Mars is Bright

[ezzie_mora]

No: HPFGUIDX 40634

I've been contemplating this for quite some time, and didn't see it 
in the archives anywhere.  If it's already been discussed in great 
detail, feel free to flame me, roast me and feed me to hungry 
Horntails.

I know I'm not the only person that has wondered what those 
'ruddy stargazers' meant by "Mars is bright tonight" so I came up 
with some possible theories.  Hear me out, I'm not crazy and I 
tried to do a little homework.

Ronan and Bane both gaze at the sky and say that "Mars is 
bright" and "unusually bright"  Could this be a literal translation of 
what the Centaurs saw, or is it a figurtive one about the 
relationship of the planets in the sky that night?

The Astronomical View
--------------------------------

"Mars is bright" can refer to an astronomical phenomenon 
known as opposition, where a planet is exactly opposite of the 
Sun in relation to Earth.  It causes the planet to reflect large 
amounts of light and appears brightly in the sky.

The opposition of Mars occurs approximately every 26 months. 
Assuming that the events of the Forbidden Forest detention 
happened on May 26, 1992 (the date marked on the Harry Potter 
Lexicon calendar) then Mars was nowhere near an opposition 
point in the sky.  Opposition of Mars, in relation to Earth, 
happened on November 27, 1990 and then on January 7, 1993.  
Neither of these dates work.

Here is a link to a timetable of Oppositions of Mars
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/mars/appends.htm

Additionally, Mars was not in a position where it could be seen 
easily with the naked eye that evening.  After calculating the 
position of Mars in the sky between 11pm-midnight May 26, 1992 
as it would have been seen in northern England (a guess since 
we dont know where Hogwarts is exactly), we find that Mars was 
a mere 15 degrees from the last quarter moon in the nighttime 
sky.  It would have been virtually impossible to discern it from 
other stars and the bright quarter moon as they passed by the 
Aries constellation.

The Astrological View

Astrologically speaking, just what was Mars up to that evening?  
Quite a bit actually.  If we assume that Harry met the Centaurs 
around 11pm, the planets were aligned as follows:

1) Sextile Aspect with Saturn (about 60 degrees apart)
2) Square Aspect with Uranus  (about 90 degrees apart)
3) Square Aspect with Neptune  (about 90 degrees apart)
4) In the Aries constellation

It is important to note that Mars was exactly in the middle of Aries 
at this time.  Astrologically speaking, when in Aries, Mars is "at 
its strongest" in terms of expression of energy.  Can we 
conclude then that this is analogous to saying "Mars is bright?"   
Perhaps.  Without considering the star charts of Harry, 
Hermione, Ron or Voldemort we can probably conclude that 
Bane and Ronan were sensing a large amount of energy as 
Mars passed directly through Aries.  It was unusually bright 
because it was nearly in the center of the constellation.

Here are some links used to gather the planetary locations:
http://www.astrology-zodiac.com/menu.htm
http://www.astro.com/cgi-bin/atlw3/chart.cgi

Here is an explanation on some of the Astrology terms used:
http://www.astrology-numerology.com/astrology.html


As for an interpretation to what exactly this all would mean - I'm 
not the one to ask.  I'm no astrologer.  And if I'm not mistaken the 
actual interpretation of the sky would be based on your own birth 
date.  Since there are numerous possible 'targets' of their 
warnings - Voldemort, Harry, etc.. it's practically impossible to tell 
just what they were getting at.  But I think this is a pretty good 
argument to at least explain what they meant by "Mars is bright"

-ezzie