Natural and man made disasters strike many parts of the globe frequently. Immediately organizations such as Oxfam, Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies come to the rescue of the many people affected. The staff manning these service organizations have one thing in common, the influence of the star Menkar bestowing on them the ability in disaster management. In this blog post, I examine the star Menkar in terms of Astronomy, Constellation and Cosmics. Few tips are given in improving your life too.

Menkar in Astronomy

Menkar is a bright cool orange to reddish star beaming orange colour. The star was named after its original Arabic title “Al-Minkhar Al- Qaytaas” meaning “The Nostril of the Sea Monster”. It is in the Cetus constellation or simply “The Whale” constellation. Menkar is located on the Jaw of the giant whale alias sea monster. When you take the entire constellation per se it is located on the north-eastern part and rises fairly late in the eastern sky in the horizon. Due to the variability of its brightness, Astronomer Bayer was led to believe it as the brightest star in the Cetus constellation. Accordingly, he gave the alpha status to the star. Today, the star is considered as the second brightest one.

Menkar is astronomically referred to as “Alpha Ceti “. It is classified as “M 1.5 III a” indicating it is a cool orange giant and a variable star to boot. In its stellar evolution, Menkar is almost in the penultimate stage before its eventual death. Menkar has passed the early stages such as fusing hydrogen to helium, helium to carbon and now it is in the stage of contracting the remaining carbon at the core. Consequently the star is shedding its outer layers made of hydrogen. Once this stage is passed, Menkar is set to explode as a planetary nebula. Thereafter, perhaps the remaining rump part of the star could turn out to be a large white dwarf star.

A third magnitude star in brightness in the scale at 2.5, Menkar is located in Right Ascension (Celestial Longitude) 3 hour 2 minutes and 49 seconds and Declination (Celestial Latitude) 4 degree 7 minutes and 44 seconds north. Menkar has surface temperature of 3,700 Kelvin and is about 380 times luminous than the Sun. It is about 220 light years away and about 84 times the size of the Sun. It is a horizon star and is moving away from earth at a speed of 16 miles per second. Menkar is known for special features:

1. Its brightness vary in an irregular manner; being a giant star it is given an astronomical short hand “Lb “ which conveys to the laymen “ the brightness of this giant star varies in irregular manner “

2. Menkar emits radio waves as a result of cool winds on its surface. This may also have caused the orange colour beamed from the star throughout despite its variability of its brightness

3. Menkar is the last important star to rise in the Cetus constellation as it is located in the north-eastern part of Cetus

4. Menkar has steadily and greatly lost its carbon content after it entered the third stage of contracting carbon at the core. This means that Menkar is on the fast track to become a planetary nebula compared with other stars.

Cetus Constellation

Let me say few things about Cetus constellation. The word Cetus comes from Latin, meaning a whale. According to Greek Legend it all started when Cassiopeia queen of Cepheus, the King of Ethiopia, boasted that her beauty surpasses that of the sea nymphs Nereids. Hearing this impertinent statement, Poseidon (Neptune in Latin), the Lord of the ocean and father of the Nereids sent storms to ravage the Ethiopian sea coast. When Cepheus consulted the Oracle he was advised that as atonement for the vanity of his queen he must chain his daughter Andromeda in the sea to be devoured by the sea monster Cetus, who appears in the form of a Giant Whale. Later on Cetus is seen travelling towards Andromeda, the virgin who is chained to the rock to be devoured by him. Before Cetus can finish his job, Perseus the hero appears. He has in his hand the Head of Gordon Medusa. Perseus shows this head to Cetus; on seeing Medusa, Cetus is turned into a stone. There the sea monster lies eternally.

On the contrary, Gerardus D Bouw, writing in Biblical Astronomer No 104, traces the Cetus story from Nineveh, the Assyrian capital city on the bank of the Tigris River that was revived by God after the Ninevites repented as preached by Prophet Jonah. Obviously, the whale that swallowed Jonah could easily be traced to Cetus.

Whatever the story is, Cetus constellation is largely a southern constellation with few stars above the celestial equator. It is fourth largest constellation in the known sky. This constellation has several notable stars: Deneb Kaitos, Menkar , Baton Kaitos, Al Kaf Al Jidhmah, Deneb and Mira.

Cosmics

Menkar is located just above the celestial equator and always rises in the horizon. It can influence a person in four counts:

1. Birth star sighted by the Moon

2. Lucky star sighted by one of the other six planets

3. Rising star

4. Culminating star

Positive Cosmics

1. Menkar makes you a ‘service to humanity” person. You have charitable nature in helping affected people during calamities. It can be natural disaster such as an earthquake or a man made disaster such as arson. Whatever the nature of the disaster you are one of the few to rush in with whatever help you can garner

2. Though you often languish in the cocoon shelf of your office when the moment arrives you rise to the occasion with speed and agility second to none

3. Quick analysis is your hallmark and moving men and logistics under trying conditions is the task made for you

4. You will not easily give up in your actions be it in the office or in the sports ground. Your enthusiasm never fades

5. Plump, fat with an over sized belly and besotted with un-combed hair you are, in appearance wise an anti-thesis to the heroes in the celluloid films; but when it comes to work you are marvellous and often get adulation from many quarters.

Negative Cosmics

1. The chief negative is that you are too emotional; if anything is denied you are going to take it up grudgingly and wait for the moment to demonstrate that the other party is simply wrong

2. You can be caught in a web of deceit especially in relation to financial scandals or in extra marital affairs

3. You are prone to major accidents resulting in the loss of life or limb; you are also susceptible to major breakdowns in terms of health

4. As you tread the path of helping people in the throes of crisis the chance of tripping onto electricity wire or stung by venomous snakes or attacked by hyenas and other predators cannot be over-emphasized.

Improving Your Life

The following are few recommendations to improve your life:

1. You should select white, green orange and light colours for your dress

2. Numbers 1, 5 & 8 do wonders for you

3. You must sleep, keeping your head towards the south -east

4. You must join social services or disaster management or special services organizations

5. Single marriage lasts till end

6. It would be better for you to be in the public service or work for a Non-Governmental Organizations(NGO)

7. You should use the combination of alphabets “H “ in name or user name or pet name

8. You must develop lifestyle where your suitcase is stuffed and ready to fly away on call. Like in the Lyrics of a Jim Reeves number “ I hear the sound of distant drums” you wait for the mobile to ring for the call of duty

9. During leisure, enjoy at home peacefully.

Muthu Ashraff

Cosmic Adviser

Mobile : +94 777 265677

E-mail : cosmicgems@gmail.com

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