Mercury and its astronomical, astrological shenanigans

(Credit: Nasa/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

Mercury is the planet which being nearest to the Sun, and having the smallest orbit, completes a revolution around it, faster than any other planet. Besides being an astronomical fact, this has an astrological connotation too. Since Mercury moves one round fastest around the Sun, it is considered the fastest planet in astrology. Now, intelligence, which is considered as one of the fastest faculty of human embodiment, and effectively assessed by one’s ability to communicate, perform calculations, logic et al., -- in astrological treatises is considered as ruled by equally fast Mercury.

Vishnu puran provides a mythological account as to how Tara, consort of Jupiter left him to have a tryst with Moon. It tells that the Moon was a disciple of Jupiter. The Moon used to go to Jupiter to learn and study. The wife of Jupiter, Tara, fell in love with Moon as he was extremely handsome to look at. Chandra-Tara union gave birth to radiant Mercury.

Coming back to scientific expositions and quite amazingly, as we find, planet Mercury is also associated with element Mercury having Chemical symbol, I think, as Hg and an atomic number 80 assigned to it in the chemical periodic table. Since element Mercury expands very quickly at the slightest increase in temperature, it makes direct association with speed and hence with speediest planet Mercury too. And, because of the silvery color and quick expansion on heating, Mercury element is also called quicksilver and Mercury planet, even, in astrological nomenclature is also evaluated to term quicksilver, as it is connected to element Mercury in its most defining attributes of quickness.

Astrologically, Mercury is said to rule the constellation of Gemini (The twins) and Virgo (The Virgin) and people born under this constellation, or to say otherwise, when the Sun was in alignment with this constellation, are said to have attributes of Mercury. Gemini are very quick-minded individuals with great ability for logic, reasoning and communicating, while Virgo are known for their detail oriented analytical skills which is another attribute of mercury. Here, we are talking about the Sun signs or the signs in which the Sun was residing during the birth of the native. So, in effect, here we are talking about Sun in Gemini sign and Sun in Virgo sign.

Like Sun in signs, there is Moon in signs, Mercury in signs, Saturn in signs and so on. So, if we talk about Mercury in Gemini sign and Mercury in Virgo sign, it becomes very powerful here and provides great impetus to intellect as Mercury here is in the sign which it rules and hence is at homely ease, working without restraints, with full strength and control.

After looking closely into the science of Astrology, like twelve zodiac signs, there are also twelve houses corresponding to each zodiac sign. The houses start, of course, from the first house which is also called the Ascendant. (First house or ascendant can have any of the twelve zodiac signs). Specifically speaking, the sign ascending on the eastern horizon at the time of our birth is considered our ascendant or rising (another name for ascendant) sign. Similarly, starting from ascendant or first house, signs are assigned to each house in a sequential order until the occupation of all the houses is provisioned. So, if first house started at Leo ascendant, second house would be occupied by next sign Virgo and this will keep repeating until each of the remaining houses are assigned remaining zodiac signs by encountering them sequentially in their respective monthly order, one after other and only one to house under current consideration as we pass through the houses in ascending order of their assigned number. Like Leo sign belonging to August Month, would have already been assigned to an immediately previous house before Virgo belonging to September Month is assigned to the house in current reckoning during the aforementioned round the table process of zodiac sign assignment to houses.

Since Gemini is the third sign in Zodiac, it also represents third house of zodiac, similarly, Virgo being sixth sign represents sixth house. So, Mercury in these two houses also gives the same results as it does in the signs of Gemini and Virgo respectively. Going by this argument, if in a chart, Gemini also occupies third house with Mercury in it, the intellectual capacities become multi-fold as Mercury is comfortable in both, sign as well as house at the one same time. Similarly, a Virgo Mercury when present in sixth house increases Virgo kind of analytical intellect multi-fold.

If we talk of Mercury’s polarity, then it is considered a neutral and a dualistic planet in astrology. And gives results according to the planets which are affecting it by sitting in conjunction or opposition to it, either in the same house or in a house directly opposite. If it makes connection with malefic planets, it will provide malefic results, if it makes connection with benefic planets, it will provide benefic results thus emphasizing its neutral nature on its own. The dualistic nature of Mercury is attributed to its ability to look at both sides of an argument viz., its pros and cons. This ability sometimes leads to indecisiveness as Mercury is torn into two parts by the opposite pull of both sides (pros and cons) of an argument.

Astrologically, Mercury does not bide well with Moon and Ketu or south node of Moon as both are antithesis to the dry intellect of Mercury. Moon represents our emotion and mood -- attributes that could appear totally unreasonably at times, in opposition to Mercury’s nature to rationalize situations without emotions clouding the judgment. Ketu is a planet which is represented by a headless serpent who lacks rational intelligence in the absence of a head. And this nature of Ketu is directly opposite to Mercury’s rationalizing nature. All other remaining planets like Venus, Sun, Saturn, Jupiter et al. are either friendly to Mercury or are neutral to it.

Would list one interesting fact at the dying end of the article -- Mercury is called Buddha in Indian astronomical and astrological treatises and Buddha is the one having Buddhi which means either intellect or intelligence. So, in short, according to astrological critique specifically, it is Mercury which is responsible for our intellect which manages general life challenges, although Uranus, which is the higher octave of Mercury is about innovative intellect, which we would talk about later in some other article.

Some other Mercury fun facts:

The Romans named Mercury after their swift-footed messenger god, reflecting its rapid orbit around the sun.

Mercury is a "loner" planet, lacking any moons or rings, making it one of only two planets in our solar system without natural satellites.

Mercury's weak atmosphere offers little protection against meteor impacts, resulting in a heavily cratered surface similar to the Moon.

Mercury is the second densest planet in our solar system, after Earth, due to its large iron core.

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft discovered water ice in some of Mercury's craters, which remain in perpetual darkness.

Mercury's orbit is more elliptical or "oval-shaped" than any other planet, allowing it to experience a wider range of solar magnetic field conditions.

Contrary to common depictions, Mercury's color is light gray, like element Mercury. Green color is associated with Mercury astrologically, and gemstone associated with it is Emerald.

In a very, very slow process, Mercury is getting smaller every day. It is estimated that the planet is about 9 miles smaller than it was four billion years ago (we told you it was a slow process). Astronomers believe this is happening because its iron core is cooling, which is making it solid, therefore reducing the planet’s volume.

The Caloris Basin on Mercury is a huge crater left by a meteor impact that happened about 3.8 billion years ago. The crater is about 1,550 km (963 miles) in diameter, which would be enough to fit part of Europe from Portugal to Germany. Astronomers estimate the object that caused it was at least 100 km (62 miles) long.

Because of its weak atmosphere, Mercury can’t contain any of the heat coming from the Sun, so it goes through some wild temperature changes. By day the surface temperature can reach 800 °F (427 °C) but at night it can drop down to -269 °F (−173 °C).

Mercury can be seen from Earth without help from telescopes so ancient civilization already knew about it, so its discovery can’t be attributed to one single person.

Because it is the planet closest to the Sun, it would be easy to think it is also the hottest planet, but that is incorrect. Mercury has a very weak atmosphere so it can’t hold any heat. Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System because it is close to the Sun, and it does have an atmosphere that traps the heat.

While Mercury does have volcanoes, they are no longer active. Astronomers believe at some point they were very active and shaped the planet’s geology.

By this time, NASA identified and classified 763 carters on Mercury’s surface. 397 of these have received names and most of them are named after writers, poets, painters and other artists. The biggest one is the Caloris Basin, with a diameter of 1,550 kilometers (963 miles).

Putting a probe in Mercury’s orbit is a really difficult task as the Sun’s gravity is too strong. Precise, fast changes in speed would be required. Because of this, we have only two probes to study the planet, The Mariner 10 in 1973 and the MESSENGER in 2004. Mariner 10 simply slingshot around Mercury, while MESSENGER studied the planet from orbit for four years before it was commanded to impact the planet’s surface in 2015. It is believed Mariner 10 could be orbiting the Sun, but it is out of fuel and has been powered down since 1975.