Vulcan
, in astronomy Vulcan, in astronomy, hypothetical planet whose existence was proposed by
Le Verrier to explain part of the advance of the perihelion of
Mercury, not all of which could be accounted for by gravitational effects of the other planets under the Newtonian theory of
gravitation. The general theory of
relativity, which explain the observed advance of the perihelion of Mercury as being caused by the curvature of space in the vicinity of the sun as a result of the sun's large mass, ended the search for Vulcan.
Vulcan
, in Roman religion and mythology Vulcan, in Roman religion and mythology, fire god. Chiefly a god of destructive fire, Vulcan seems to have originated as a god of volcanoes. His festival, the Volcanalia, was held on Aug. 23. He was later identified with the Greek
Hephaestus.
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Vulcan
(vul -kăn) A hypothetical planet, thought during the 19th century to orbit the Sun within the orbit of Mercury. Searches for it during total solar eclipses and at suggested times of transit across the Sun were all unsuccessful. It is now known not to exist.Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006
Vulcan
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)Vulcan (related to the word volcano) is a “hypothetical planet” (sometimes referred to as the trans-Neptunian points or planets, or TNPs for short) that astronomers formerly speculated would be—and that a few astrologers still anticipate will be—found orbiting the Sun inside the orbit of Mercury. The nineteenth-century French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier was the first person to hypothesize its existence and, shortly after he made his theories known, people began to claim that they had observed Vulcan. It was named after the ancient Roman god of fire, who was also blacksmith to the gods. Alice Bailey’s system of esoteric astrology makes extensive use of Vulcan, and some esoteric astrologers still utilize it. Many astrologers anticipated that Vulcan, when discovered, would be assigned the rulership of Virgo. As astronomers gradually abandoned the notion of an intermercurial planet, Vulcan slowly faded from astrological discourse. There is, for example, no entry for Vulcan in such standard references as the Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology or Eleanor Bach’s Astrology from A to Z. Thanks to the Star Trek television series, the name is still alive, although Mr. Spock’s home planet bears little resemblance to the hypothetical planet of astronomical history.
Sources:
Bach, Eleanor. Astrology from A to Z: An Illustrated Source Book. New York: Philosophical Library, 1990.
Brau, Jean-Louis, Helen Weaver, and Allan Edmands. Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: New American Library, 1980.
Corliss, William R. The Sun and Solar System Debris: A Catalog of Astronomical Anomalies. Glen Arm, MD: The Sourcebook Project, 1986.
DeVore, Nicholas. Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1947.
Gettings, Fred. Dictionary of Astrology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985.
The Astrology Book, Second Edition © 2003 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.
Vulcan
[′vəl·kən] (astronomy)
A hypothetical planet that was supposed to have an orbit within the orbit of Mercury; its existence was considered about 1859 and in the next few years, but it is generally considered by present-day astronomers to be nonexistent.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Vulcan
god of destruction, placated by gifts of captured weapons. [Rom. Myth.: Howe, 294]
Vulcan
blacksmith of gods; personification of fire. [Art: Hall, 128]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vulcan
1 the Roman god of fire and metalworking
Vulcan
2 a hypothetical planet once thought to lie within the orbit of Mercury
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
VULCAN
(database)A version of
JPLDIS ported to
CP/M by Wayne
Ratliff around 1980. VULCAN evolved into dBASE II.
VULCAN
(database)VULCAN
(language)An early string manipulation language.
["VULCAN - A String Handling Language with Dynamic Storage
Control", E.P. Storm et al, Proc FJCC 37, AFIPS, Fall 1970].
VULCAN
(language)This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)