Saturn Goes Retro Again: 1/13/10-5/31/10

No this is not some new age artist’s version of Saturn–this is an honest to goodness photograph from NASA’s APOD site which features a photo a day. This one happens to be the one posted on my birthday last year. We’re in the photo too! See there’s earth–the little blue dot on the edge of the ring on the left. Click on the photo to make it bigger and you’ll see better.

“In the Shadow of Saturn” was made by Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA. Here’s the official explanation from APOD: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet’s shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight, in this exaggerated color image. Saturn’s rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the image. Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn’s E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth.

Astrologically, Saturn goes retrograde tomorrow, January 13–just in time for this year’s Burning Man “Metropolis” tickets to go on sale! What retrograde means is that from our planetary bound perspective, Saturn appears to go backward. When planets like Saturn go retro, it’s a time to complete, pause and plan. According to Astrology.com:

Saturn turns retrograde on January 13 and all of us will feel the energy of Saturn retrograde in Libra in one way or another. Saturn is charged with the duty of teaching us our lessons in life — giving us the ability to grow and persevere, granting us the will to succeed and the strength to accomplish the tasks at hand. As we learn, we are rewarded by Saturn when the lesson or job is done.

The energy of Saturn retrograde is a fairly powerful force. This is an excellent time to grasp that retrograde energy, to bring projects to completion, and to let go of old problems and issues. By letting go of self-limitations, the future becomes more exciting and clear.

While this may not be the best time to launch new projects, it is a fabulous time to start working on those plans — particularly because of the Libra energy entwined in this retrograde. The plans you make now, if the foundation you have built is solid, will most likely begin to manifest when Saturn goes direct on May 30, 2010.

Here’s a post from last year about retrograde and direct Saturn.