a phenomenon in the Solar System.^[45] Whereas temperatures on Saturn are normally −185 °C, temperatures on the vortex often reach as high as −122 °C, believed to be the warmest spot on Saturn.^[45]

North pole hexagonal cloud pattern

North polar hexagonal cloud feature, discovered by Voyager 1 and confirmed in 2006 by Cassini.

Closer view of the north polar vortex at the center of the hexagon

A persisting hexagonal wave pattern around the north polar vortex in the atmosphere at about 78°N was first noted in the Voyager images.^[46][47]

The straight sides of the northern polar hexagon are each approximately 13,800 km (8,600 mi) long, making them larger than the diameter of the Earth.^[48] The entire structure rotates with a period of 10h 39m 24s (the same period as that of the planet's radio emissions) which is assumed to be equal to the period of rotation of Saturn's interior.^[49] The hexagonal feature does not shift in longitude like the other clouds in the visible atmosphere.^[50]

The pattern's origin is a matter of much speculation. Most astronomers believe it was caused by some standing-wave pattern in the atmosphere. Polygonal shapes have been replicated in the laboratory through differential rotation of fluids.^[51][52

South pole vortex

Saturn's south pole storm

HST imaging of the south polar region indicates the presence of a jet stream, but no strong polar vortex nor any hexagonal standing wave.^[53] NASA reported in November 2006 that Cassini had observed a "hurricane-like" storm locked to the south pole that had a clearly defined eyewall.^[54][55] This observation is particularly notable because eyewall clouds had not previously been seen on any planet other than Earth. For example, images from the Galileo spacecraft did not show an eyewall in the Great Red Spot of Jupiter.^[56]

The south pole storm may have been present for billions of years.^[57] This vortex is comparable to the size of Earth, and it has winds of 550 kph.^[57]

Other features

Cassini has observed a series of cloud features nicknamed "String of Pearls" found in northern latitudes. These features are cloud clearings that reside in deeper cloud layers.^[58]

Magnetosphere

HST UV image of Saturn taken near equinox showing both polar aurorae.

Hubble's STIS ultraviolet and
ACS visible light combine to reveal
Saturn's southern aurora.

Saturn has an intrinsic magnetic field that has a simple, symmetric shape – a magnetic dipole. Its strength at the equator – 0.2 gauss (20 µT) – is approximately one twentieth of that of the field around Jupiter and slightly weaker than Earth's magnetic field.^[16] As a result Saturn's magnetosphere is much smaller than Jupiter's.^[59] When Voyager 2 entered the magnetosphere, the solar wind pressure was high and the magnetosphere extended only 19 Saturn radii, or 1.1 million km (712,000 mi),^[60] although it enlarged within several hours, and remained so for about three days.^[61] Most probably, the magnetic field is generated similarly to that of Jupiter – by currents in the liquid metallic-hydrogen layer called a metallic-hydrogen dynamo.^[59] This magnetosphere is efficient at deflecting the solar wind particles from the Sun. The moon Titan orbits within the outer part of Saturn's magnetosphere and contributes plasma from the ionized particles in Titan's outer atmosphere.^[16] Saturn's magnetosphere, like Earth's, produces aurorae.^[62]

Orbit and rotation

The average distance between Saturn and the Sun is over 1.4×10⁹ km (9 AU). It takes Saturn 10,759 Earth days (or about 29 ¹⁄₂ Earth years), to finish one revolution around the Sun.

The average distance between Saturn and the Sun is over 1.4 billion kilometres (9 AU). With an average orbital speed of 9.69 km/s,^[3] it takes Saturn 10,759 Earth days (or about 29½ years),^[63] to finish one revolution around the Sun.^[3] The elliptical orbit of Saturn is inclined 2.48° relative to the orbital plane of the Earth.^[3] Because of an eccentricity of 0.056, the distance between Saturn and the Sun varies by approximately 155 million kilometres between perihelion and aphelion,^[3] which are the nearest and most distant points of the planet along its orbital path, respectively.

The visible features on Saturn rotate at different rates depending on latitude and multiple rotation periods have been assigned to various regions (as in Jupiter's case): System I has a period of 10 h 14 min 00 s (844.3°/d) and encompasses the Equatorial Zone, which extends from the northern edge of the South Equatorial Belt to the southern edge of the North Equatorial Belt. All other Saturnian latitudes have been assigned a rotation period of 10 h 38 min 25.4 s (810.76°/d), which is System II. System III, based on radio emissions from the planet in the period of the Voyager flybys, has a period of 10 h 39 min 22.4 s (810.8°/d); because it is very close to System II, it has largely superseded it.^[64]

A precise value for the rotation period of the interior remains elusive. While approaching Saturn in 2004, Cassini found that the radio rotation period of Saturn had increased appreciably, to approximately 10 h 45 m 45 s (± 36 s).^[65][66] In March 2007, it was found that the variation of radio emissions from the planet did not match Saturn's rotation rate. This variance may be caused by geyser activity on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The water vapor emitted into Saturn's orbit by this activity becomes charged and creates a drag upon Saturn's magnetic field, slowing its rotation slightly relative to the rotation of the planet.^[67][68][68] The latest estimate of Saturn's rotation based on a compilation of various measurements from the Cassini, Voyager and Pioneer probes was reported in September 2007 is 10 hours, 32 minutes, 35 seconds.^[69]

Planetary rings [edit]

The rings of Saturn (imaged here by Cassini in 2007) are the most massive and conspicuous in the Solar System.^[29]

False-color UV image of Saturn's outer B and A rings; dirtier ringlets in the Cassini Division and Enke Gap show up red.

Saturn is probably best known for the system of planetary rings that makes it visually unique.^[29] The rings extend from 6,630 km to 120,700 km above Saturn's equator, average approximately 20 meters in thickness and are composed of 93% water ice with traces of tholin impurities and 7% amorphous carbon.^[70] The particles that make up the rings range in size from specks of dust up to 10 m.^[71] While the other gas giants also have ring systems, Saturn's is the largest and most visible. There are two main hypotheses regarding the origin of the rings. One hypothesis is that the rings are remnants of a destroyed moon of Saturn. The second hypothesis is that the rings are left over from the original nebular material from which Saturn formed. Some ice in the central rings comes from the moon Enceladus's ice volcanoes.^[72] In the past, astronomers believed the rings formed alongside the planet when it formed billions of years ago.^[73] Instead, the age of these planetary rings is probably some hundreds of millions of years.^[74]

Beyond the main rings at a distance of 12 million km from the planet is the sparse Phoebe ring, which is tilted at an angle of 27° to the other rings and, like Phoebe, orbits in retrograde fashion.^[75] Some of the moons of Saturn, including Pandora and Prometheus, act as shepherd moons to confine the rings and prevent them from spreading out.^[76] Pan and Atlas cause weak, linear density waves in Saturn's rings that have yielded more reliable calculations of their masses.^[77]

Natural satellites [edit]

A montage of Saturn and its principal moons (Dione, Tethys, Mimas, Enceladus, Rhea and Titan; Iapetus not shown). This famous image was created from photographs taken in November 1980 by the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

Saturn has at least 62 moons, 53 of which have formal names.^[78] Titan, the largest, comprises more than 90% of the mass in orbit around Saturn, including the rings.^[79] Saturn's second largest moon, Rhea, may have a tenuous ring system of its own,^[80] along with a tenuous atmosphere.^{[81][82][83][84]} Many of the other moons are very small: 34 are less than 10 km in diameter and another 14 less than 50 km but larger then 10 km.^[85] Traditionally, most of Saturn's moons have been named after Titans of Greek mythology. Titan is the only satellite in the Solar System with a major atmosphere^[86][87] in which a complex organic chemistry occurs. It is the only satellite with hydrocarbon lakes.^[88][89]

Saturn's moon Enceladus has often been regarded as a potential base for microbial life.^{[90][91][92][93]} Evidence of this life includes the satellite's salt-rich particles having an "ocean-like" composition that indicates most of Enceladus's expelled ice comes from the evaporation of liquid salt water.^[94][95][96]

History of exploration

There have been three main phases in the observation and exploration of Saturn. The first era was ancient observations (such as with the naked eye), before the invention of the modern telescopes. Starting in the 17th century progressively more advanced telescopic observations from earth have been made. The other type is visitation by spacecraft, either by orbiting or flyby. In the 21st century observations continue from the earth (or earth-orbiting observatories) and from the Cassini orbiter at Saturn.

Ancient observations

Saturn has been known since prehistoric times.^[97] In ancient times, it was the most distant of the five known planets in the solar system (excluding Earth) and thus a major character in various mythologies. Babylonian astronomers systematically observed and recorded the movements of Saturn.^[98] In ancient Roman mythology, the god Saturnus, from which the planet takes its name, was the god of agriculture.^[99] The Romans considered Saturnus the equivalent of the Greek god Cronus.^[99] The Greeks had made the outermost planet sacred to Cronus,^[100] and the Romans followed suit. (In modern Greek, the planet retains its ancient name Cronus (Κρόνος: Kronos).)^[101]

Ptolemy, a Greek living in Alexandria,^[102] observed an opposition of Saturn, which was the basis for his determination of the elements of its orbit.^[103] In Hindu astrology, there are nine astrological objects, known as Navagrahas. Saturn, one of them, is known as "Shani", judges everyone based on the good and bad deeds performed in life.^[99] Ancient Chinese and Japanese culture designated the planet Saturn as the earth star (土星). This was based on Five Elements which were traditionally used to classify natural elements.^[104]

In ancient Hebrew, Saturn is called 'Shabbathai'.^[105] Its angel is Cassiel. Its intelligence or beneficial spirit is Agiel (layga) and its spirit (darker aspect) is Zazel (lzaz). In Ottoman Turkish, Urdu and Malay, its name is 'Zuhal', derived from Arabic زحل.

European observations (17th–19th centuries)

Robert Hooke noted the shadows

(a and b) cast by both the globe
and the rings on each other in this
drawing of Saturn in 1666.

Saturn's rings require at least a 15-mm-diameter telescope^[106] to resolve and thus were not known to exist until Galileo first saw them in 1610.^[107][108] He thought of them as two moons on Saturn's sides.^[109][110] It was not until Christian Huygens used greater telescopic magnification that this notion was refuted. Huygens discovered Saturn's moon Titan; Giovanni Domenico Cassini later discovered four other moons: Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione. In 1675, Cassini discovered the gap now known as the Cassini Division.^[111]

No further discoveries of significance were made until 1789 when William Herschel discovered two further moons, Mimas and Enceladus. The irregularly shaped satellite Hyperion, which has a resonance with Titan, was discovered in 1848 by a British team.^[112]

In 1899 William Henry Pickering discovered Phoebe, a highly irregular satellite that does not rotate synchronously with Saturn as the larger moons do.^[112] Phoebe was the first such satellite found and it takes more than a year to orbit Saturn in a retrograde orbit. During the early 20th century, research on Titan led to the confirmation in 1944 that it had a thick atmosphere – a feature unique among the solar system's moons.^[113]

Modern NASA and ESA probes

Pioneer 11 flyby

Pioneer 11 carried out the first flyby of Saturn in September 1979, when it passed within 20,000 km of the planet's cloud tops. Images were taken of the planet and a few of its moons, although their resolution was too low to discern surface detail. The spacecraft also studied Saturn's rings, revealing the thin F-ring and the fact that dark gaps in the rings are bright when viewed at high phase angle (towards the sun), meaning that they contain fine light-scattering material. In addition, Pioneer 11 measured the temperature of Titan.^[114]

Voyager flybys

In November 1980, the Voyager 1 probe visited the Saturn system. It sent back the first high-resolution images of the planet, its rings and satellites. Surface features of various moons were seen for the first time. Voyager 1 performed a close flyby of Titan, increasing knowledge of the atmosphere of the moon. It proved that Titan's atmosphere is impenetrable in visible wavelengths; so, no surface details were seen. The flyby changed the spacecraft's trajectory out from the plane of the solar system.^[115]

Almost a year later, in August 1981, Voyager 2 continued the study of the Saturn system. More close-up images of Saturn's moons were acquired, as well as evidence of changes in the atmosphere and the rings. Unfortunately, during the flyby, the probe's turnable camera platform stuck for a couple of days and some planned imaging was lost. Saturn's gravity was used to direct the spacecraft's trajectory towards Uranus.^[115]

The probes discovered and confirmed several new satellites orbiting near or within the planet's rings, as well as the small Maxwell Gap (a gap within the C Ring) and Keeler gap (a 42 km wide gap in the A Ring).

Cassini–Huygens spacecraft

Saturn during equinox imaged by the Cassini orbiter

Saturn eclipses the Sun, as seen from Cassini.

On July 1, 2004, the Cassini–Huygens space probe performed the SOI (Saturn Orbit Insertion) maneuver and entered into orbit around Saturn. Before the SOI, Cassini had already studied the system extensively. In June 2004, it had conducted a close flyby of Phoebe, sending back high-resolution images and data.

Cassini's flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has captured radar images of large lakes and their coastlines with numerous islands and mountains. The orbiter completed two Titan flybys before releasing the Huygens probe on December 25, 2004. Huygens descended onto the surface of Titan on January 14, 2005, sending a flood of data during the atmospheric descent and after the landing.^[116] Cassini has since conducted multiple flybys of Titan and other icy satellites.

Since early 2005, scientists have been tracking lightning on Saturn. The power of the lightning is approximately 1,000 times that of lightning on Earth.^[117]

In 2006, NASA reported that Cassini had found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Images had shown jets of icy particles being emitted into orbit around Saturn from vents in the moon's south polar region. According to Andrew Ingersoll, California Institute of Technology, "Other moons in the solar system have liquid-water oceans covered by kilometers of icy crust. What's different here is that pockets of liquid water may be no more than tens of meters below the surface."^[118] In May 2011, NASA scientists at an Enceladus Focus Group Conference reported that Enceladus "is emerging as the most habitable spot beyond Earth in the Solar System for life as we know it".^[119][120]

Cassini photographs have led to other significant discoveries. They have revealed a previously undiscovered planetary ring, outside the brighter main rings of Saturn and inside the G and E rings. The source of this ring is believed to be the crashing of a meteoroid off two of the moons of Saturn.^[121] In July 2006, Cassini images provided evidence of hydrocarbon lakes near Titan's north pole, the presence of which were confirmed in January 2007. In March 2007, additional images near Titan's north pole revealed hydrocarbon "seas", the largest of which is almost the size of the Caspian Sea.^[122] In October 2006, the probe detected a 8,000 km diameter cyclone-like storm with an eyewall at Saturn's south pole.^[123]

From 2004 to November 2, 2009, the probe discovered and confirmed 8 new satellites. Its primary mission ended in 2008 when the spacecraft had completed 74 orbits around the planet. The probe's mission was extended to September 2010 and then extended again to 2017, to study a full period of Saturn's seasons.^[124]

In April 2013 Cassini sent back images of a hurricane at the planet's north pole 20 times larger than those found on Earth, with winds faster than 530km/h.^[125]

Observation

Amateur telescopic view

Saturn is the most distant of the five planets easily visible to the naked eye, the other four being Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter (Uranus and occasionally 4 Vesta are visible to the naked eye in very dark skies). Saturn appears to the naked eye in the night sky as a bright, yellowish point of light whose apparent magnitude is usually between +1 and 0. It takes approximately 29½ years to make a complete circuit of the ecliptic against the background constellations of the zodiac. Most people will require optical aid (large binoculars or a telescope) magnifying at least 20× to clearly resolve Saturn's rings.^[29][106]

While it is a rewarding target for observation for most of the time it is visible in the sky, Saturn and its rings are best seen when the planet is at or near opposition (the configuration of a planet when it is at an elongation of 180° and thus appears opposite the Sun in the sky). During the opposition of December 17, 2002, Saturn appeared at its brightest due to a favorable orientation of its rings relative to the Earth,^[126] even though Saturn was closer to the Earth and Sun in late 2003.^[126]

In culture

Saturn, from a 1550 edition of Guido Bonatti's Liber astronomiae.

• Saturn in astrology () is the ruling planet of Capricorn and, traditionally, Aquarius.
• Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age is a movement in Gustav Holst's The Planets.
• The Saturn family of rockets were developed by a team of mostly German rocket scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit and beyond.^[127] Originally proposed as a military satellite launcher, they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo program.
• The day Saturday is named after the planet Saturn, which is derived from the Roman god of agriculture, Saturn (linked to the Greek god Cronus).^[128][129]

See also

Solar System portal

Book: Saturn Book: Solar System

• Sixth planet (disambiguation)
• Dragon Storm (astronomy)
• Space exploration

Notes [edit]

References [edit]

Further reading

• Lovett, L.; Horvath, J.; Cuzzi, J. (2006). Saturn: A New View. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8109-3090-2. 
• Karttunen, H.; Kröger, P.; et al. (2007). Fundamental Astronomy. New York: Springer, 5th edition. ISBN 978-3-540-34143-7. 

External links

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• Haese, Paul. "Capturing Saturn". Sixty Symbols. Brady Haran for the University of Nottingham.

Saturn Theory

Dave Talbott's book, The Saturn Myth"

The Saturn Theory (also: Saturn Model, Saturn Myth, Saturn Configuration) is the idea based on comparative mythology, that the Earth was once in closer proximity, or even a satellite of the planet Saturn, which appeared like a sun. It has received criticisms on both mythological and physical grounds.

Contents  [hide]  1 Saturn theory characteristics 1.1 Sun-like Saturn, and nova-like 1.2 Earth as a satellite of Saturn 2 Models 2.1 Polar configuration 2.2 Earth as Saturn's satellite (Modified-Philolaos model) 2.3 Barbell model 3 Criticisms 4 References 5 Selected bibliography

Saturn theory characteristics

Sun-like Saturn, and nova-like

A number of researchers have suggested that in mythology, Saturn is sometimes referred to as a night sun, and having gone through a nova-like phase:

(1944) C. E. R. Bruce wrote: "In fact it may well be that both Jupiter and Saturn were at one time minor stars and that their satellite systems were formed as the result of minor or planetary nova outbursts."[1] (1973) William Mullen wrote: "Velikovsky has suggested that as a result of disruption Saturn went through a short nova-like phase in which its light would have obscured everything else visible from earth .."[2] (1975) Lewis M. Greenberg and Warner B. Sizemore wrote: ".. the planet Saturn was designated as Shamash or "sun" by the Assyro-Babylonian astrologers; and as far back as 1910 M. Jastrow (Revue d'Assyriologie, Vol. 70, p. 171)[3] proposed "the idea that Saturn was a 'steady' or 'permanent' mock-sun - performing the same function of furnishing light at night that Sama's [Shamash - the Sun] performed during the day. [..] Furthermore, there is undeniable evidence that the concept of a "night-sun" as well as a "day-sun" existed in ancient Babylonian astrological thought."[4]

(1977) Dwardu Cardona wrote: "Diodorus Siculus was not the only writer of antiquity who stated that the Babylonians called Saturn the "sun star."(19) Hyginus also expressed his opinion that Saturn was called "the star of the sun.(20) Among modern Assyriologists, it seems as if Thompson was one of the first to notice that the Babylonians designated the planet Saturn as Shamash.(21) Yet Shamash, as a cursory glance through any work on Assyro-Babylonian mythology will show, was, very much like the Egyptian Ra, the usual Babylonian name for the Sun."[5] (1979) Immanuel Velikovsky wrote: "My conclusion that, as a result of its interplay with Jupiter, Saturn became a nova,(7) I found confirmed in many ancient sources, in which Saturn is regularly associated with brilliant light; but I was led to this idea first of all by a certain clue contained in the Biblical account of the Deluge."[6]

Earth as a satellite of Saturn

Dwardu Cardona's "God Star" (2006)

Several authors have independently suggested that mythological sources and ancient texts, lead to the conclusion that the Earth was once a moon of the planet Saturn:

Dwardu Cardona writes:^[7]

"Independent of Velikovsky, but basing their work on his, Harold Tresman and Bernard Newgrosh (writing under the name of Brendan O'Gheoghan), also came to the conclusion that Earth must have once been a satellite of Saturn,(3)^[8] a topic to which Tresman has more recently returned.(4)^[9] Combining Velikovsky's postulate with that of David Talbott and others, Frederick Hall embraced the same idea, presenting it in a speculative scenario concerning the history of the Solar System.(5)^[10]"

Alfred de Grazia notes:

"The year 1977 marked the beginning of quantavolutionary publications about Saturn. Three articles appeared, written by David Talbott,^[11] by Dwardu Cardona,^[12][13] and jointly by Harold Tresman and B. O'Gheoghan.^[8] A few months later, Velikovsky, who had inspired the studies in each case, without participating in them released a fragment of his manuscripts on Saturn. [..] Saturn was a second sun, shining by day and night upon Earth. "^[14]

For example:

(1884) Oskar Reichenbach is recalled by Dwardu Cardona: "Actually, a similar, if more bizarre, idea that proposes the Earth to be "an offspring of Saturn" was aired as long ago as 1884 by Oskar Reichenbach(2) as part of a theory purporting to prove that land masses on Earth have rifted and moved northward. Thus, as wrong as he might have been, and I am not here concerned with defending Reichenbach, his ideas preceded the similar ones of Alfred Wegener by some 33 years"[7][15] (1974) Lynn E. Rose writes: "Still others may suppose that the pre-Flood "year" was indeed the period of Earth's revolution, but that Earth was revolving around some body other than the Sun (7)"[16] (1977) Harold Tresman and Bernard Newgrosh (writing as B. O'Gheoghan) wrote: " What must have been the relationship between the Earth and this great body - proto-Saturn? There are two answers we consider. The first is that the Earth was indeed nearer to this body, but on an orbit about the Sun independent of the great body, thus there would be times when the aspect of the proto-Saturn body would be large. However, there would also be times when its aspect would be quite small, as at present. Neither does this explanation account for some of the satellitic descriptions. The alternative proposal is startling. It is that at one time the Earth orbited as a satellite of proto-Saturn"[8] (1977) Ralph E. Juergens wrote: "Velkovsky has stated that Saturn was disrupted in a near-collision with Jupiter. Knowing little or nothing of the details, I can most easily imagine such an encounter in terms of a Saturnian planetary system, which included the Earth, being invaded, dismembered, and captured by an interloping system of relative giants consisting essentially of the present Sun and Jupiter (if nothing else, the axial inclinations of Jupiter and its offspring, Venus, argue for an ancestral relationship between Jupiter and the Sun). Now, even though Velikovsky points out that Saturn was once a much more massive body than it is today, it is hard to imagine that it could have been massive enough to be a star in the context of the thermonuclear theory of stellar energy. If, however, it was an electrically fuelled star, its initial stellar state and its sudden demise seem readily explainable."[17]

(1978) Dwardu Cardona wrote: "It is also possible that the planet Saturn was much closer to Earth than it is at present or that the Earth itself was on an entirely different orbit and at a different distance from the sun than it is now. In fact we have good reason to believe that, during the period of Earth history with which we are concerned, our little world was actually a satellite held in the electro-magnetic and/or gravitational embrace of the giant planet".[18] (1979) Immanuel Velikovsky wrote: "It is conceivable that the Earth was, at that time, a satellite of Saturn, afterwards possibly becoming a satellite of Jupiter."[6] (1979) Lynn E. Rose writes: "Velikovsky has suggested that, many thousands of years ago but still within human memory, Earth might have been a satellite of Saturn. [..] We are now supposing that the Central Fire was Saturn, that Earth was in orbit around Saturn and always kept the same face toward Saturn, and that Saturn (with Earth) revolved around the Sun in one "year". Day and night would be solar phenomena, but caused by the revolution of Earth around Saturn. Even at night Saturn would provide illumination to the part of Earth that always faced Saturn."[19] (1980) David Talbott wrote in his book, The Saturn Myth: "Saturn did not move on its present remote orbit, but ruled as the central sun around which the other heavenly bodies visually revolved"[20] (1984) David Talbott and Ev Cochrane wrote: "It is understood that Velikovsky believed the Earth and Saturn to have once moved in close proximity, with the Earth perhaps revolving as a Saturnian moon. [..] The Saturn Myth .. proposes that Saturn - fixed at the celestial pole - loomed massively overhead, a central sun venerated by all mankind. Evidence is presented there for a Saturnian "polar configuration" as the source of early civilization's dominant symbols. "[21]

Models

Polar configuration

A co-linear model of the Saturn / Venus/ Mars / Earth system is shared by a several researchers, including David Talbott, and Dwardu Cardona. Fred Jueneman has jocularly described it as a 'planetary shish kebab'.^[22] Talbott describes:

".. the polar configuration as I have come to visualize it[..] involves three planets - Earth, Mars, and Saturn - rotating on a common axis extending "out" or "down" from Jupiter (or "up"; the ideas are relative)."^[23]

Cardona notes that:

"Talbott's model, in which the co-axial Saturnian system is made to orbit Jupiter equatorially as a rigid rod, received something of a dubious boost from the structural dynamicist Robert Grubaugh, who specializes in placing satellites into orbit.^[24] In this scheme, the two co-axial planets, that is Saturn and Earth, are made to revolve about Jupiter "in a line synchronous with Jupiter's orbit around the sun. [..] Several calculations were performed by Grubaugh to "demonstrate that the alignment is feasible according to the laws of Newtonian gravitation"^[25]

Cardona continues:

"In 1999, Emilio Spedicato, physicist and head of mathematics at the University of Bergamo, Italy .. produced an impressive an impressive array of equations which, at least numerically, were found to be in agreement with the Saturnian polar model.^[26] [..] a year later, Spedicato teamed up with Antonio Del Popolo, an astrophysicist who was then also at the University of Bergamo, in a further attempt to quantify the inherent stability of the proposed Saturnian co-axial system and,^[27] more importantly, to see how long the system would have remained stable." ^[28]

Earth as Saturn's satellite (Modified-Philolaos model)

Similar to Velikovsky's model, Tresman and Newgrosh describe theirs as:

".. the Earth orbited as a satellite of proto-Saturn [..] a development of ideas first formulated by Harold Tresman late in 1972, which led to his visualising the Earth in a "locked" orbit around Saturn - i.e., same face always towards the primary - at a time (within human memory) when Saturn was without its rings and Earth without its Moon".^[8]

Lynn E. Rose describes his model thus:

"The 'modified-Philolaos' model is easy to summarise: Earth once orbited Saturn, always keeping the same face toward Saturn, which thus appeared stationary to any observers in that hemisphere, with Eden/Aden as the sub- Saturnian point. The Moon and other bodies may also have orbited Saturn but were probably farther out than the orbit of Earth. Saturn itself would have orbited the Sun. Saturn, much larger then than now, would have functioned as a Sun of Night. Not only would it have reflected sunlight but also it would have emitted light of its own. Both the rotation and the revolution of Earth were left-handed, so that the Sun, the Moon (if it was there) and any planets that were there all rose in the west and set in the east. [..]"^[29]

Barbell model

Dwardu Cardona recalls that:

".. in January of 1980, the electrical engineer and mathematical statistician, Chris Sherrerd, sent a most surprising letter to Kronos .. "The Plausibility of the Polar Saturn"^[30] .. stating that such a planetary system was "not only plausible but likely." He considered that a linear configuration, with Jupiter and Saturn at one end and Earth in the middle, "is a feasible and stable arrangement according to well-know principles of modern physics."^[31]

Cardona continues:

"Robert Discoll, a physicist from Caltech [..] it is the Saturn-Jupiter barbell formation that he saw fit to analyze through a series of mathematical-physical equations.^[32] [..] According to Driscoll, the Saturnian system came into being within the Solar System itself when an unnamed gaseous super-giant went through nuclear fissioning, thus instigating a series of minor calamities resulting [..] in Earth being captured between Jupiter and Saturn."^[33]

Criticisms

Roger Ashton writes:

".. writers as David N. Talbott, Dwardu Cardona and others have produced several divergent versions of planetarily reconstructed myth in which Saturn is situated at the Earth's north celestial pole. The latter seems quite preposterously at odds with gravitation, which would not allow Saturn and the rotational pole of Earth to remain immobile with respect to each other."^[34]

Rose has criticised the co-linear model:

"Other Saturn theories have Earth's north rotational pole pointed at Mars, with Venus, Saturn and Jupiter lined up directly behind Mars. Several variants of this have been proposed over the years, notably by Frederic Jueneman, David Talbott, Dwardu Cardona and Ev Cochrane, the last two of whom will be speaking tomorrow, as will Wal Thornhill who, along with Robert Driscoll, Emilio Spedicato and Robert Grubaugh, have given support to the theory from the technical side. Nonetheless, I have several criticisms of this kind of Saturn theory. The key issues for me are nomenclature, stability, myth, and transference. [..]"

"I regret to say that there is a similar behaviour in the field of Saturnian studies. 'The Saturn Theory' becomes whatever their theory is and it excludes me. Even words like 'polar' and 'axial' are co-opted, as if those words characterise their theory but not mine. Thus the so-called 'Saturn theory' to this day does not have a name I can accept. My own 'modified-Philolaos' theory is a 'stationary-Saturn' theory and a 'pole' theory and a 'World- Mountain' theory and an 'Axis- Mundi' theory, so I cannot accept any names for the 'Saturn Theory' that utilise such words as those. Some have called it 'the abacus theory', which I could accept, but that has not caught on. I once suggested the name 'northernism',^[35] since Earth's north pole points at Mars, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter but that has not caught on either [9]. I would now like to propose the name 'god-kebob' for this overcrowded column of deities but the defenders of the theory probably won't like that any more than 'northernism'"^[29]

Victor Slabinski, an astronomer in the Astrodynamics section at INTELSAT in Washington, D.C., who works on the orbital mechanics of geostationary communications satellites, criticised Robert Grubaugh's polar configuration (PC) model and concluded that his:

".. paper gives insufficient mathematical analysis; [and ..] our results here show that Grubaugh's PC is untenable"^[36]

On Spedicato's model, Cardona notes that:

".. the results from the equations involved did not confirm the required sustained dynamical stability of the model.^[27] On the contrary, it was found that the stability of such an axially aligned system would be lost "rather fast, with its maximum duration corresponding to only about 3 months, when its "expected stability should extend at least over several thousand years"^[28]

References

1. ↑ C. E. R. Bruce, A New Approach in Astrophysics and Cosmogony (1944) (privately published)
2. ↑ William Mullen, "A Reading of the Pyramid Texts", Pensée Vol. 3 No 1: (Winter 1973) "Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered III"
3. ↑ Morris Jastrow Jr, "Sun and Saturn", Revue D'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale, Septième Volume (Vol. VII), Paris 1910. Online at catastrophism.com
4. ↑ Lewis M. Greenberg and Warner B. Sizemore, "Saturn And Genesis", Kronos Vol. I No. 3 (Fall 1975)
5. ↑ Dwardu Cardona, "The Sun Of Night", Kronos Vol. III No. 1 (Fall 1977).
6. ↑ ^{a b} Immanuel Velikovsky, "On Saturn And The Flood", Kronos Vol. V No. 1 (Fall 1979) It is noted that "this essay is based upon a lecture given by Immanuel Velikovsky at the University of the New World, Valais, Switzerland, in 1971. It was first transcribed by his secretary, Mr. Jan Sammer, who supplied both additional textual material (offset by brackets) as well as certain relevant referential data. Dr. Velikovsky's lecture was derived from his own unpublished manuscript - Saturn and the Flood - which was first conceived and written in the early 1940's. See also: Immanuel Velikovsky, "Saturn's Golden Age" in Part II: Saturn and the Flood, In the Beginning, (unpublished). Online at the Velikovsky Archive. See also: "On Saturn and the Flood", loc. cit.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Dwardu Cardona, "Darkness and the Deep", Aeon III:3 (Oct 1993). Online at www.bearfabrique.org
8. ↑ ^{a b c d} Tresman, Harold & B. O'Gheoghan (1977), "The Primordial Light," SIS. Review Vol II No 2 (December), 35-40. Online at Harold Tresman's Web site
9. ↑ H. Tresman, "Geological Genesis", C & C Workshop 1992:2, pp.4ff. Online at Harold Tresman's Web site
10. ↑ F. F. Hall, "Solar System Studies," Part 2, Aeon I:4 (July 1988), p.26.
11. ↑ Talbott, David N. (1977), "Saturn: Universal Monarch and Dying God," Report, Research Communications Network, Portland, Oregon.
12. ↑ Dwardu Cardona, "The Sun Of Night", Kronos Vol. III No. 1 (Fall 1977)
13. ↑ Dwardu Cardona, "Let There be Light", Kronos Vol. III No. 3 (Spring 1978)
14. ↑ Alfred de Grazia, Chaos and Creation: An Introduction to Quantavolution in Human and Natural History, "Chapter Eight: Saturn's Children" 1981 Metron Publications, ISBN 0-940268-00-0. Online at quantavolution.org
15. ↑ O. Reichenbach, On Some of the Remarkable Features in the Evolution of the Earth (London, 1884), p.5.
16. ↑ Lynn E. Rose, "The Lengths of the Year", Pensée Vol. 4 No 3: (Summer 1974) "Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered VIII. Referencing: Frederic B. Jueneman, "A Most Exciting Planet," Industrial Research, 15 (July, 1973), p. 11.
17. ↑ Ralph E. Juergens, "The Critics and Stellar Energy", SIS Review Vol II No 2 (Dec 1977)
18. ↑ Dwardu Cardona, "Let There be Light", Kronos Vol. III No. 3 (Spring 1978)
19. ↑ Lynn E. Rose, "Variations on a Theme of Philolaos", Kronos Vol. V No. 1 (Fall 1979)
20. ↑ David Talbott, "The Polar Sun", The Saturn Myth (1980) Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-113376-5
21. ↑ David Talbott and Ev Cochrane, "The Origin of Velikovsky's Comet", Kronos Vol. X No. 1 (Fall 1984)
22. ↑ Dwardu Cardona, "Friday Evening Discussion", SIS Chronology & Catastrophism Review 2000:1 "Proceedings of the SIS Silver Jubilee Event"
23. ↑ David Talbott, "Guidelines To The Saturn Myth", Kronos Vol. X No. 3 (Summer 1985)
24. ↑ R. Grubaugh, "A Proposed Model for the Polar Configuration", Aeon III:3 (October 1993)
25. ↑ Dwardu Caronda, God Star, 2006, Trafford Publishing, ISBN 1-4120-8308-7. Page 411-412
26. ↑ E. Spedicato, "Numerical Analysis of Planetary Distances in a Polar Model", Aeon V:4 (July 1999) pp.23-28
27. ↑ ^{a b} E. Spedicato & A. Del Popolo, "Dynamical Evolution of a Collineary Planetary System", Aeon V:6 (August 2000 pp.14.20. Online at unibg.it. See also "Equilibrium Distances of a Collinear Planetary System", "
28. ↑ ^{a b} Dwardu Caronda, God Star, 2006, Trafford Publishing, ISBN 1-4120-8308-7. Page 412
29. ↑ ^{a b} Lynn E. Rose, "Sirius and Saturn", SIS Chronology & Catastrophism Review 2000:1 "Proceedings of the SIS Silver Jubilee Event"
30. ↑ C. Sherrerd, "The Plausibility of the Polar Saturn" (unpublished)
31. ↑ Dwardu Caronda, God Star, 2006, Trafford Publishing, ISBN 1-4120-8308-7. Page 410
32. ↑ R. Driscoll, "The Saturn Myth: A Tentative Physical Model", Aeon I:4 (Jul 1988)
33. ↑ Cardonda, ibid., Page 411
34. ↑ Roger Ashton, "The Unworkable Polar Saturn", Aeon I:3 (1988). See also Roger Ashton, "The Bedrock of Myth" (unpublished). Online at saturnian.org
35. ↑ Lynn E. Rose, "On Saturn At the North Pole", Aeon I:6 (1988)
36. ↑ Victor J. Slabinski, "A Dynamical Objection to Grubaugh's Model", Aeon III:6 (Dec 1994). See also "Grubaugh Responds" by Bob Grubaugh, and "Letters To The Editor" in the same issue

Selected bibliography

• Immanuel Velikovsky, "Saturn and the Flood", In the Beginning, (unpublished) at the Velikovsky Archive.
• Ev Cochrane, "The Saturn Myth" online at www.maverickscience.com
• Dwardu Cardona, "The Road to Saturn", Aeon vol.0103, online at Aeon Journal
• Tresman, Harold & B. O'Gheoghan (1977), "The Primordial Light" SIS. Review Vol II No 2 (December), 35-40. Online at Harold Tresman's Web site
• Alfred de Grazia and Earl R. Milton, "Ch.14: The Golden Age and Nova of Super Saturn", Solaria Binaria: Origins and History of the Solar System, 1984 Metron Publications, ISBN 0940268-04-3. Online at the Grazian Archive.

Planet X: Comets & Earth Changes: An Interview with James McCanney

James McCanney

Perhaps one of the most controversial figures in astronomy, offering evidence that a planet-sized body may come close to Earth as early as this May, James McCanney, M.S., a former theoretical physicist at Cornell University, spoke with The EDGE about his findings, which are detailed in his recently published book, Planet-X: Comets & Earth Changes. Subtitled “A Scientific Treatise on the Effects of a new large Planet or Comet arriving in our Solar System and Expect Earth Weather and Earth Changes,” this book has some people quite nervous and reportedly has high governmental officials planning ways to protect themselves in the case of cataclysmic disaster.

 

What is the nature and origin of Planet X, also known as the tenth planet in our solar system?

James McCanney: First of all. I want to put in perspective the solar system in general and I’ll do this throughout the interview to clarify my beliefs, as opposed to what you may hear or say from a standard astronomy textbook.

 

First of all, the solar system was not created all at one time as NASA would have you believe. All of the planets except for Jupiter have been adopted into the solar system one at a time throughout the history of the solar system. The original star system was just Jupiter and our Sun. So throughout history, we’ve gathered occurrences where new planets come into form by an electrical process. They become very large comets and then nestle in as planets, and my theoretical work shows how all of this happens. Let’s call any new planet to come into the solar system “Planet X,” because that is a term that is used for objects that have not been named yet.

 

If we could go way outside of the solar system and look back at our solar system from a distance and identify all of the bodies that are associated with it, we would see numerous large objects, possibly in very large orbits around the Sun.

Only a few of them come into the inner solar system where we live, and the ones that do frequent the inner solar system, some may be on orbits of 100,000 years, while some might be on orbits of a few thousand years.

These objects are the ones that have affected Earth in the past. We are now expecting another object, which possibly has been here before, to come into the inner solar system within possibly the next 10 years — and there is a good reason to believe that it might be as early as May 2003.

This Planet X is in the category of large solar system objects that orbit our Sun and also come within the planetary region of our solar system occasionally. A few of these in the past have come close enough to Earth or close enough to the Sun to cause serious damage to planet Earth. I also should mention that we see the marks of these “invaders,” so to speak, or these periodic visitors on the other planets. For example, Mars is devoid of an atmosphere and its oceans, but it’s very clear when you look at Mars that it lost its water and atmosphere recently. So, the belief that an object could come into this solar system and drastically affect Earth is not that outlandish.

NASA, of course, will try and tell you that the solar system formed all at one time four and a half billion years ago and all the planets have been in stable orbits since then, but even NASA is discovering new planets that it never knew about — and it has no explanation for where these mini planets came from.

I want to mention Hale-Bopp, the comet that visited the inner solar system in the 1990s. It was a perfect example of a new planet that is in its formative stages. NASA kept secret the real information on Hale-Bopp long before its 1995 discovery, which was made public, that it was on a near-collision course with Earth. However, due to its dragging in the tail material and becoming larger, its orbit was altered so that Earth moved ahead three months during that about nine-year period to the point where we were no longer on a collision course with Hale-Bopp. The other thing is NASA has been lying about the size of the nucleus of Hale-Bopp. The nucleus of Hale-Bopp is about the size of our Moon. They claim that it’s only a large comet, possibly only 80 miles in extent. So, we’ve already seen one of these Planet X type objects.

NASA was in communication with the Vatican during the 1990s, and the Vatican, in fact, built a major observatory in Arizona, staffed it with NASA astronomers. The main purpose of that observatory was to observe the large comet Hale-Bopp. The question the Vatican posed to NASA was, “Is Hale-Bopp wormwood?” (Wormwood is the the large planetary object referenced in Revelations that ravaged Earth.) So they all knew very early in the early ’90s that this large comet, Hale-Bopp, was on a near-collision course with Earth, but throughout the ’90s they refused to make this public. The Hopi Indians believe that Hale-Bopp was the precursor to what we call Planet X. My personal belief is that Hale-Bopp was a small companion to the large Planet X on its previous visit about 4,000 years ago and that there was also another companion to Planet X, which later became the planet Venus, as explained by Immanuel Belikovsky.

My theoretical work shows how comets are not dirty snowballs, that they are, in fact, a plasma-electrical phenomenon involving the Sun and an astroidal comet nucleus and, in fact, that these comets are dragging in the tail material and becoming larger. So, in the case of Venus, my theoretical work explains how Venus was a huge comet, ravaged Earth on two separate occasions about 4,000 and 3,600 years ago and then as it absorbed material from the comet tail, eventually nestled into the orbit where we see it today.

Could you please explain the history of your work back to 1979 when you were on the faculty of Cornell University, which led to your current book, Planet X, Comets and Earth Changes?

McCanney: I was a theoretical physicist at that time, studying celestial mechanics and plasma physics on my own. I also had access to NASA data from space probes, which were newly discovering the properties of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the other planets.

What I found was that the expectations of traditional theory were not being met. I found that the electrical, magnetic nature of the solar system that I had been studying quietly in the back room was very pronounced in the data that was coming back from these space probes. Thus, I began publishing my papers in astrophysics journals. And then I was actually relieved of my teaching position at Cornell because my theories (about the nature of comets) were so radically different from the standard norm. I lost my teaching position and was blackballed from further publication.

I continued to study this over the past 30-plus years and this has led to my current book, Planet X, Comets and Earth Changes, which was written for the general public. It also contains the early technical papers in the back for more technically minded people. The book was written to explain my theories on how the Sun’s electric fields affect our weather and what I call Earth changes.

My point is that these large comets, which are fairly rare but do visit our inner solar system occasionally as is imminently clear from historical records from the ancients, can drastically affect the planet in numerous ways. In the book I explain the theoretical nature of comets and describe how they become planets, new members of our solar system, and also how their near-approaches to the inner solar system can cause dramatic Earth changes.

What are some of the Earth changes expected to take place as this planet approaches the Earth?

McCanney: First of all, we don’t have a definite sighting on this object. There is a belief, based on NASA’s internal studies from the early ’90s, that this object is coming in from a southerly location that is only visible during the month of May from the very southern locations on Earth, specifically New Zealand. Last spring, the weather in New Zealand did not cooperate and we were unable to get good observations, but we’re waiting possibly as early as February of this year to be able to observe this object in the southern hemisphere as the Earth turns around the Sun.

We do believe a large, new object is coming into the solar system because of the preparations of the governments around the world, including our own. They’re building cave cities for certain elite members of our society and basically leaving the rest of us out to hang like dirty laundry in the wind.

The effects on the Earth are very clear, both from my theoretical work and from what the ancients describe. There are episodes of mountain building. There could be a pole shift caused by a gravitational tidal wave that moves through the surface mantle of the Earth. There would be flooding both from tidal waves of the oceans, tremendous atmospheric storms and also from a huge pollution influx of oil and water — hydrocarbons and water — from inner planetary space onto Earth. And all of these things have been seen in the past.

The Bible talks about, for example, when all the vermin, bugs, insects and snakes came out of the ground and overran the Earth. This was a direct result of the electric fields penetrating the mantle of the Earth and causing these creatures to leave the ground and come out of the ground. The atmospheric conditions include the increase in the number of volcanoes going off.

I want to mention is that these planetary objects do not have to come necessarily that close to Earth to cause even dramatic Earth changes. Electrical discharges can occur between the planets even a distance apart. These, in fact, have been measured with NASA satellites where, in the 1990s, we saw incredible electrical discharges flow between Jupiter and Earth, taking out a number of our communication satellites. The scientists at that time were totally puzzled that outer space could do this. They still don’t understand the very electrical nature of our solar system. My book explains, in fact, how this works in a theoretical sense, and it also explains in a practical sense the effects it would have on planet Earth.

Have we already seen any of the effects that could be attributed to Planet X?

McCanney: Absolutely. We’re seeing the Sun at an excited level never before seen. There was a solar maximum in the year 2000 that would be the expected time for the Sun to reach the maximum of activity on its 11-year solar cycle, and after that it would be expected to diminish in energy over that 11-year span of time. We should be well on the way in the year 2003 to the solar minimum, but instead, the Sun is at an explosive state never before seen in the history of our solar system. My theoretical work shows how, in fact, the Sun is interacting with some large object that we have not seen yet — NASA probably has seen it, but it is not telling us — causing the dramatic solar flares that we’re seeing.

Are there any safe zones to be aware of should this come to pass?

McCanney: It’s very difficult to say that there are so-called “safe zones.” You might be safe from flooding in one area, but earthquakes and volcanic activity might be devastating. The best thing you can say is that it would not be safe to be near the oceans, because of the movement of the oceans, tidal waves and that type of Earth change.

What is desperately needed is public awareness so we can build safe shelters, domed regions with reinforced cement. We know these structures will withstand a lot, but right now there’s been no preparation except for the people who we call “leaders” in this country. They’ve prepared for a 50-year span where they would be safe in caves, without informing the public who, very much at this point, could be on the road towards preparedness and being in a mode of being much better off than they would be with no information and no preparation.

Please explain how the findings of ancient civilizations in the so-called Ice Age relates to your theory.

McCanney: What is very clear is that the Ice Age that we see in North America, what we call the Laurentian ice shield, was actually the old north polar cap of Earth. At that time, Siberia had a tropical climate and the south pole was in the region of the south Indian Ocean. What we’re finding is that the mass extinction that included the mastodons, the woolly mammoths and the saber tooth tiger was an event that occurred due to the passage of a very large celestial object that caused the poles to move approximately 30-40 degrees.

The old north pole of Earth used to be somewhere north of the state of Wisconsin, and this shift happened overnight. The mastodons in Siberia that are frozen in the tundra, for example, were quick-frozen in a moment’s notice. The one they dug out of the tundra just a year or two ago, was standing on all fours with undigested tropical plants in its throat. In other words, it was frozen, alive, while standing. We find this type of devastation all around the world. We’re also learning how vast civilizations of humans around the globe were devastated at that time. Entire cities, predating the Egyptian pyramids, are being dug out of the lower regions of the Andes mountains in South America. An ancient pyramid-type city, off the coast of Cuba, was recently discovered 2,000 feet under the ocean surface. And, of course, we have tales of cities like Atlantis and the prediluvian world, with standard science trying its best to explain away all of this as being localized events. But what is crystal clear is that this was one worldwide event caused by the passage of a large celestial object — and we are expecting that this could happen in the future with the passage of a large object that we call Planet X.

This passes approximately every 3,600 years?

McCanney: There are people saying numbers, but I don’t give numbers myself unless I have scientific data. There are people claiming that they have visions or other sources of information that would indicate May 2003 would be the date of the next passage, but I won’t predict dates or project dates into the past without definite scientific information. There is a definite dating structure, however, that shows that approximately 3,600 years ago there was a major event on this planet caused by an extra-celestial object. But, when it will happen in the future is unknown scientifically at this time, except to the people in NASA who are hiding the information from the public.

Most of the information about Planet X, comets and earth changes have been strictly grassroots. Why hasn’t NASA or the government released this information to the general public?

McCanney: NASA scientists are under a strict National Security Agency contract to not talk to the public at all. They cannot talk to the public about anything. NASA has official news release agencies. NASA has been confronted with the topic of Planet X, but it has chosen to send out representatives who are not NASA employees, and the first thing that they say is they do not represent NASA or their interests. To date, NASA has refused to make a public statement on record regarding Planet X, its arrival date and what they know about this large object that we believe is coming in the solar system.

Now, there’s been much disinformation on the subject in the media. Can you shed some light on this?

McCanney: If you go on the internet and search for Planet X, you’ll find a tremendous amount of disinformation. There has been a concerted disinformation campaign by the government through people on the internet, some of whom claim to be visionary or talk to aliens. Other disinformation comes from people who simply use their first name. What I’m attempting to do with my book and radio interviews is draw a middle ground and some clarity to this topic.

I’ve been on possibly 50 national radio shows in the past four months. I have my own radio show on the internet every Thursday night from 9-10 p.m. Eastern, streaming on the internet [www.realityradionetwork.com]. You have the disinformation people on the internet on one side, and you have the government introducing disinformation on the other, leaving the public unable to understand what they should believe. That’s why I have been very popular on these radio shows. People understand what I’m saying and it makes sense.

Now, Jim, is it possible that this is one of the cataclysmic events prophesied by those such as the Bible, Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce?

McCanney: Yes, and if you look at not just the prediction of Earth changes and dramatic Earth devastation, many of the other prophecies are very much coming in line with this event. So, for people who have studied those topics, most people agree that we are on the verge of having another major Earth change. The Hopi Indians have an entire legend built around this. Their early cultures talked very much about the passage, about the seven stages of Earth changes as they called them. They make no qualms about the Earth changes. They say that the comets are the things that cause this and that the blue comets are the dangerous ones. We now know scientifically that the blue comets are the dangerous ones, because those are the ones that are so electrically active that they literally light up like a light bulb in the daytime sky.

Is it expected that there will be a collision with the Earth or are these changes going to happen by a near passage?

McCanney: The probability of a direct collision is very remote and very small, but in the past we know that these things have occurred without a large crater on Earth. In fact, all of the Earth changes can be explained by a near passage of one of these large objects through the inner solar system.

In fact, my book talks about what I call “action at a distance.” That is, the object does not have to be anywhere near Earth to cause dramatic Earth changes. For example, the object could interact electrically with the Sun, as it is doing now, the Sun would throw out an enormous solar flare and that would drastically affect our weather, causing tremendous storms that would devastate the Earth. It could reverse our magnetic field, causing a high amount of radiation to come into the planetary surface. It could increase the number of volcanoes that become active and cause earthquakes. We already know that the Sun can do this without the Planet X object being near Earth.

Do you believe that if the public is well-informed about this event that they may take steps to prepare for it?

McCanney: The entire purpose of my going public, and writing my book, is to make the statement that it’s not a matter of “if” this is going to happen. The question is only “when.” Preparation at an early stage is imperative. It would be a mistake to wait and allow ourselves to expect to prepare at the last minute.

Government scientists are mistaken when they believe that this passage will only cause a day or two of trauma to the Earth. We are already seeing the effects of a large object in the solar system, and a near passage would cause months of effects before the passage and possibly years of effects afterwards. So, it is imperative to prepare early and to have good data that NASA is hiding right now that would help us prepare.

Now, looking at this from a spiritual aspect, could it be that this is a triggering device to awaken souls to the time of transition and a shift in consciousness and not an end-time scenario as many view it to be?

McCanney: Absolutely. The human consciousness is definitely going to be awakened. For people to survive, it will not be possible for them to crawl into a cave by themselves with supplies and somehow come out of this as the sole survivor. It will have to be a total community effort where people understand what the damage and dangers would be and to prepare for it in a communal type of manner with total cooperation. Without such cooperation, there won’t be any survivors — if it’s as serious as we think it possibly could be, if it’s as serious as it has been in the past.

We see that the civilizations that did survive the last encounter actually formed many of the religious beliefs that came out of ancient culture. For example, a simple one is that if a man died, his brother would marry his wife to keep the procreation going, because at that point they were in a desperate survival mode. So, you find that much of the civilizations that did survive in the past did so as civilizations, not as individuals.

Along with your book, Planet X, Comets and Earth Changes, could you recommend any other good sources of information to people who would like to learn more about this topic?

McCanney: As I mentioned, I host a weekly radio show on the internet and I also have a website that I keep current with information. Other books that would be pertinent might be Mark Hazlewood’s book, Blindsided, which talks about the possibility that this object could be here as early as May 2003. Mark’s book is important because it made the public aware of Planet X, not so much as he is specifying a date for a passage.

A tremendous source of information is the work by Immanuel Velikovsky, who wrote three books describing his translation of ancient texts which, in fact, describe what the ancients encountered during the last series of Earth changes caused by an extra-solar system object. I’m going to mention also that NASA has spent decades downgrading his work, but what my work shows is that Velikovsky was right on the mark. The only thing missing from his books, which were written in the 1950s and describe Venus as a large comet that devastated Earth on two occasions 3,600 years ago, was a sound theoretical structure for his space science — and that’s what my work provides. It explains how comets become planets and how they come into the solar system and are formed. What is clear from recent space probe data is that all of the theories presented by NASA are incorrect.

In an overall statement to society in general, what is it you would like to tell them about the whole subject of Planet X and what is the message that we need to receive from this?

McCanney: The entire message of Planet X is that Earth has experienced and that civilizations have experienced these events in the past and they will happen again in the future. As a civilization, we have to prepare for this as it will be the most Earth-changing event in our future. Left totally unprepared, it might happen in 100 years, it might happen in 50 years, it could happen within the next 10 years or it could happen this coming May, but given any of those scenarios, we, as a civilization, as a species, must prepare for the most devastating event. If not, as a civilization we are doomed. And, being prepared is the most important thing that we can do.

We can build cement domes that kids could play in when this is not an imminent danger, but left totally unprepared there would be nearly a mass extinction of the human race. That’s why it’s imperative that we prepare now, whether it’s in the near future or the more distant future. We must prepare mentally, physically and spiritually as a human race for these events because, as I said before, it’s not a matter of “if” it will happen, but a matter of “when.”

Our government, obviously, is doing this major cover-up about Planet X. What are the other countries doing? Are they covering up the information as well?

McCanney: What’s interesting is that this is public knowledge in other countries, including Russia, where we usually would consider it to be a state where the government controls information. The topic of Planet X has been on billboards in Moscow, so the public around the world is very much aware of this.

The news media in the United States is very controlled by large corporations and government influence. In fact, the United States is one of the regions where very little, if anything, is known about Planet X amongst the general public.

Throughout the ’90s, top space scientists and astronomers in Russia took my published scientific papers, translated them into Russian and were teaching them to graduate-level science students in Russia in the top universities. Later in the 1990s, I noticed my e-mails were being intercepted, and eventually, my contact with the Russian scientists was cut off entirely.

The Russian scientists became very interested in my work because they were experimentalists, atmospheric experimentalists and space scientists and they were measuring effects that they didn’t understand. When they read my papers they realized that my papers explained what they were seeing.

For more information, go to James McCanney’s homepage at www.jmccanneyscience.com

Copyright © 2003 Cathy Jacobsen. All Rights Reserved.

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