Astronomology

We all know that certain planets rule certain zodiac signs. But now that we have new planets, this has to be rethought. In the past, Saturn has lost Aquarius to Uranus, Jupiter has lost Pisces to Neptune, and Mars has lost Scorpio to Pluto.

Of the three new planets (Ceres, Charon, and 2003 UB₃₁₃ "Xena"), Charon would have no astrological effect, as the astrological Pluto is already Pluto + Charon. Ceres has been claimed to rule a variety of signs, and of those, Virgo makes the most sense -- taking it from Mercury, which still has Gemini.

2003 UB₃₁₃ "Xena" would then have to take either Taurus or Libra from Venus (the only planet with two signs remaining). And since every other new planet has taken the second sign of an old planet, Venus gets to keep Taurus and 2003 UB₃₁₃ "Xena" gets Libra.

If a larger Kuiper Belt Object is discovered, I'd say it just takes Libra from 2003 UB₃₁₃ "Xena". Those planets take hundreds of years to orbit the sun, anyway, so they're not much fun.

Actually, 2003 UB₃₁₃ "Xena" is a rather unusual Kuiper Belt Object (so far). Pluto is the largest of the plutinos (which all have a 2:3 resonance with Neptune). 2005 FY₉ "Easterbunny" is the largest of the classic KBOs (or cubewanos), which don't get so close to Neptune. 2003 UB₃₁₃ "Xena" is further out still, with a very eccentric orbit (but not as far out or eccentric as Sedna -- but Sedna is smaller). So maybe 2005 FY₉ "Easterbunny" should be tracked as a ruler of a zodiac sign, as the representative of the major category of KBOs.

Or not.

So here's the list:

Aries........Mars
Taurus.......Venus
Gemini.......Mercury
Cancer.......Moon
Leo..........Sun
Virgo........Ceres
Libra........2003 UB₃₁₃ "Xena" or 2005 FY₉ "Easterbunny"
Scorpio......Pluto
Sagittarius..Jupiter
Capricorn....Saturn
Aquarius.....Uranus
Pisces.......Neptune