MDDM Ch. 7 - Shaula

[John Bailey]

Wow. Thanks Otto. I especially like...

"Influences: Helps in besieging cities, taking towns, driving men from their 
places, destruction of seamen and captives. "

Very appropriate.

Are Mason or Dixon's birthdays mentioned in this novel? It would be fun to 
get an astrological reading for them. I seem to recall some similar stuff 
with Maskelynne later on, but I can't remember the details.


>From: "Otto" <o.sell at telda.net>
>To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: MDDM Ch. 7 - Shaula
>Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 11:04:39 +0200
>
>jbor:
> >
> > What is the second altitude of Shaula? (71.6, 72.15)
> >
>
>"(...) the zenith-Star of the cape, Shaula, the Sting of the Tail of the
>Scorpion, (...)" (62)
>
>Fixed star:  SHAULA
>Constellation:  Lambda Scorpius
>Longitude 1900:  23SAG11. Longitude 2000:  24SAG35.
>Declination 1900:  -37.02'. Declination 2000:  -37.05'.
>Right ascension:  17h33m. Latitude:  -13.47'.
>Spectral class:  B2. Magnitude:  1.63 variable.
>Suggested orb: 1 deg. approx. Planetary nature: Mer-Mar
>
>History of the star: This star can be read with upsilon (Lesath) both are
>close together in the Sting of the Scorpion, Scorpius.
>
>Shaula from Arabic Ash-Shaulah (1), or Al Shaulah "The raised tail of the
>scorpion"; from Mushalah, "Raised", referring to the position of the sting
>ready to strike. These words have been confused with the names for the
>adjoining upsilon (Lesath), and in the course of time corrupted to Shauka,
>Alascha, Mosclek, and Shomlek from Mosclek, which signifies the bending of
>the tail.
>
>Lamda (Shaula) and upsilon (Lesath) were the Arabic 17th manzil, Al Shaulah
>[Influences: Helps in besieging cities, taking towns, driving men from 
>their
>places, destruction of seamen and captives. With Moon transiting here; buy
>cattle, hunt but do not marry. (Robson)].
>
>These two stars were the Hindu nakshatra Vicritau, the "Two Releasers",
>perhaps from the Vedic opinion that they brought relief from lingering
>disease. Some Hindu authorities, taking in all the stars from epsilon to
>upsilon, called the whole Mula, the "Root", with the divine Nirrity,
>Calamity, as regent of the asterism, which was represented as a Lion's 
>Tail;
>this title appearing also for stars of Sagittarius. [Influences: favorable
>for punishment, imprisonment, exorcism, mesmerism and separation or union
>when containing the Moon. Those born on the lunar day will be druggists,
>dealers in flowers and fruit, rich and fond of gardening. With Moon
>transiting here at birth native will be conceited, wealthy, luxurious,
>kind-hearted, happy and resolute. (Robson)].
>
>In Coptic Egypt lamda and upsilon (Lesath) were Minamref, the Sting; and, 
>on
>the Euphrates, Sarur.
>
>Iota, kappa, lamda (this star Shaula), theta (Sargas) and upsilon (Lesath),
>were the Girtab of the Euphratean lunar zodiac, the Vanant of Persia and
>Vanand of Sogdiana, all meaning the "Seizer," "Smiter," or "Stinger "; but
>the Persian and Sogdian words generally are used for our Regulus.
>In Khorasmia these stars were Khachman, the "Curved".
>Naturally it was an unlucky star with astrologers. (Allen).
>Influence of the constellation: The Scorpion is associated with the Hebrew
>letter Oin and the 16th Tarot Trump "The Lightning-Struck Tower". (Robson).
>General influence of the star: It gives danger, desperation, immorality and
>malevolence, and is connected with acid poisons. (Robson).
>http://www.winshop.com.au/annew/Shaula.html
>
>an image:
>http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/osskids/gallery/view.cfm?uid=485
>
>SHAULA (Lambda Scorpii). In temperate northern summers, Scorpius glides
>above the southern horizon, its lower curved tail almost out of sight, 
>while
>in the temperate southern winter, the constellation passes high overhead. 
>At
>the end of the tail lies a pair of stars that represent the scorpion's
>"stinger," once called Shaula, from Arabic meaning exactly that. In more
>modern times the name moved to the brighter of the pair, the fainter now
>called Lesath. Even though Bayer gave Shaula the lowly Lambda (the 11th
>letter of the Greek alphabet) designation (probably because of its far
>southern position) the star is the second brightest in the constellation,
>following Antares. At bright second magnitude (1.63), it is the 24th
>brightest star in the sky. Of second magnitude stars, only Castor in Gemini
>is brighter. Though the stinger stars appear close together, only half a
>degree apart, they are not a real couple, Shaula lying at a distance of 700
>light years, Lesath closer at 520. However both stars and several others in
>southern Scorpius do belong to the huge nearby "Scorpius OB1 association,"
>an expanding disintegrating group of hot stars that were all born about the
>same time. Shaula is a hot class B star with a temperature around 25,000
>Kelvin, over four times hotter than the Sun. Its distance, apparent
>brightness, and temperature (from which we find the amount of invisible
>ultraviolet radiation), shows it to radiate some 35,000 times more energy
>than our Sun. Shaula, however, is a close double made of roughly similar 
>hot
>stars with an orbital period of 5.9 days, so the luminosity of the brighter
>component shines some 18,000 times solar. There seems to be a third, more
>distant companion as well, about which nothing is known (showing how little
>we understand some stars). Shaula is an unusually strong source of
>low-energy X-rays, which also suggests a third component, possibly a white
>dwarf. Shaula is classed as a "subgiant," telling us that hydrogen fusion 
>in
>the core of the main component is shutting down or has shut down 
>altogether.
>With a mass around 11 times that of the Sun, the star may explode or more
>likely turn into a rare, heavy white dwarf, possibly one with a neon-oxygen
>core. Like Mirzam, Shaula is a subtle variable of the "Beta Cephei" type,
>changing its brightness by less than a tenth of a magnitude with two 
>periods
>of 0.21 and 0.11 days going on at the same time, the variation the result 
>of
>internal structural changes that no one understands very well.
>http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/shaula.html
>
>Otto
>
>
>


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