The Constellation Shimmering In Sin

➹ The Constellation Shimmering in Sin ➹ A legion of demons under a guiding hand. The following blog is owned by a Theistic Satanist. Please be aware that Theistic Satanism is not an organised religion and this blog is just one manifestation of it, and not in any way a religious authority.

[theconstellationshimmering]

The Basics Of What I Believe

Firstly, as the title of Theistic Satanist implies, I worship Satan as a deity, rather than as a symbolic figure (as is the case in secular Satanism). All of my spiritual practices are dedicated to Satan in some way.

As well as this, I work with multiple different demons. I have been working on a language I use for religious purposes, and in this language, each month is named after a different demon, and I dedicate each month to its respective demon. They are as follows:

January - Stolas

February - Zepar

March - Saleos

April - Barbatos

May - Asmodeus

June - Berith

July - Vepar

August - Amdusias

September - Paimon

October - Vine

November - Buné

December - Vual

These are not the only demons I work with, but they are the main ones. I will likely talk more about each in their respective months. I will also be changing the header, avatar and colour scheme of the blog accordingly each month.

I've been building my belief system and spiritual practice from the ground up since 2017, and it has shifted many times over the years. I expect it to shift again in some ways - if it stagnates, I'm likely doing something wrong.

I don't claim to be an expert on any form of Theistic Satanism except my own, but if you've ever been curious on what it could look like, my blog could be an interesting read.

[theconstellationshimmering]

How I Dedicate May To Asmodeus

Asmodeus is by far the demon I have worked with the longest, and thus the one I am closest to. If I were to fully detail the ways in which I dedicate this month to Asmodeus, this would be an incredibly long post. But here are just a few things I do.

Firstly, most importantly, is working on self-acceptance. Asmodeus has been with me through every part of my journey of self-discovery, from figuring out my gender and sexuality, to my long-running relationship with my fiancé. I cannot think of a single aspect of my identity that has not been influenced in some way by Asmodeus. And in honour of him, in May, I choose to follow happiness. I choose to follow passion. I choose to listen to my body, my intuition, and to know that every part of me is a part worth loving. The main thing that Asmodeus has taught me over the years is radical self-acceptance.

As part of this, I will do things that make me feel confident. Bolder fashion, playing around with makeup, and keeping at the forefront of my mind that I define who I am, and nobody else. I channel the energy Asmodeus has always had when he has come to me - the unmistakable energy of someone who feels in themselves that they are attractive, that they are bold, and that they are fully comfortable in themselves, and who want to help others reach that same feeling.

With this aspect of my devotion to Asmodeus being so personal, it's likely that if I find time to post (as university deadlines are coming up) the posts will also be more personal than previous months' posts. This month may come with a lot more short form random thought posts than I normally post on this blog, about whatever I feel passionate about in the moment.

As well as this, it can be really beneficial to sit with your feelings for a little while. A lot of people mention Asmodeus as the embodiment of lust, but there is also an association of rage with him that can be intimidating for people, especially newer followers of Asmodeus to grasp. The thoughts that I personally have found to be most productive are "where is this anger coming from, why do I feel it" and "how can I channel this feeling productively". Some have said the rage Asmodeus can force you to confront can drive people to madness, but I think it's the refusal to acknowledge it, to categorise it as only a "bad" feeling, and bottling it and all of the "ugly" thoughts away that does this. You must do something with it, or it'll consume you.

I also find sharing information and learning about sexual health, safety, consent and related topics is another good way to devote an act to Asmodeus (even in the case of sex-aversion, learning about it, and communities of people like yourself, can be a devotional act to Asmodeus, even though it might initially sound counter-intuitive for a demon known as the sin of lust to reach out to someone who might be on the aroace spectrum. I've certainly seen it happen before, it is my belief that Asmodeus can be drawn to people of any sexuality, asexual people included, who may need to learn to accept and love themselves rather than caving to societal pressure).

I associate Asmodeus with bright, bold colours, primarily hot pinks and reds and purples. I associate him with neon signs and a sort of 80s vaporwave aesthetic. I associate him with a bold and confident energy. Most times he appears to me, it is in a different form to the last, but always there is a feeling of unshakeable confidence that radiates from him, in a way that is warming and comforting to be around.

These are the main ways (among many, many others) which I dedicate May to Asmodeus.

[theconstellationshimmering]

As an extra thought to a post I reblogged a few months ago (though not directly related to it), if you are AMAB, you should still be checking your chest for signs of breast cancer. The tissue is still there and whilst you are at less risk, the odds are not zero. Even if you have had a double mastectomy, you can still be at a small amount of risk of breast cancer. Always know what your normal feels like.

[theconstellationshimmering]

Ways I Dedicate April To Barbatos

Barbatos is said to give understanding to the voices of animals, resolve conflicts between friends and rulers, tells people of the past and future, and to lead people to treasures hidden by magicians. With this information in mind, I honour Barbatos in the following ways:

I give a little extra love to the animals in my local area in April - this means extra treats for my cat, but it also means looking into ways that I can help preserve any wildlife in my area. I also try to make extra donations to or share information about animal-based charities during this month, if I'm able to.

I try to learn more about both history and divination in the month of April. I especially try to teach myself about areas of history that I was previously unaware of, or that are commonly misunderstood. I also do extra tarot readings in April (as this is the form of divination I am most familiar with), and try to learn more about other forms of divination that I don't currently practice.

I try to give more understanding and patience to the people I am close with during April - of course, within reason. Conflict resolution is a key focus for me during this month. I also do my best to try and contribute toward anti-war efforts worldwide in any way that I can.

These are all of the ways in which I dedicate the month of April to Barbatos.

[theconstellationshimmering]

Ways I Dedicate March To Saleos

Saleos' domain is that of love and fidelity. As such, the main way that I devote March to Saleos is by continuing to do my best to find new ways to show my love to my incredible fiancé, @persharkie. It is worth noting that despite the Ars Goetia only specifying demons in the domain of love helping with heterosexual love, I think they are equally willing to help with queer love as well. My theory is that the writer of the Ars Goetia simply wasn't thinking about the existence of LGBTQIA+ people. I have worked with demons for multiple years now, and not one has denied my attempts to reach out on account of me being queer or nonbinary, even though the Ars Goetia often specifies that a demon will help "man" or "men" reach certain goals.

With Saleos being pacifistic in nature, I also do my best throughout March to trying to show extra kindness to people around me. I also try to be more involved politically, if my mental health allows, to attempt to make the world a better place. These are the main ways in which I dedicate March to Saleos.

[theconstellationshimmering]

This month, I have been trying to gather good resources on sexual health and reproductive rights, namely charities that share information and services to help people access healthcare that they need, as is one of the ways I dedicate this month to Zepar. This post has taken so long because I wanted to ensure that each of these charities were reputable, I wanted to find a few that were based in the UK (where I live) in case things started to go downhill here in terms of reproductive rights, and I wanted to find some organisations that were trans-inclusive, because the loss of these rights impact anyone with the ability to get pregnant, not just people who identify as women.

Not every charity listed here will cover all of these aspects (except being reputable, I would never knowingly share the information of charities that I knew were unsafe or untrustworthy), but hopefully someone will gain something of value from this list.

I have sorted each charity by country or continent (including a charity for every country would be incredibly difficult and would make this post very difficult to read, but I am including at least 3 charities per section, and have tried to find a charity that compiles a list of organisations that operate in various countries throughout the continent).

Charities Based In The UK:

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service is a service based in the UK that offers help in a range of different sexual health topics, including pregnancy, miscarriage, contraception and help with STI testing. Whilst describing themselves as a women-forward organisation, they do offer services specifically for trans and gender nonconforming individuals, as well as male contraception options. They operate 55 clinics around the UK, mostly concentrated in England and Wales, but some in Scotland as well, and you can find your nearest clinic via this link.

The Abortion Support Network is an organisation which primarily focuses on securing funding for abortions for people throughout Europe, but also gives information on clinics, aftercare and help with the cost of travel. They operate throughout all of Europe, not just in the UK. The ASN uses gender inclusive language throughout their page, and describes themselves as an inclusive organisation, and it is safe to assume they will likely tailor their information to the needs of a trans or gender nonconforming client if needed.

MSI Choices is one of the leading charities in the UK when it comes to reproductive health. They have 68 clinics throughout England and Wales, as well as doing advocacy work to preserve and improve the access to reproductive healthcare that is currently available. Whilst the language they use throughout their website is quite gendered, there are vague statements throughout their website that lead me to believe that they are trans inclusive - however there is no definitive statement on this topic as far as I was able to tell.

NUPAS is a charity that operates in Bolton, to help clients in Northern Ireland and The Republic Of Ireland (which I am aware is not the United Kingdom, ROI will get its own dedicated section), and pays for travel to and accommodation in places in Great Britain if you live somewhere where abortion is not available to you. It is worth noting that while there are other clinics, taxis and travel information will only be provided to you if you are travelling specifically to the NUPAS Bolton clinic. NUPAS do have an inclusion statement which essentially states that they will act in accordance with the most updated version of the law on making sure that they will not discriminate toward anyone based on protected characteristics, however the law in the United Kingdom has changed recently in regards to trans people in a way that may affect their experience gaining help from this organisation if the law is their only reference point. It is the only reference point outlined on their website.

Alliance4Choice helps people access abortions in Northern Ireland, gives further information to people via their helpline, and warns against a false clinic by the name of Stanton, which reportedly poses as an abortion clinic, but pressures people to continue their pregnancies using guilt tripping tactics and purposely delays treatment for people, and being a Northern Irish branch of an American anti-choice group called Precious Life. They have an article about people who have encountered Stanton Clinic and their experiences that you can read here.

Charities Based In The Republic Of Ireland Or Which Offer Services To The Republic Of Ireland:

The National Women's Council of Ireland are an organisation based in Dublin that do advocacy work on a range of different areas pertaining to women's rights, and whilst I would absolutely recommend you look into their other work, this post is primarily about abortion access and reproductive healthcare, so I will mainly be talking about their Abortion Rights Campaign, which gives helpful advice on how to access an abortion in the Republic of Ireland under the new guidelines outlined in 2019, fighting stigma around abortions, and advocating for policy change in the Republic of Ireland. In their inclusivity statement, The National Women's Council of Ireland openly states "By ‘woman’ we refer to any person who identifies as a woman", which makes me feel confident in saying they are very likely a trans inclusive organisation.

The HSE have a "my options" helpline for those seeking an abortion in the Republic of Ireland, though I do believe that their help is only limited to the situations outlined in the ROI goverment guidlines, which are more restrictive than the charities mentioned.

The Irish Family Planning Association provides care across a range of different needs, including contraception, abortion, reproductive health and pregnancy counselling. They also offer advice to people who have been told they are unable to have an abortion in Ireland. As far as I could find on their website, they have made no statements that indicate whether they are trans inclusive or exclusionary.

Charities Based In The US:

Reproductive Freedom For All has compiled a list of different resources for people living in the United States who need access to an abortion, legal defense regarding the loss of a pregnancy, a hotline for people in need of help and information on abortion care. I was unable to find a definitive statement on the organisation's views and policies on transgender and intersex people, but the language they use throughout the website from what I've seen is generally quite inclusive.

The National Network Of Abortion Funds are a network of funds to help people across the US access abortions, as well as information on how to find a clinic, as well as doing advocacy work in an attempt to make legal change. They also offer a version of their website in Spanish. NNAF explicitly acknowledge transgender and intersex people on their website and are an inclusive organisation.

The Center For Reproductive Rights is a legal organisation which, among other things, take cases to court to protect reproductive rights. The language they use around abortion is very gendered, but in their inclusivity statement they do use neutral language and acknowledge transgender and intersex people. It is worth noting that their inclusivity statement seems to pertain around employment, rather than the people they offer services to.

Planned Parenthood offer contraception and abortion care amongst other things at their clinics, as well as telehealth services and online resources. Planned Parenthood offer care services specifically for transgender and intersex individuals, including help with accessing gender affirming care, and are absolutely an inclusive organisation.

Charities Based In Europe:

SAFE is an organisation that helps people access safe abortions in Europe, including sharing knowledge, funding groups that make abortion accessible, and compiling a list of organisations across Europe that help people access abortions. SAFE is an openly gender-inclusive organisation.

Abortion Network Amsterdam are currently not a registered charity, but they are an organisation that particularly help people in the Netherlands and Poland access abortion. They also have resources and information for people wanting to know more about the process of abortion. ANA use inclusive language and are, as far as I can tell, gender inclusive.

Abortion Without Borders help people in countries in Europe where abortion is illegal access abortions either through an at home pill, or by paying for travel and accomodation abroad for a surgical abortion. They also have an initiative to help displaced people from Ukraine. They also offer a helpline. They use inclusive language and are, as far as I am able to tell, an inclusive organisation.

Abortion Dream Team help people in Poland and abroad access safe abortions, both by access to clinics and funding. The site is in Polish, but is able to be translated. They also provide information on abortion and help destigmatise the procedure, as well as informing policy change in Poland. As far as I can tell, the website has no definitive statement on whether they are gender inclusive, but there is also nothing on their website that indicates they are an exclusionary organisation.

Charities In South America:

SAAF is an international organisation that funds several organisations that provide abortions and also inform international policy on abortion. They are a gender inclusive organisation.

The National Network Of Abortion Funds give information for contacting Fondo de Aborto para la Justicia Social MARIA, which offer access to safe abortions for people in Mexico. Both NNAF and Fondo de Aborto para la Justicia Social MARIA are openly gender inclusive organisations.

IPAS give information on accessing safe abortions and also inform policies in multiple countries, and better prepare clinics to offer abortions. As far as I can tell, they do not tell people which clinics they can access abortions at, but I am having to access a translated version of the website and could be missing some information. They are a gender inclusive organisation.

Charities In Africa:

Mmoho offer help with accessing safe abortion, HIV prevention, and comprehensive reproductive health education. They offer a list of contacts for different services. They are a gender inclusive organisation.

Chase Africa offer education on reproductive rights and grant funding to partner organisations that provide services related to reproductive health across East Africa. I could not find a definitive statement on whether they are gender inclusive.

Whilst I was unable to find a third charity specifically based in Africa, SAAF funds organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East, and may have more resources for people searching for access to reproductive care in Africa.

Charities In Asia:

The Asia Safe Abortion Partnership provide a profile of several different countries in Asia which includes things such as the status of the legality of abortion in each country, and a history of the law in each country. As far as I can tell, they do not provide funding and accommodation to those living in countries where abortion is illegal to access it abroad, and primarily focus on education and attempts to change policy. I could not find a definitive policy on if they are gender inclusive, but did find a zine they made focusing on the connection between reproductive rights and LGBTQIA+ rights.

The IPPF offer a variety of different services across Asia, with a directory for you to find your closest members association. It is worth noting that not all members associations offer help with accessing abortion care specifically, though those that don't may still offer post-abortion care. The IPPF are a gender inclusive organisation.

Again, whilst I failed to find a third charity that is specifically based in Asia, SAAF does fund organisations in Central Asia and may have more information on resources for people who are in areas this list has not covered.

Charities In Australia and New Zealand:

1800 4 Choice is a hotline that helps people in Australia access safe abortion care via a trauma informed team. Their website includes a quick exit button and a button to quickly remove your browsing history. They are a gender inclusive organisation. They also have a statement on their website acknowledging the Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Whadjuk Noongar peoples.

1800 My Options is a hotline owned by the same organisation as 1800 4 Choice, but operating in a larger area across the country. If you are in need of help but are not covered by 1800 4 Choice, you likely will be covered by 1800 My Options. Being owned by the same organisation, 1800 My Options is also gender inclusive.

Children By Choice is an organisation that primarily offers support for all options during a pregnancy that operate in Queensland, but they do have a directory of contacts if you are living in another area of Australia.

Pregnancy Choice is an organisation based in New Zealand that offer information about a range of different options during pregnancy including abortion, whāngai, fostering and adoption, and help with the next steps of putting that choice into action. I found no definitive statement on whether they are gender inclusive.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of charities, and I absolutely may have missed organisations that are able to help people not covered by the ones featured in this post. Any additions to the list are absolutely welcome. Thank you for reading.

[theconstellationshimmering]

This post is about my wonderful fiancé, @persharkie

For 13 years, you have made me feel loved, seen, and safe. You have taught me so much about myself and the world. You have been my stability in the most uncertain of times. I could talk about how excited I am to marry you, for our lives and souls to become one, to spend the rest of my life with you, but it would be redundant. Knowing you has forever changed my life. Our souls have been one for a very long time. There's not a single day I don't already share everything with you, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In the name of Satan, Zepar, Saleos, and any other demons who's domain is love, I vow to always be there for you, to give you the understanding you have offered to me, to make sure that I have chosen you, not just on the day we got together, but every day since, for the rest of time, and that you feel the love that that choice is made with.

[stillhereandstillqueer]

PLEASE remember to include trans men and mascs and intersex men in your fight for reproductive rights. And breast health education. And free period products. We are so easily erased from these conversations. Insurance deny claims and clinics refuse to see us because of an M marker. Don't forget about us!

[theconstellationshimmering]

Ways I Dedicate February To Zepar

Many sources about Zepar and his nature - as is the case with most demons - are written from the perspective of people attempting to control demons, and not interacting with them in a respectful manner, so my intuition may vary from many sources about Zepar, and any other demons that I worship, that you may have read previously.

Many sources agree that Zepar mainly is a demon associated with love and lust. He can bring people together in love, but can also cause infertility. Whilst many sources frame this latter point as something as a punishment, I find it hard to believe that when throughout history, so many people, particularly assigned female at birth, have so often been stripped of their bodily autonomy, I do find it difficult to believe that nobody in history has ever reached out to Zepar to ask him to take away their ability to have children for one reason or another. I can think of a few reasons why someone could take such a route.

I say all of this becasue I dedicate February to Zepar in two major ways. Firstly, I do my best to show more love to my fiancé (which is not always the easiest task, we're already very affectionate toward each other and we've been together for a long time, so trying to find new ways to show love is sometimes a challenge). The second way I dedicate February to Zepar is by doing my best to learn about and educate others about resources to do with reproductive health and reproductive rights. Everyone should have the right to know about their body, and to be in control of their body, and sometimes resources can be very hard to find. Helping people with this is, in my opinion, a great way to honour Zepar in February.

Thank you for reading.

[boymanmaletheshequel]

Grimiore Gemstonia entry I: 💎

Almandine 🍒❤️

Almandine is a species of mineral belonging to the garnet group. The name is a corruption of alabandicus, which is the name applied by Pliny the Elder  to a stone found or worked at Alabanda, a town in caria in aisa minor. In the Mesopotamian period, it was seen as a stone of strength that held immense protective abilities. Much later, at the beginning of the Victorian era in the early 19th century, it became massively popular as a stone in jewelry, often seen paired with gold love knot jewelry, as it was seen as a symbol as reverence and love, while still holding on to some of its protective symbolism as well! It serves as the state gem of connecticut, as well as the official modern birthstone of january, like all other garnets. And Like most garnets, it also has a chance of portraying the phenomenon of Asterism! It is a great stone for those in need of strength, courage, or those wanting to attract love. When you think of garnet, you think of almandine, and it is, and probably always will be, the most recognizable of the garnets!

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

- MOHs scale: 7-7.5

- Chemistry: Al2Fe3(SiO4)3

- Occurrence: worldwide

- Species: Garnet group

- Discovery: around the early Mesopotamian period (3rd or 4th millennium BCE)

- Rarity: common

- Etymology: derived from “of love” (French)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Elements: fire

- Zodiacs: ♐️♈️♏️

- Chakra: root

- Deities: Aphrodite🇬🇷, Ares🇬🇷, Nike🇬🇷, Kronos 🇬🇷, Freyja🇳🇴, Hathor🇪🇬, Venus🇮🇹, Parvati 🇮🇳, Ishtar 🇮🇶

- Correspondences: Vitality, sexuality, security, strength.

- Birthstone: January

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[letstalkrocks]

Today's Specimen: Iolite

Iolite is a gemstone derived from the mineral cordierite. Iolite can be found in violet-blue, slightly yellow, grey, or colourless, with violet-blue being the most sought after. Iolite can be used in kiln manufacturing, since it has a very high heat resistance, as well as being used for catalytic converters in the automotive industry. Iolite is often used as a sapphire-alternative for jewelry, as it is much cheaper and easier to find. Iolite can be found across the world, including India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Germany, Tanzania, USA, Canada, Myanmar, Australia, Madagascar, Norway, Greenland, and even Antarctica. Iolite is one of the few minerals to be mined in Antarctica. Iolite is ranked at about a 7.0-7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale. Alternate names for iolite include: Water Sapphire, Viking's Compass, Cordierite, Dichroite, Steinheilite, and Praseolite.

Stay tuned for another rock talk!

[letstalkrocks]

Today's Specimen: Taaffeite

Taaffeite occurs in carbonate rocks along with spinel, fluorite, tourmaline, and mica. Taaffeite is similar to spinel, but much lesser known due to it's high rarity. It can be distinguished from spinel by its double refraction, while spinel is only singly refractive. It's discovery in 1945 was because it was mistaken for spinel. A gemologist by the name of Edward Taaffe noticed a cut gem looked slightly different from all the other spinel stones. It remains the first and only gemstone to be discovered after it was already faceted. Taaffeite can be found in a variety of colours, including pink and purple shades, red, brown, blue, green, grey, and colourless. It can be found in various deposits within Sri Lanka, southern Tanzania, and China. Taaffeite has an 8.0-8.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, also very similar to spinel. The major difference between the two stones is taaffeite's birefringence, chemical composition, and crystalline structure (spinel is cubic, taaffeite is hexagonal). Alternate names for taaffeite include: Bemagalite and Taprobanite.

Stay tuned for another rock talk!

[itsfullofstars]

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY January 12, 2026 What's happening to this meteor? It is shedding its outer layers as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere and heats up. The sudden high temperatures not only cause the bright glow along the dramatic streak but also melt and vaporize the meteor's component rock and ice, creating dust. Wind in the atmosphere typically blows this dust away over the next few seconds, leaving no visible trace after only a few minutes. Much of this dust will eventually settle down to the Earth. The featured image was captured in mid-December, coincident with the Geminids meteor shower. On the upper left is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, while in the foreground is fog-engulfed Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains of eastern China. Image: https://ift.tt/KS7l5er via NASA https://ift.tt/9nluOzt APOD --> https://ift.tt/YUI2b9g

[vacuously-true]

You know how there's like some mathematician or something, who like did some useful stuff but is primarily known for overshadowing that work by going to great lengths trying to convince people to blow up the moon or something?

I wanna be like that but the hill I'm dying on is that the moon should be considered a planet

[vacuously-true]

Stop tagging this about the Unabomber it's not about the Unabomber, it's about time we give the other fucked up mathematicians some recognition, it's about this fucking guy

[hereticalteapot]

OP you're right and you should say it. There are 9 planets in the solar system and two of them are in a binary planetary system. I will die on this hill.

[vacuously-true]

EXACTLY. EARTH-MOON IS A BINARY PLANET SYSTEM. AND I WILL BECOME NOTABLE FOR MY FREQUENT POSTS TO VARIOUS TUMBLR BLOGS AND MY ADVOCACY FOR THE RECOGNITION OF THE MOON AS A PLANET.

[hereticalteapot]

Now, dear reader, you might say: "But three of the Jovian moons and Titan are bigger than the Moon!". And to that I say yes, but two of those are bigger than Mercury also and people aren't usually upset about that. Plus all of those are satellites of bodies that are completely incomparable in scale.

Ganymede, the biggest moon in the solar system, is 0.008% the mass of Jupiter. The Moon is a bit over 1.2% of Earth's mass and a solid 27% of its radius. There's no other planet* in the solar system with a satellite anywhere close to the kind of similarity in size that the Earth-Moon system has.

You might also say "Fine but it's literally called 'The Moon' so that's a bit silly". To which I say that I've been calling it that to be more easily understood but it would be extremely easy to switch to calling it "Luna" which is what most people do when they encounter situations where saying "The Moon" creates ambiguity - like when writing sci-fi or a nontrivial amount of astronomical research.

In conclusion, lumping Luna in with the satellites of other bodies is unhelpful because it is geophysically distinct from most of them, and orbitally distinct from all of them. Luna is a planet and it's rad that we can see one so clearly in the night sky.

[*No, Pluto is not a planet, but yes Pluto-Charon is totally a dwarf planet binary]

[kazoracht]

I'll integrate this into my belief system but only because it's funny

[asdfjasklfjdkla]

hello???? hello??????????? have we walked into the twilight zone or something??????????? yes, the moon is a percentage (a percentage almost exactly) of earth’s mass, but that doesn’t magically make us a binary system! the barycenter is still well within the diameter of earth! what next, are you going to say that since deimos and phobos orbit mars, they’re actually a trinary planetary system?? you fucking better not!

[hereticalteapot]

Hi, I'm an astrophysicist, I am well aware of the IAU (International Astronomical Union) definition of a planet. It is a definition that is relatively controversial and doesn't really make a lot of sense - it was mostly written to prevent the list of planets from getting too long as we discovered more dwarfs. This definition does not include anything to do with barycentres - I'll get back to that.

The IAU definition of a planet has 3 parts:

1. Object in orbit around our Sun

2. Object has reached hydrostatic equilibrium (i.e. it's a sphere, not a potato)

3. Object has cleared its neighborhood around its orbit

Both Earth and Luna satisfy 2. I will accept that 1 is debatable, but the crux of my argument is that Luna is the size of a terrestrial planet (yes, ~1% of Earth's mass, but still huge and of roughly the same order of magnitude as Mercury, which is a mere ~5% of Earth's mass) and exceptionally large relative to its orbital partner compared to any other "satellite", a factor the IAU does not account for.

It's important to note that 1 literally does not permit binary planets - even if both bodies are identical, one must be the "moon". This is major criticism of the IAU definition. It also doesn't account for exoplanets or rogue planets, but that's another story.

3 is where this definition falls apart. You could easily argue that most of the planets in our solar system fail depending on how you interpret it, because it's so fuzzy. The Earth fails, because there's a planet-sized body chilling out in its orbit (Luna), Jupiter fails because it has huge quantities of asteroids trapped in its Lagrange points, etc.

In the latter case, we say that because Jupiter is determining the motion of these bodies, it still counts. For the Earth we simply ignore Luna and say that the rule is more about stray bodies than orbital partners. But by the same logic we can say that for Luna we ignore the Earth, and Luna passes.

So I would argue that the IAU definition is bad, but if you fixed it so that it allowed binary systems to exist, it would readily define Luna as a planet in my view (if you deleted the Earth from the solar system and left Luna, it would unambiguously meet the criteria).

Now let's talk about barycentres.

The barycentre of two bodies in orbit is just their overall centre of mass. People often point to the external barycentre of the Pluto-Charon system to indicate that they are binary dwarfs. However, this is a poor metric in my view, because it's highly dependent on orbital distance.

The centre of mass of the Earth-Luna system is inside the Earth at present, but if Luna simply orbited further away, the barycentre would be in the empty space between them, with nothing about the two bodies individually, or the qualitative nature of their orbits, having changed. In fact, given enough time and pretending the Sun won't consume both bodies in a few billion years, Luna would actually drift far enough away due to tidal interactions for this to happen - it would be silly for it to suddenly be a planet one day when it wasn't the day before.

To answer your question, no. I would under no circumstances argue that the martian moons are planets. They are minuscule space potatoes that are not even large by the standards of asteroids. If Mars were close enough in mass to them for the system to be considered plausibly trinary, it would be far too small to even qualify as a dwarf planet (and there's no way such a system would be gravitationally stable to perturbation by Jupiter regardless).

[vacuously-true]

@hereticalteapot Thank you so much for laying this all out! I totally agree. Something that's motivating to me is the fact that Luna is more gravitationally attracted to the Sun than to Earth- and by that definition is orbiting the Sun, not the Earth. This is not true of any other "moons" in our solar system except some which are not even large enough to become spheres- so this is another way in which it is different from the moons in our system.

It's really frustrating to me when people lash out and say "You're wrong because there's a definition, for the love of god look up the definition" about a topic where I think it's clear my point is that I KNOW the definition and I disagree with it. And that's allowed! Definitions are made up! "Planets" are made up, and I think we should make them up differently!

All the things in our solar system are just different kinds of rocks dancing to each other's gravity- they're all affected by each one's gravity, even in tiny ways. They do not fall neatly into subcategories "planet" and "not a planet" - we made this distinction up because we wanted it. We noticed that some of the bodies in our solar system seemed much more important and dominant than others and we wanted a name for that. But the planets don't know that- they don't have an inherent major distinction between them, nor are they obligated to. When we wanted to come up with a way to clearly decide which bodies were planets, we had to make something up.

What we made up is a little bit vague, and even if it were extremely clear cut, we could still debate whether it was a reasonable or intuitive or useful definition.

In science we have lots of definitions, and they aren't handed down by god, they're made by people, and they are made to be useful, and when they aren't useful or reasonable, they can be and should be and are changed. Knowing which things fit which definitions is part of science, but another part of science is thinking critically about whether things SHOULD be defined, how they should be defined, whether definitions need to be changed, and other things like this- and that's messier than just knowing facts. But that's science.

[vacuously-true]

I hate to say it folks, but my fondness for the "Luna is a planet" argument might not just be because it's silly and I like to be silly. It might be a really convenient training ground for thinking about definitions which are social constructs in other contexts. Like race, sex, gender, disability, economics. These things, like planets, are made up. They are very real, don't get me wrong! They are real because we made them up! But what, exactly, they are... we decided it. And we could decide differently. We have that power. If you don't like something because it doesn't fit a definition- that's not really an argument against it. Because the definition could be changed. Should it be?

[pig-lota]

This is all great points and you're so right.

Also for any barycenter definition fans - the barycenter of Luna and Jupiter is within Jupiter. I think we can all agree Luna is not a moon of Jupiter.

[meme-space-nine]

Something else to note is that IAU bylaws require a new definition to be voted on to be circulating for at least a year in the scientific community. The one voted on in 2006 was drafted the same day. Also, the vote was specifically and carefully planned such that most of the planetary scientists who were only there for specific parts of the conference relevant to their fields had left already. It was rigged and in violation of their own bylaws, so I think its well past time we stop listening to this absurd definition.

[vacuously-true]

What the absolute fuck I can't believe election rigging is part of this story lmfao

[vacuously-true]

Alexander Abian blogging from the dead

[nobodysprobablysimplethoughts]

my pro-moon-is-a-planet attitude stems from an even sillier point of view than all of this very smart discourse: If the moon was a planet, Sailor Moon lore would finally make so much more sense.

[leroymilo]

I love this

If enough Luna truthers here have a non-tumblr blog and are down for this, we could make a Luna webring, that could be fun.

[itsfullofstars]

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY January 14, 2026 The Whirlpool Galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy. At only 30 million light years distant and fully 60 thousand light years across, M51, also known as NGC 5194, is one of the brightest and most picturesque galaxies on the sky. The featured deep image is a digital combination of images taken in different colors over 58 hours with a telescope from Lijiang, China. Anyone with a good pair of binoculars, however, can see this Whirlpool toward the constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici). M51 is a spiral galaxy of type Sc and is the dominant member of a whole group of galaxies. Astronomers speculate that M51's spiral structure is primarily due to its gravitational interaction with the smaller galaxy just above it. Image: https://ift.tt/vhEogLj via NASA https://ift.tt/KO5uUhq APOD --> https://ift.tt/GsDa84B

[theofficialastronomy101]

The Red Spider Nebula (NGC 6537) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Sagittarius, known for its intricate, two-lobed shape resembling a spider, formed by a dying star shedding its outer layers.

[sometiktoksarevalid]