ASTROLOGERS in Myanmar say that Pluto’s demotion from planet status last month will not change their view of the role the celestial body should play in making predictions about the future.

After a heated debate, 2500 scientists and astronomers voted August 24 at the International Astronomers Union General Assembly in Prague, Czech Republic, that Pluto, which has been called a planet since being discovered in 1930, would be put into a category called “dwarf” planets.

“The eight planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,” the IAU declared in a resolution approved by raised hands at the assembly.

“Those scientists can decide what they like, but we will continue to recognise Pluto’s important role in the solar system, and we will continue to consider it in our calculations as we always have,” said U Tun Lin, president of the Myanmar Astrologists Association.

Myanmar astrologers classify planets according to their colour, size, number of rings, orbit period, reflectivity, inclination and axial tilt to determine how they influence the future of individuals or institutions.

“Pluto has been traditionally defined as a planet in astrology, and it will retain that status,” U Tun Lin said. “It is far from Earth and has a very wide orbit, which means it is too weak to influence predictions for individuals but does have the power to influence long-term predictions about bigger events.”

Astrologer U San Tin Aung agreed, saying, “Ancient academics have long identified Pluto as a planet in astrology, and we will continue making our calculations as we always have.”

“We normally only use outlying planets like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto to calculate big cases involving the affairs of an entire country. We call it a secret strategy of the astrology,” U Tun Lin said. “So we cannot reduce Pluto to a secondary position.”

“If we simply eliminate Pluto as a planet as the scientists have done, astrology will lose its value,” added U Than Htay, vice president of the Myanmar Astrology Research Bureau.

“Saturn is usually the last planet we use for predictions for individuals because its orbit time is 90 years, while other planets with orbit times beyond the span of human years are useless, so any outlying planets would only be used to predict the fortunes of countries or of the world,” he said.

“Pluto plays an important role in predicting the futures of nations, so it has a powerful status,” he said. “We can’t just erase the traditional ways, just as we can’t change the essence of religious teachings whenever we feel like it.”

Meanwhile, astrologers said they were also prepared to take into account the influence of another celestial body, 2003 UB313, which scientists at the Prague assembly had debated adding to the list of planets.

UB313 was found some 15 billion kilometres (9 billion miles) from Earth by an American team in July 2003. Although some scientists claimed it was the solar system’s 10th planet, the assembly ultimately decided to categorise it as a dwarf planet along with Pluto.

U Tun Lin said that for now, UB313 is being identified on the Myanmar Astrologists Association’s charts as thawma (good), as he believes it will be a positive influence.

However, U Than Htay had a different take on the potential planet’s influence.
“If UB313 were identified as a new planet, we assume it would stand for papa (disaster), which means the world could plunge into nuclear war in the future,” he said.