How Planets Move

Planet’s Movement

When you work with transits you pay attention to the planet’s linear movement, direct – retrograde – direct, but there is another component to take into consideration and that is a planet’s speed.

Read more >>> Retrogrades

Planetary Speed

Speed is typically calculated by how fast a planet can move each day and there is an average for every planet. If the planet moves more than the average, it is fast and if the speed is less than the average then the planet is slow.

Often it doesn’t matter to the interpretation, but when we take a broader look, as in a one year forecast, we need to be aware of this. Of the main solar system planets Chiron (which is, according to NASA, actually a comet) has very fast and very slow periods.

Johannes Kepler

Kepler’s second law of planetary motion states: A planet sweeps out an equal area in equal time. Simply put the further a planet is from the Sun in its orbit the slower it moves through the zodiac. Most orbits are elliptical (have two foci where one is the Sun) and some distances are more extreme than others.

For example: Pluto was nearer the Sun during its swift transit through its own sign of Scorpio from 1984-1995 (on and off) for only eleven years.

Pluto was in Taurus (on and off) during the period 1854-1883 for almost twenty-nine years. Remember during Pluto’s transit of Scorpio it was at times nearer to the Sun than Neptune!

We also note this phenomenon when the Moon is fast or slow for a while each month.

Johannes Kepler in the early 17th century, plays a crucial role in the science of celestial mechanics.

Kepler’s Second Law states that a line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. In simpler terms, as a planet moves along its elliptical orbit, the imaginary line connecting it to the Sun sweeps through the same amount of area in equal time intervals.

Kepler: Limerick

Here is my Kepler Limerick which popped into my head one sunny day.

Now Kepler he had a good thought

as planetary motion was fraught.

Each orbit he found

had swept out equal ground

and now his second law is taught.