March Equinox 2011, galactic

In this picture, imagine that we are above the plane of the galaxy, looking down at the sun and its entourage. The sun is moving, spinning counterclockwise around the galactic center, with all the planets and moons in the solar system streaming along with it. The earth is moving, spinning counterclockwise around the sun, with the moon streaming along with it. On the March equinox, the earth is ahead on the sun's galactic path; this year, with Saturn and the day-old full moon leading the way. Mars and Jupiter are arrayed behind, with Uranus rather directly aligned beyond.

The full moon and Saturn. On March 19 at the day-long retreat we begin to acknowledge the exact line-up of sun, earth, and moon. At 12:15 we face the sun, bow, and honor the center of our solar system, carrying earth in orbit around the center of the milky way galaxy.

Then we turn 180 degrees, looking in the direction of our shadows and honor the full moon beyond earth. It was exactly full within the hour.

Yellow disc is the sun, lined up with turquoise disc Uranus. Red disc of Mars to the right. To the left, Jupiter and Mercury.

March 20, 2011 equinox at 6:21 p.m. CDT

Images from these pages: Solar system (http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar), sun (this page), moon (From this page). See March equinox, 2010 for background or March equinox, 2011 schedule. See also 12 solstices and equinoxes.