At what degree is the north node at present?

[lillyjgc]

Hi folks...A mercury-retro type *discrepancy* has occurred...What degree is the north node at the moment? About half of the ephemeri online say its at 3.50 pisces or thereabouts, my own astro program concurs with that, but some of the ephemeri I checked out are saying it is at 5 deg pisces...including astrodienst, on a chart cast for 27/10/07...Can anyone tell me *for sure* at what degree it is? Thanks, Lillyjgc

[tikana]

LOL

i was going to do that today.. post the question

cheers
Tik

[sageofaquarius]

The position of the Moon's North Node can be calculated in one of two ways - either Mean or True.

The Moon’s nodes move backwards through the zodiac at a rate of one revolution every 18.5 years. When astronomers calculate the Mean Node, they take the nodes’ rate of motion and average it out. The resulting position is the Mean Node - currently 3° Pisces 32' according to my Halloran software as I write.

In reality, the nodes “wobble” a bit. Once astronomers obtained instruments sensitive enough to measure this wobble, they began to plot its course and call this exact position the True Node - currently 4° Pisces 51'.

It would seem logical to use the True Node when calculating aspects to planets, etc., but some astrologers may prefer to use the Mean Node.

www.north-node.com/astrology-tutorials/true-node-mean-node-north-node

[tikana]

thank you Sage

could you look at where North node was on 27th of october?
pretty please?

We are debating.. via pms here..

I say it is 5 deg
Lilly is getting 3!

soeaking of merc retro

thanks a bunch
Tik

[sageofaquarius]

Hi Tik and Lilly

On October 27, 2007:

The True Node was between
5° Pisces 23' (00.01) and
5° Pisces 14' (23.59)

The Mean Node was between
3° Pisces 50' (00.01) and
3° Pisces 47' (23.59).

Hope this helps.

Sage

[tikana]

THANK YA!


Tiki

[gaer]

I'd like to add that whether to use the "true node" or the "mean node" is yet another debate that rages on, unsolved.

Astrolog, which I use, caculates only with the mean node.

Here is an example of what happens:

http://www.artcharts.com/aspects/nodes/aries.html

True North Node in Aries December 26, 2004 - June 22, 2006
Mean North Node in Aries November 30, 2004 - June 19, 2006

As you can see, the mean node calculation has the moon moving "backwards" into Aries almost a month earlier the the true node calculation. But as it moved into Pisces, there was only a difference of a couple days.

g

[lillyjgc]

thanx folks! So I have been using the *mean node*. I'm glad this came up- i just learned something new.This also means there will be future discrepancies as astrodienst obviously uses the *true node*.About half of the online ephemeri use the true node, the rest use the mean node.Might be good to bear that in mind, horary-doers! cheers, lillyjgc