Antares, the rival of Mars !

What is Mars called in Indian Astronomy? He is Angaraka, the fiery planet. He has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, Dhooma and Mrityu. He is the Defence Minister in the Government of the Almighty and represents Administration. If he be badly placed in the horoscope, the native will lack administrative ability. If he be dominant on the Meridien, the horoscope becomes powerful. ( Dasame Angarako Nasthi Jathake kim prayojanam ? ) Galactic Center in Sag is known in Indian Astronomy as Vishnu Nabhi.

Have you heard about Anti- Mars ? He is called Antares, the rival of Mars. Ancient astronomers were struck by the reddish hue of this star as it reminded them of the Red planet ! Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius and is a great sight to behold.

There is a photo of these two red giants at Planet Antares. Lovely to behold, Mars appears about 25 degrees above the horizon for north latitudes with Antares just below and to the left.

Antares is a star and is 700 times large, 9000 times more luminous and about 15 times more massive than the Sun. This close approach of Antares and Mars is a tremedous opportunity for star gazers, the twinkling star and non twinkling planet !

You can also watch Mars and Spica, with Spica twinkling and Mars not twinkling at Planet Antares Inc.

Actually, stars do not twinkle. Seen from Earth, they appear as twinkling. The beam of starlight is disturbed by the tiny irregularities in temperature and pressure in the air above us and this is what makes stars " twinkle". Scorpius and Sagittarius can be seen in these photographs. The pearly white glow of the Milky Way can be observed. Also our Galactic Center in Sagittarius

Regarding the colours of the planets, Hora says

Sun is of golden, reddish hue
Luna is the planet fair !
Dark reddish is Mars
Greenish is Mercury
Jupiter is of golden hue
Venus is white
And black is Saturn !

Raktha Shyama Bhaskaro Gaura Indu
Nathyulchango Raktha gorascha Vakra
Durve Shyame Jne, Guru Gauragatra
Shyama Shukro, Bhaskari Krishna Dehi

Calculation of Kali Days

Ahargana is defined as the no of days elapsed after the start of the Iron Age, the Kali Yuga, which began on 3102 BC.

Kali Era = English Era +3102

The no of days elapsed from Kali Start was 1822903 on 01/01/1890.

Hence

Ahargana, d = ( xdate - 01/01/1980 ) + 1822903
where xdate is the date of birth.

This Ahargana is printed on every V A Horoscope. All calculations in Indian Astronomy is based on Ahargana. Ahas means day in Sanskrit and gana means calculation.

The present Kali Era is therefore
3102 + 2010 = 5112

The difference between the Malayalam & English eras are 825. Malayalam Era is 1185 now and if you add 825 to Malayalam Era, you get English Era.

The Julian Calender used the value 365.25 d ( days ) for year and was proved erroneous. There were 10 days difference and the Gregorian Calender, the present day Calender, came into being. Gregorian uses 365.2425 d for year. The Gregorian is also not perfect, as the Tropical Zodiac is moving, and may be subject to correction after some years. The actual value of the year is

year = 365.256362424815 d

with twelve decimals. In my early days of progam development, I used two decimals and there were many days of difference. This value is given by Sir Simon Newcombe, according to Western Learning and Aryabhata, according to Indian learning.

The Equation of Bhuja

Bhujamsa is the degrees traversed by the planet in the Zodiac. In the mighty 360 degree Circle, the planet may be anywhere and its position is the mean longitude of the planet. The planet actually is in the ellipse and its position is the true longitude of the planet.

If the planet is say at 42 degrees, then the Equation of Bhuja states that its Bhujamsa is 42 degrees. That is in the first Oja Pada, in the first quarter of 0-90 degrees, the Bhujamsa is the same.

If the planet is say at 110 degrees, then the Equation of Bhuja states that its Bhujamsa is 70 degrees. That is in the first Yugma Pada, in the second quarter of 90-180 degrees, the Bhujamsa is 180 - bhuja.

If the planet is say at 200 degrees, then the Equation of Bhuja states that its Bhujamsa is 20 degrees. That is in the second Oja Pada, in the third quarter of 180-270 degrees, the Bhujamsa is bhuja - 180.

If the planet is say at 300 degrees, then the Equation of Bhuja states that its Bhujamsa is 60 degrees. That is in the second Yugma Pada, in the fourth quarter of 270-360 degrees, the Bhujamsa is 360 - bhuja.

Bhuja Jya is Sin ( M ) and is the sine value of the Kendra. Bhuja Jya is used in the calculation of Epicycles, in calculating the Equation of Center for Moon, Jupiter and Saturn.

The Manda Phala, the Equation of Center is given by the formula

Equation of Center, Mandaphala =Circumference of the Epicycle ( Parama Phala ) * Manda Kendra Jya ( Sin M ).

This is the equation used in calculating the 14 perturbations of the Moon, the five of Jupiter and the six of Saturn.

The four systems of Astronomy

There are four major methods of calculation in Astronomy

They are

Longitudes calculated along the Zodiac or Ecliptic - The Ecliptic System
Longitudes calculated along the Celestial Equator - The Equatorial System
Longitudes calculated along the Celestial Horizon - The Horizontal System
Longitudes calculated along the Celestial Meridian - The Meridian System


Longitude measured along the Kranti Vritta, the Ecliptic or Bha Chakra , the Zodiac is known as Kranti Vritteeya Sphuta, the true longitude of the planet.
Longitudes measured along the Vishuvat Vritta, the Celestial Equator is known as Vishuvat Vritteeya Sphuta, Right Ascension. Udaya Lagna, the Ascendent and Astha Lagna, the Descendent are measured along the Celestial Horizon, the Kshitija and the Madhya Lagna, the MC and the Patala Lagna, the IC are measured along the Celestial Meridian, the Nadi Vritta.

The Auxiliary Circle, the Vikshepa Vritta

In order to compute the celestial longitudes of planets, first the Graha Madhyam, the mean longitude of the planet is computed.

We have to understand that the planets traverse in elliptical orbits. If their orbits are circular, then there is no need for jya samskaras ( trignometric corrections ).

Once the mean longitudes of the planets are ascertained, then we first start with the First Jya Samskara, the first trignometric correction. Manda Jya means Sin M in Western Astronomy.

The Kepler Equation is M = E - e Sin E, where e is eccentricity and E is the Eccentric Anomaly, an auxilary angle in Kepler's equations.

Like Kepler who brought in an auxiliary angle, E, the Eccentric Anomaly, Indian Astronomy uses Vikshepa Vritta, an auxiliary circle. The mean longitude of a planet reduced by Manda Kriya is the Vikshepa Vritteeya Sphuta, the once corrected longitude of the planet.

While Western astronomers compute the celestial longitudes using the formula Theta = v + w ( Celestial Longitude = True Anomaly + the Argument of Perihelion ), Indian astronomers use the Triune Trignometric Method. Longitudes are corrected thrice using Manda Kriya, Parinathi Kriya and Sheegra Kriya.

The perturbations of planets

All planets have perturbations. Moon has 300 perturbations, of which 14 are major. Hence for 14 perturbations, 14 jya samskaras have to be done ( Chatur Dasa Jya Samskara). The largest of them is the Evection. There are others like the Variation, the Annual Equation and the Parallactic Equation. When 14 trignometric corrections are done, we get the Reduced Longitude of the Moon, the Samskritha Chandra Madhyamam.

Jupiter has five major perturbations and Saturn has six. So five jya samskaras and six jya samskaras have to be done for Jupiter and Saturn, before commencing the Triune Trignometric Method.

About Sine, Cosine and Reverse Sine

Jya ( Sine ), Kotijya ( Cosine ) and Utkram Jya ( Versine ) are the three trignometric functions introduced by the Indian astronomers and mathematicians.

In order to compute the celestial longitudes of planets, these functions were used by the trinity of Indian Astronomy, Bhaskara, Brahnmagupta and Aryabhata.

Thrijya, the Radius or R

If 360 = 2 Pi r
then, r = 360/2Pi in degrees

One degree is 60 minutes and one minute is 60 seconds and hence one degree is 3600 seconds.

R in seconds will be ((360/2pi)* 3600 ) Vikalas or 206265 seconds. This figure 206265 is known as the Magic Figure of Astronomy.

Bhujajya = R Sin
Kotijya = R Cos

The arc sine of the angle is Bhujachapa
The arc cosine of the angle is Kotichapa
The arc tangent of the angle is Sparshachapa

By Jya, Bramhmagupta meant 5 degrees of a sign of 30 degrees. Hence a Zodiacal Sign consists of 6 Jyas ( 30 degrees ) . The Zodiac of 360 degrees was divided into 4 quarters of 90 degrees each. Three Jyas of 30 degrees each becomes a quadrant of the Zodiac and was called Thrijya. Thrijya is also the Radius, the Vyasardha.

His magnum opus, the Brahmasphuta Siddhanta was translated by the Arabs as As Sind Hind. Jya became jiba and Kotijya became kojiba in Arabic. It was translated into Latin as sinus ( meaning " bosom " ). So Sinus and Co-sinus when translated into English became Sine and Cosine !

The Aryabhateeyam of Aryabhata was translated by the Arabs as Al Arjabhat. Trignometry is derived from the Sanskrit Thrikonamithi and Geometry from Jyamithi !

The Celestial Meridian, the Nadi Vritta

All celestial bodies appear to rise in the east, travel westward and set in the west, because of this relative diurnal motion. When the axis of the earth's rotation is extended, it meets the Celestial Sphere on two diametrically opposite points called Celestial Poles. The one in the direction of the Earth's north pole is called the North Celestial Pole and the one in the opposite direction is called the South Celestial Pole.

The Celestial Horizon, the Kshitija

To the observer standing at a place on the surface of the earth and looking around describing a full circle, the earth appears to meet the Heavens along a circle. From the observers' frame of reference, this circle is called the Celestial Horizon, the Khshitija.

The Celestial Meridian, the Nadi Vritta

Almost 90 degrees to the Celestial Horizon, you will find another circle ( the line perpendicular to the plane of the horizon ). This Circle is the Celestial Meridian. The highest point on this Celestial Meridian is called Zenith, the MC and the lowest, the Nadir or IC.