โ Scribed by G. Daniel Goehring
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
~quarian backdrop needed if the vernal equinox is to make its grand entrance Infto the constellation of Aquarius, thereby signalling the start of the fabled "Age o Aquarius"? Ms. Bissell mentions that "much work" has been done on the influences of factors such as asteroids in the horoscope, distance values, magnetic activity, orb allowance, and the effect of angular motion of the planets. We would be most pleased to see the references to the quantitative or statistical data in this regard a~ well as the descriptions of the experimental techniques employed, particularly SInce we have been unable to locate same. In fact, Marc Edmund Jones dismisses asteroids as being "too small to be employed effectively and (italics mine) there ~e no adequate tabulations of their positions" ("Astrology: How and Why it orks", p. 219). Are we then to infer that if an object in space lacks adequate ephemerides, it is astrologically insignificant?
In short, if the astrologer desires to play a game that Ms. Bissell herself characterizes as the "heights of illogical craziness", then so be it. But in playing that game, please don't refer to it as science in any modern sense of the word. As astronomers we have worked far too long and hard in scientifically uncovering a marvelously wonderful universe to have the credibility of that effort damaged or ?estroyed by a group either unwilling or unable to embark on a scientific Journey of their own.
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
The following are open letters addressed to the president of the American Astronomical Society regarding Council support of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. DearMargaret, . At Austin I did not get a chance to speak to you after hearing about Council's action on the Equal Righ
I hope that Ms. Bissell will excuse us for our "unwarranted defensiveness" in our recent Quarterly articles on astrology and the scientific method. After all, the territory we defend has been won at great sacrifice on the part of men and women working in astronomy for dozens of decades. We have froz