One year ago, NASA encountered the most distant yet object in our solar system. It is a compact binary named Arrokoth. Astronomers are able to understand more about how planets formed in the solar system from swirling clouds of gas and dust. Small particles in this cloud slowly combined into larger and larger objects. Planetesimals which are the precursors to planets form in this way. Astronomer understand, from studying Arrokoth, that such mergers during the planetary formation process were gentle and not heavy impact collisions. There is an interesting parallel to this idea in Vedic astronomy. Let us explore an ancient idea related to Arrokoth in Pitru Devatas who reside in the Magha Nakshatra.
Magha Nakshatra – the area of Pitru Devatas
The Rishi astronomers of India divided the night sky into 27 equal parts. They then assigned a unique cosmic impulse to each of these divisions. They therefore assigned Pitru Devatas to the Regulus region of the sky. Pitru Devatas are the cosmic impulses that represents the way genetic information gets transferred through the generations. This section is the Magha Nakshatra. Magha is a parallel to the contact binary nature of Arrokoth. It is interesting to observe the adjacent sections which also represent equally interesting principles behind planetary formation. The Regulus region of the sky is the 8th of the 27 divisions. The 7th division represents the centrifugal and friction forces, which are necessary during the formation of planets around a new star. This ancient idea related to Arrokoth would not be obvious, before New Horizon spacecraft began its journey towards the Kuiper belt.
