Editor’s Note:В the following article on Sedna, written by Eric Francis, was originally published on March 19, 2004 and is now part of the Planet Waves archives, only available through a subscription to Planet Waves Astrology News. Friday marked the fifth anniversary of Sedna’s discovery. Part II of this article will be published at 6 pm EST on Sunday. –RA
So where were we? Ah yes, I was doing a little investigative reporting in the dairy aisle at Vashon Island Thriftway when I uncovered the following story.
THIS JUST IN: NATURE STILL EXISTS
For some reason, our local supermarket carries a lot of goat products; this is how the Northwest gets its reputation for being so groovy. Goat yogurt. Imagine all those mellow Northwestern farm women in their Birkenstock clogs milking little mischievous grey critters, in places like downtown Seattle, which of course you see every day.
Stuck to that particular shelf was a hand-written note that said:
Goatmilk Products
Shoppers: it’s once again birthing season for goats + supply is greatly limited – sorry – Vashon Tway.
I cannot tell you how relieved I was to see that the natural order of reality had some bearing on the human experience.
As cosmic coincidence would have it, that was the same day the discovery of Sedna was announced by astronomers at Cal Tech. It was seen using the Spitzer Space Telescope, which among its tricks peers into space by way of a camera. Most planetary discoveries are not made by gazing at the stars in the backyard sense of the word but rather by studying photographs. The discovery was made in a plate taken by Mike Brown and Chad Trujillo on Nov. 14, 2003, but due to the need to confirm the discovery, the announcement was delayed five months.
Given that the minor planet count presently stands at 243,682 (bodies orbiting our Sun), and you hardly ever hear about any of those, there’s a pretty big deal being made about Sedna; it’s made all major media and there are many articles that appear in searches.