Copernicus Nicolaus

Copernicus Nicolaus

Nicolaus Copernicus : (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe, likely independently of Aristarchus of Samos, who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier.

Toward the close of 1542, Copernicus was seized with apoplexy and paralysis, and he died at age 70 on 24 May 1543.

The horoscope, reproduced in Biskup (1973), plate 22, is from Cod. lat. Monac. 27003, a collection of horoscopes of famous people, dated, apparently, to the 1540’s. There is another horoscope for Copernicus in Cod. lat. Monac. 10667 containing the birth date 10 Feb. 1473, 4;38h after noon. Cf. Birkenmajer (1900), 406-12. Most of the positions in the two horoscopes are the same, and the correct date of the horoscope, given by the faster bodies, is definitely 19 Feb. [Swerdlow N.M., Neugebauer, Mathematical Astronomy in Copernicus's De revolutionibus, part 2, p. 454, Springer-Verlag, New-York 1984]

I. Natal chart

ASC VIR, ruler ME (debilitated, PIS). MC TAU, ruler VE. According to Omar and Ibn-Ezra, VE is ALMUTEN (bu VE VIII). According to Lilly, JU is ALMUTEN.

II. Primary directions

A. SA conj ME

This direction is important because of the square radix SA-ME; also because ME being ruler of ASC, is probably hyleg.

1. parameters

2. analysis

3. result
zodiacal

mundane

D --> Z C Regio-Campa EQU orb -0.19.

B. □MA conj ME

1. parameters

The latitude of the square of Mars is obtained by determining the apparent node of MA, according to the method of Morin de Villefranche [cf. Astrologia Gallica, book XXII, sect. II]

'Moreover, in Book 16, Section I, Chapters 6-8, we have reported the opinions of Ptolemy, Cardan, Bianchini. Schöner, Regiomontanus, Origanus, and Algol about the celestial circle in which the aspects of the planets having latitude must be conceived; then, about their correction when they arc referred to the ecliptic; and we rejected those opinions, and set forth our own in Chapter 9. declaring that the aspects of any planet are conceived to be in that great circle, which from its appearance in the caelum deviates least from the path of the planet, and which we have called the circle of aspects;'' and we have demonstrated the method geometrically, by means of which these aspects may be referred by longitude to the ecliptic with their own latitude.' [Astrologia gallica, XXII, trans. J. Holden]

According to Max Duval, Morin's method consists, in the period of days surrounding the birth, of following on the ephemerids, the evolution of the latitude of the planet whose latitude we want to determine an aspect (radix or directional). The MAX of the latitude must be determined and used as the inclination i of this planet (regardless of its orbital inclination). For instance, taking MA as PM, we have :

L MA = 321.71° AQU. lat (MA) = -1.11° on Copernicus's birth day. Search now the Max lat : we find in ephemeris : -1.13° the May 1 1473. (but we take +1.13° because inclination is always taken as positive).
At this time, we compute the nodal distance of actual latitude with :

Dn = Asin ( tan(-1.11) x tan(|max lat|) ) = 279.94° (with |max lat| = 1.13° )

Then, we find the longitude of the node,

L Dn = M(MA) - Dn (or Dn-180°) = 221.77° SCO

We must know if Dn is increasing or decreasing, and being in the quadrants 0°-90° (90°-180°) or opposite sides (resp. Dn or Dn-180))

Then, we compute the Dn' ray : for instance □MA (90°) from L(MA) = 321.71°

Dn' □MA = L(MA = PM) 321.71° + (ray) 90° - (Dn' ray) 221.77° = 189.94°

So, l□MA = atan( tan(|max lat|) x sin (Dn' □MA) ) = -0.19°.

You must read too the translator's comment of J. H. Holden in Astrologia gallica, book XVI, pp. 55-57 which explains the thoughts of Morin de Villefranche.

But we must take into account that the □MA is not zodiacal but mundane: it means that □MA is not equal to 90 ° in zodiaco; it is equal to 83.28 ° in zodiaco and therefore, the Dn 'ray = 183.22 °. So,  l□MA = -0.06 °.

2. analysis

3. result
zodiacal

mundane

D --> Z D Regio-Campa 1/AR orb 0.08.

Conclusion

We must therefore beware that it is not so obvious that it passes from a basis (in zodiaco) to an other basis (in mundo). If one wants to respect the astronomical 'reality', it is nevertheless what one has to do.