OCT 4, 2010 - New Planet May Be Able to Nurture Organisms is one of several headlines over the last few weeks which were clearly prefigured in my September forecast (published in August) and my 2010 World Forecast Highlights (published last year). Both forecasts are based on the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. As noted in my September forecast, "Jupiter and Uranus make their exact alignment this month on the 19th, but remain within a single degree throughout September." The New Planet story reports the discovery of Gliese 581g, a planet circling a brown dwarf star some 20 light years away. Gliese 581g is being called "the most Earthlike planet yet discovered, and the first to meet the criteria for being potentially habitable." Clearly, this announcement (made Wednesday, September 29) validates the passage in the September forecast that "discoveries in physics, astronomy and astrophysics look to be especially important this month". In comparison to an extrasolar planet possibly able to support life, other elements of my Jupiter-Uranus forecast may seem prosaic, such as the one in my 2010 World Forecast Highlights about these alignments - there are three in all, including one early next year - as "pointers to scientific and technological breakthroughs that will be important in shaping the new industries of the air sign Chronocrator century. (These will be precursors, not full-blown commercial developments – much like the telephone or light bulb in the 1870s, or the transistor in the 1940s.)" Coincidentally, an announcement fitting this forecast was made on the same day as the Gliese 581g news conference: does quantum computing ring a bell?
