Asteroid Might Collide With the Earth in 2182

Science Daily: Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Might Collide With the Earth in 2182.

ScienceDaily (July 27, 2010) — The potentially hazardous asteroid '(101955) 1999 RQ36' has a one-in-a-thousand chance of impacting the Earth, and more than half of this probability indicates that this could happen in the year 2182, based on a global study in which Spanish researchers have been involved. Knowing this fact may help design in advance mechanisms aimed at deviating the asteroid's path.

"The total impact probability of asteroid '(101955) 1999 RQ36' can be estimated in 0.00092 -- approximately one-in-a-thousand chance -- but what is most surprising is that over half of this chance (0.00054) corresponds to 2182," explains María Eugenia Sansaturio, co-author of the study and researcher of Universidad de Valladolid (UVA). The research also involved scientists from the University of Pisa (Italy), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA) and INAF-IASF-Rome (Italy).

Betelgeuse

Steve Smith: Beetlejuice.

Two bright regions visible in recent astronomical observations of the massive star's surface provide more evidence for the Electric Star theory.

Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars in the observable Universe. If it was placed in the Sun's position, it would be larger than Jupiter's mean orbital diameter. However, the star's material structure is so diffuse that the orbits of the inner planets might not be affected at all.

Betelgeuse is the upper left star in the constellation Orion, also notable for the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a topic of several previous Picture of the Day articles. The star is considered youthful by consensus astronomers, but nearing senescence because its extravagant radiative output exceeds 100,000 times that of our Sun.

According to a recent press release, sunspots have been found on the surface of the stellar behemoth. However, there are only two of them occupying over one-third of its surface, and are said to be the signature of heat transfer from the interior through "matter convection". As the report suggests, the star is acting like a pot of boiling water—a strictly mechanical phenomenon.

Betelgeuse is notable for gigantic "bubbles of hot gas" that are in constant motion—bubbles as large as the star itself. Since it has been observed to eject massive amounts of stellar material, greater than six-times its diameter, it has been proposed that Betelgeuse is undergoing violent vertical oscillations just beneath its surface. It is that energetic motion that is causing the "hot gas" to blast into space, just as bubbles in boiling water erupt with puffs of steam.

The Electric Star theory provides another explanation. An explanation that relies on the electrical connection stars have with their galactic neighborhood, and with the Universe. Stars shine because electricity flows through each galaxy. As has been written in these pages many times, stars can be thought of as giant spheres of slow-motion lightning. It is this simple hypothesis that best matches observational evidence.

Retired Professor of Electrical Engineering Don Scott wrote in his acclaimed book The Electric Sky that a star's size, luminosity, and color have little to do with its age. Stars fall into position on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram because of the input they receive from galactic electrical circuits. As Dr. Scott wrote, the primary indicator for a star's behavior is the current density at its surface. Stars do not rely on internally generated fusion fires to supply them with energy.

Red giant stars are relatively cool but extremely bright, so they are interpreted to be quite large. Scott proposes that the "giant" characteristic is a result of an exceptionally broad corona and not because the stellar disc is oversized. The star might be small inside its extended, energetic atmosphere. The fact that Betelgeuse has a temperature measurement of about 2900 Celsius calls into question the thermonuclear model of stars. How can such cool temperatures create a radiative output that is so extreme?

Physicist and Electric Universe advocate Wal Thornhill also proposes an electrical model for Betelgeuse, and red supergiant stars, in general. Electric currents in space are primarily due to the flow of electrons through interstellar plasma, and not the movement of positive ions. This means that stars are lacking in electrons because of a charge separation process. Stars can be considered "positive anodes in a galactic glow discharge." Therefore:

“Red stars are those stars that cannot satisfy their hunger for electrons from the surrounding plasma. So the star expands the surface area over which it collects electrons by growing a large plasma sheath that becomes the effective collecting area of the stellar anode in space. The growth process is self-limiting because, as the sheath expands, its electric field will grow stronger. Electrons caught up in the field are accelerated to ever-greater energies. Before long, they become energetic enough to excite neutral particles they chance to collide with, and the huge sheath takes on a uniform ‘red anode glow.’ It becomes a red giant star."

Betelgeuse is an electric star, and the bright regions are areas where electric currents are flowing with the greatest Amperage.

Neptune In Collision

Science Daily: Cometary Impact on Neptune: Herschel Data Point to Collision About Two Centuries Ago.

ScienceDaily (July 21, 2010) — A comet may have hit the planet Neptune about two centuries ago. This is indicated by the distribution of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of the gas giant that researchers -- among them scientists from the French obser-vatory LESIA in Paris, from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Re-search (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany) and from the Max Planck Insti-tute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching (Germany) -- have now studied. The scientists analyzed data taken by the research satellite Herschel, that has been orbiting the Sun in a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers since May 2009.

The research is published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (July 16, 2010).

Grapes

Grapes

Green globes
Like dinosaur eggs
In the bracken of an alien world.
Emerald moons in orbit.
Suspended translucence.
Nebulae of the vineyard
Fall by the force of gravity
And splat on the ground
Like a broken pearl necklace
Where ant armies take to the battlefield
And carry off the spoils of war.

Plants Can Think and Remember

BBC: Plants 'can think and remember'.

Plants are able to "remember" and "react" to information contained in light, according to researchers.

Plants, scientists say, transmit information about light intensity and quality from leaf to leaf in a very similar way to our own nervous systems.

These "electro-chemical signals" are carried by cells that act as "nerves" of the plants.

In their experiment, the scientists showed that light shone on to one leaf caused the whole plant to respond.

And the response, which took the form of light-induced chemical reactions in the leaves, continued in the dark.

This showed, they said, that the plant "remembered" the information encoded in light.

Scientists Rediscover Pythagoras/Democritus/Velikovsky

"Some of the Italians called Pythagoreans say that the comet is one of the planets [Venus]." -- Aristotle, philosopher, Meteorology, Book I, 350 B.C.

"Democritus however, insists upon the truth of his view and affirms that certain stars [Venus] have been seen when comets dissolve." -- Aristotle, philosopher, Meteorology, Book I, 350 B.C.

"Venus experienced in quick succession its birth and expulsion under violent conditions; an existence as a comet on an ellipse which approached the sun closely; two encounters with the earth accompanied by discharges of [electric] potentials between these two bodies and with a thermal effect caused by conversion of momentum into heat; a number of contacts with Mars, and probably also with Jupiter. Since all this happened between the third and first millennia before the present era, the core of the planet Venus must still be hot." -- Immanuel Velikovsky, polymath, 1950

Science Daily: Super-Hot Planet With Unique [sic] Comet-Like Tail Discovered [sic].

ScienceDaily (July 15, 2010) — Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the existence of a baked object that could be called a "cometary planet." The gas giant planet, named HD 209458b, is orbiting so close to its star that its heated atmosphere is escaping into space.

Scientists Confirm Creationism

"... the parent animal pre-exists, not only in idea, but actually in time. For man is generated from man; and thus it is the possession of certain characters by the parent that determines the development of like characters in the child." -- Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals, Book I, 350 B.C.

Ipse dixit.

MSNBC: Scientists Reportedly Crack Chicken or Egg Riddle.

It is an age-old riddle that has perplexed generations: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Now British scientists claim to have finally come up with the definitive answer: The chicken.

The scientific and philosophical mystery was purportedly unraveled by researchers at Sheffield and Warwick universities, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

The scientists found that a protein found only in a chicken's ovaries is necessary for the formation of the egg, according to the paper Wednesday. The egg can therefore only exist if it has been created inside a chicken.

Jose Funes: "Science Helps Me Be a Priest"

"If therefore it is agreeable to you [Pherecydes], I should be glad to become a pupil of yours as to the matters about which you write [Metaphysics]; and if you invite me I will come to you to Syros; for Solon the Athenian and I must be out of our senses if we sailed to Crete to investigate the history of that country, and to Egypt for the purpose of conferring with the priests and astronomers who are to be found there, and yet are unwilling to make a voyage to you; for Solon will come too, if you will give him leave...." -- Thales, philosopher, 6th century B.C.

"After increasing the reputation Pythagoras had already acquired, by communicating to him the utmost he was able to impart to him, Thales, laying stress on his advanced age and the infirmities of his body, advised him to go to Egypt, to get in touch with the priests of Memphis and Jupiter. Thales confessed that the instruction of these priests was the source of his own reputation for wisdom, while neither his own endowments nor achievements equaled those which were so evident in Pythagoras. Thales insisted that, in view of all this, if Pythagoras should study with those priests, he was certain of becoming the wisest and most divine of men." -- Iamblichus, philosopher, 3rd century

"In most ancient cultures in which sky observations were important, astronomers served also as priests." -- Dick Teresi, Lost Discoveries, author, 2002

New Scientist: Pope's astronomer: 'Science helps me be a priest'.

Vatican astronomers are Jesuits, and take a vow of obedience to Jesuit superiors. Could there be a conflict between a conclusion you reached scientifically and something your Jesuit superior told you to believe?

That situation is almost impossible because my superior would never tell me about science. What there might be is an apparent conflict - I repeat the word "apparent" - between the results of science and faith. Scientists research the truth in the universe. There is also religious truth. We don't believe there are two truths, we believe God is the truth and the two kinds of truth coincide in God. At the end we will find an explanation, maybe not in this life but in the next life.

Is the conflict between intelligent design and evolution an example of an "apparent" conflict between science and religion?

No, that is a real conflict. The problem is when religion enters the world of science, the scientific method; that could be the problem with intelligent design. On the other side there is a danger when scientists use science outside of the scientific method, to make philosophical and religious statements - using science for a goal that science is not meant for. So, for example, you cannot use science to deny the existence of God. You can believe whatever you want but you cannot use science to prove that God does not exist.

Does your work as a scientist affect your religious beliefs?

I would say that my work as a scientist helps me to be a religious person, a priest.

Presumptive Proplyds

Steve Smith: Presumptive Proplyds.

Are the elongated blobs of gas and dust observed within various nebulae the signature of star-birth?

A recent press release from the European Space Agency (ESA) highlights images from the Hubble Space Telescope that are said to reveal "baby stars" called proplyds (PROto-PLanetarY Disk) within the Orion Molecular Cloud complex. Such dusty aggregations are thought to be where gravity is pulling wispy gases together until they reach pressures sufficient to ignite thermonuclear fusion.

According to the Nebular Hypothesis, the remaining clumps of dust and gas that are not absorbed by the newly minted star swirl around, attracting more stray bits, until they also condense, but this time into planets. It is said that our own Solar System was created in a similar "stellar nursery" billions of years ago.

A previous announcement from ESA's XMM-Newton x-ray telescope revealed “flowing plasma” at over one million Kelvin, along with x-ray emissions, in the same regions where the supposed star factories are located. Astronomers were surprised by the discovery, because no one expected to find “hot gas” within a cloud of cold vapor.

At last count, over 700 new stars are said to be forming inside the nebula. Although stars of any class are thought to be x-ray sources, no nebula is supposed to possess the intrinsic energy necessary to generate them.

The investigators believed that they knew where the plasma and x-rays came from, the collision of “high velocity winds emitted by stars.” In other words, in the heart of the nebula, stellar winds cause “shock waves” to raise the temperature in the environment to millions of degrees. The plasma they identified is really meant to refer to hot gas with no reference to its electrically active component.

Star-forming regions are conventionally associated with high frequency light from their active regions. Gamma rays, x-rays, and extreme ultraviolet shine from the "cosmic eggs", and appear to be the glowing tips of condensed gas balls. One of the most iconic images in modern astrophotography is the famous "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. The tops of the clouds, with their Q-tip structures, x-ray radiation, and compact shapes are also deemed to be stellar nurseries, where standard theories meet colorful pictures.

That gas can be heated until it gives off x-rays without stripping electrons from the nuclei, or that a “wind” of ionized particles is not an electric current, or that the only way for charged particles to accelerate is through shock waves is seriously limiting. It betrays a reactionary viewpoint despite the evidence of observations.

The Electric Star hypothesis resolves many of the distorted opinions that arise from misunderstanding the role of plasma and electric fields in space. Rather than kinetic activity (heated gas), the Orion Nebula’s radiant emanations result from electric currents.

Electric discharges in a plasma cloud create double layers, or sheaths, along the current axis. Positive charge builds up on one side and negative charge on the other. An electric field develops between the sides, and if enough current is applied the sheath glows, otherwise it is invisible. Electric currents flow along the sheaths. In plasma, the currents spiral into filaments, or double layer tubes. The filaments attract each other, but rather than merging they spiral around, gradually pinching down into arc mode discharges.

Electric sheaths that are normally invisible are "pumped" with additional energy from galactic Birkeland currents in which they are immersed. The excess input power pushes them into "glow mode", while increased flux density draws matter from the surrounding space into filaments that ignite the nebular "gases" electrically.

It is in this way that stars are born. Gravity, although it plays a small role in stellar evolution, is far too weak a force when compared to an electric field and ionized particles.

The Myth of Gravitation 2010

The New York Times: A Scientist Takes On Gravity.

“For me gravity doesn’t exist,” said Dr. Verlinde, who was recently in the United States to explain himself. Not that he can’t fall down, but Dr. Verlinde is among a number of physicists who say that science has been looking at gravity the wrong way and that there is something more basic, from which gravity “emerges,” the way stock markets emerge from the collective behavior of individual investors or that elasticity emerges from the mechanics of atoms.

Looking at gravity from this angle, they say, could shed light on some of the vexing cosmic issues of the day, like the dark energy, a kind of anti-gravity that seems to be speeding up the expansion of the universe, or the dark matter that is supposedly needed to hold galaxies together.

The Origin of Saturn

"... the Sun captured a previously independent Saturnian system, in which Saturn was the brown-dwarf primary for the planets Earth, Mars, and Venus." -- Mel Acheson, natural philosopher, Stars in Collision Part 2, November 2nd 2009

"If electrical capture is common, it lends credibility to such Saturnist models of the recent history of the Solar system as that described by Dwardu Cardona in his book God Star and its two sequels. The body that became Saturn was a brown dwarf star moving alone in the galaxy with Venus, Mars, and Earth held in the axial jet above it's pole -- a low energy counterpart of Herbig-Hero stars. It was drawn toward the Sun along the same galactic current. When it entered the Sun's sheath, the electrical readjustment caused flaring and the disruption of the axial alignment of planets. Proto-Saturn lost its stellar radiance and its planets, and the bodies soon settled into quasi-stellar orbits among the rest of the planets." -- Mel Acheson, natural philosopher, Stars in Collision Part 2, November 2nd 2009

Ancient Hindu Astronomy: The Surya Siddhanta

"... the Surya Siddhanta was revealed more than 2,164,960 years ago, that amount of time having elapsed, according to Hindu reckoning, since the end of the Golden Age ...." -- Ebenezer Burgess, polymath, May 1858

Brahmarishi Mayan, The Surya Siddhanta, ~ 2,166,818 B.C.-490 A.D.

5. I will give thee the science upon which time is founded, the grand system of the planets. ...

8. Listen with concentrated attention to the ancient and exhalted science, which has been spoken, in each successive Age, to the Great Sages (maharishi) .... ...

9. This is that very same original text-book which the Sun of old promulgated: only, by reason of the revolution of the Ages, there is here a difference of times. ...

10. Time is the destroyer of the worlds ....

18. One and seventy Ages are styled here a Patriarchate (manvantara); at it's end is said to be a twilight which has the number of years of a Golden Age, and which is a deluge. ...

24. ... years passed while the All-wise [Brahma/God] was employed in creating the animate and inanimate creation, plants, stars, gods, demons, and the rest. ...

34. Of the asterisms, one billion, five hundred and eighty-two million, two hundred and thirty-seven thousand, eight-hundred and twenty-eight.

Britain: 800,000 B.C.

Science Daily: Dig Discovers Ancient Britons Were Earliest North Europeans.

ScienceDaily (July 8, 2010) — A University College London archaeologist is part of a team who have unearthed the earliest evidence of human occupation in Britain.

Simon Parfitt was part of a team of archaeologists, palaeontologists and earth scientists from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, UCL, and Queen Mary, University of London, who unearthed the new evidence at an archaeological dig in East Anglia.

Their findings demonstrate that ancient humans occupied Britain over 800,000 years ago, marking the first known settlement in northern Europe -- far earlier than previously thought.

Queensland Schools Offer Education

"All things were mixed up together, then Mind came and arranged them all in distinct order." -- Anaxagoras, philosopher, 5th century B.C.

"Then I heard someone who had a book of Anaxagoras, as he said, out of which he read that mind was the disposer and cause of all, and I was quite delighted at the notion of this, which appeared admirable, and I said to myself; If mind is the disposer, mind will dispose all for the best, and put each particular in the best place ...." -- Plato, philosopher, Phaedo, 360 B.C.

"... nor again could it be right to entrust so great a matter [nature] to spontaneity and chance. When one man said, then, that reason was present -- as in animals, so throughout nature -- as the cause of order and of all arrangement, he seemed like a sober man in contrast with the random talk of his predecessors. We know that Anaxagoras certainly adopted these views, but Hermotimus of Clazomenae is credited with expressing them earlier." -- Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book I, 350 B.C.

"And the existence of male and female, and the desire of each for conjunction, and the power of using the parts which are constructed, do not even these declare the workman? Who made these things or devised them? 'No one,' you say. Oh, amazing shamelessness and stupidity!" -- Epictetus, philosopher, Discourses, Book I, 1st century

CourrierMail: Intelligent design to be taught in Queensland schools under national curriculum.

CREATIONISM and intelligent design will be taught in Queensland state schools for the first time as part of the new national curriculum.

Creationists dismiss the science of evolution, instead believing that living things are best explained by an intelligent being or God, rather than an undirected process such as natural selection.

The issue of creationism being taught in schools has caused huge controversy in the US, where some fundamentalist religious schools teach it as a science subject instead of Darwin's theory of evolution.

In Queensland schools, creationism will be offered for discussion in the subject of ancient history, under the topic of "controversies".

Ancient Hindu Science

"And then the Aryans -- if we may believe that good man Bramachari Bawa -- knew a branch of science (Viman Vidya) about which the West is now speculating much, but has learnt next to nothing. They could navigate the air, and not only navigate but fight battles in it, like so many war eagles combating for the dominion of the clouds. To be perfect in aeronautics, as he [Bramachari Bawa] justly says, they must have known all the arts and sciences related to that science, including the strata and currents of the atmosphere, their relative temperature, humidity and density, and the specific gravity of the various gases. At the Mayasabha, described in the Bharata, he tells us, were microscopes, telescopes, clocks, watches, mechanical singing birds, and articulating and speaking animals. The Ashta Vidya -- a science of which our modern professors have not even an inkling -- enabled it's proficients completely to destroy an invading army by enveloping it in an atmosphere of poisonous gases...." -- Henry S. Olcott, theosophist, India Past Present and Future, 1880

"I have known an educated Indian to maintain with much warmth that in the Golden Age of the rishis and others were well acquainted with the art of aerial navigation, and probably with other rapid modes of locomotion known to the moderns. I have heard him assert boldly that even the telephone, microphone and phonograph were known to the Hindu sages, up to the time when the sciences and arts of the ancient world perished ... on the fatal field of Kurukshetra." -- John C. Oman, historian, Great Indian Epics: The Stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, 1894

"To deny to Babylon, to Egypt and to India, their part in the development of science and scientific thinking is to defy the testimony of the ancients, supported by the discovery of the modern authorities." -- Louis C. Karpinsi, mathematician, Hindu Science, The American Mathematical Monthly, Volume XXVI, Pages 298-300, 1919

"No question can be more interesting in the present circumstances of the world than India's contribution to the science of aeronautics. There are numerous illustrations in our vast Puranic and epic literature to show how well and wonderfully the ancient Indians conquered the air. To glibly characterize everything found in this literature as imaginary and summarily dismiss it as unreal has been the practice of both Western and Eastern scholars until very recently. The very idea indeed was ridiculed and people went so far as to assert that it was physically impossible for man to use flying machines. But today what with balloons, aero planes and other flying machines a great change has come over our ideas on the subject." -- V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, historian, War In Ancient India, 1944

Scientists Rediscover Flying Submarines

"O Pusan, with thy golden ships that travel across the ocean, in the air's mid-region, Thou goest on an embassy to Surya ...." -- Rig Veda, 8, 58, 3

"It is there, O thou tiger among men, that I heard that Salwa was coursing on his car of precious metals near the ocean, and I followed in his pursuit. And, O thou slayer of thy foes, having reached the main, Salwa on his car of costly metals was in the midst of the deep heaving with billows!" -- Vasudeva, Mahabharata, Book III: Vana Parva, Section XX, 8th century B.C.

"But as that car of costly metals was in the sky [U.F.O.], full two miles off, it could not, O Bharata, be seen by my troops [cloaking device]. They could therefore only remaining on the field of battle look on like spectators in a place of amusement, cheering me on by shouts loud as the roar of the lion, and also by the sound of their clapping. And the tinted arrows [missiles] shot by the fore-part of hand penetrated into the bodies of the Danavas [extraterrestrial demons] like biting insects. And then arose cries in the car of precious metals from those that were dying of wounds by those sharp arrows and falling into the waters of the mighty ocean. And the Danavas deprived of their arms, necks, and wearing the form of Kavandhas,--fell, sending up tremendous roars. And as they fell they were devoured by animals living in the waters of the ocean." -- Vasudeva, Mahabharata, Book III: Vana Parva, Section XX, 8th century B.C.

"O king, when I had said these words, Indra with a smile said unto me 'Nothing is there in the three worlds that is not in thy power (to achieve). My enemies, those Danavas [extraterrestrial demons], named, Nivata-Kavachas [aquatic extraterrestrials] dwell in the womb of the ocean. And they number thirty million and are notorious, and all of equal forms and strength and splendour. Do thou slay them there, O Kunti's son; and that will be thy preceptor's fee.'" -- Arjuna, Mahabharata, Book III: Vana Parva, Section CLXVII, 8th century B.C.

New Scientist: From sea to sky: Submarines that fly.

GUILLEMOTS and gannets do it. Cormorants and kingfishers do it. Even the tiny insect-eating dipper does it. And if a plan by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) succeeds, a remarkable airplane may one day do it too: plunge beneath the waves to stalk its prey, before re-emerging to fly home.

The DARPA plan, announced in October 2008, calls for a stealthy aircraft that can fly low over the sea until it nears its target, which could be an enemy ship, or a coastal site such as a port. It will then alight on the water and transform itself into a submarine that will cruise under water to within striking distance, all without alerting defences.

Mendeleyev On Abiotic Hydrocarbon Origin

"Whether naphta was formed by organic matter is very doubtful, as it is found in the most ancient Silurian [Ordovician] strata which correspond with the epochs of the earth's existence when there was very little organic matter; it could not penetrate from the higher to the lower (more ancient) strata as it floats on water (and water penetrates through all strata)." -- Dmitri Mendeleyev, chemist, 1877

"It may be supposed that naphta was produced by the action of water penetrating through the crevices of the strata during the upheaval of mountain chains because water with iron carbide ought to give iron oxide and hydrocarbons." -- Dmitri Mendeleyev, chemist, 1877

T. Anthony Michael: BP Oil Spill Global Catastrophe Reaches Epic Proportions.

Let’s let the real experts tell us the real story about where oil and gas really come from. Highly esteemed Russian researcher, Dmitri Mendeleev, is described as follows by Wikipedia. Perhaps we ought to listen carefully to him. “Mendeleev made other important contributions to chemistry. The Russian chemist and science historian L.A. Tchugayev has characterized him as “a chemist of genius, first-class physicist, a fruitful researcher in the fields of hydrodynamics, meteorology, geology, certain branches of chemical technology (explosives, petroleum, and fuels, for example) and other disciplines adjacent to chemistry and physics, a thorough expert of chemical industry and industry in general, and an original thinker in the field of economy.” Mendeleev was one of the founders, in 1869, of the Russian Chemical Society.”

Here’s what Dmitri has to say about the abiogenic source of hydrocarbons in his tract entitled THE ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM:

“The capital fact to note is that petroleum was born in the depths of the Earth, and it is only there that we must seek its origin.” (D. Mendeleev, 1877){{ref|Mendeleev}} Mendeleev, D., 1877. L’Origine du pétrole. Revue Scientifique, second series, VIII, p. 409–416

Observation Falsifies Gravitation

"I hope that some reader interested in astronomical matters will take occasion to make some reply to this letter [The Myth of Gravitation] and possibly contend that electro-magnetism cannot supersede Newton's theory of gravitation in the suspension and movement of the universe of worlds." -- C.H. Kilmer, historian, October 1915

"The mathematical proofs of Newton are completely erroneous." -- Immanuel Velikovsky, polymath, 1942

"Gravitation is an electromagnetic phenomenon." -- Immanuel Velikovsky, polymath, Cosmos Without Gravitation: Attraction, Repulsion, and Electromagnetic Circumduction In The Solar System, 1946

"It was only the downfall of Newtonian theory in this century which made scientists realize that their standards of honesty had been utopian." -- Imre Lakatos, philosopher, 1973

Discovery: FAR-OUT WORLD LEAVES ASTRONOMERS BAFFLED.

A planet-like object about eight times the size of Jupiter is locked in orbit around very young star, though the exact relationship between the two remains a mystery.

Circling 300 times farther from the star than Earth orbits the sun, the object could be a planet, perhaps one that was catapulted out into the nether regions after a collision or close encounter with an as-yet undetected sibling planet.

"There is no theory for how a true planet can form at 300 AU (astronomical units, with one unit equal to 93 million miles, the mean distance between Earth and the sun). It's not really a lack of imagination. It's a lack of physics," California Institute of Technology astronomer John Johnson told Discovery News.

Current theories, observations and computer models show that planets form from a disk of gas and dust that circles young stars. Less material is available as the distance to the parent star grows.

"You actually have to have material out there to have the planet forming," Johnson said.

Another option is that the object, designated as 1RXS J160929.1-210524 b and located about 500 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, is a new type of failed star -- something akin to a brown dwarf, though about half the size -- which formed along with the primary star about 5 million years ago.

But scientists similarly are at a loss to explain how such a relatively small object could have survived the stellar birthing process.

"The models show it's difficult to successfully produce a low-mass object next to a much more massive object," said University of Montreal astronomer David Lafreniere, who lead a team that photographed the object in 2008, the first time a planet beyond the solar system was directly imaged.

Confirmation this week by Lafreniere and colleagues that the object is indeed in orbit with its parent -- or sibling -- star should galvanize follow-on studies that could illuminate the relationship, such as finding sister planets or building an inventory of similar systems elsewhere in the galaxy.

"This is a puzzle right now," Lafreniere said. "How do you end up with an object with this mass with this large of a separation?"

The research will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

Alien Solar Systems

"In my Father's house [heaven] are many mansions [planets]: if it were not so, I would have told you." -- Jesus Christ, John 14:2

"Democritus, Epicurus, and their scholar Metrodorus affirm that there are infinite worlds in an infinite space ...." -- Plutarch, historian, 1st century

"Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds; and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: 'Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one?'" -- Plutarch, historian, 1st century

"He [Democritus] said that the ordered worlds are boundless and differ in size, and that in some there is neither sun nor moon, but that in others, both are greater than with us, and yet with others more in number. And that the intervals between the ordered worlds are unequal, here more and there less, and that some increase, others flourish and others decay, and here they come into being and there they are eclipsed. But that they are destroyed by colliding with one another. And that some ordered worlds are bare of animals and plants and all water." -- Hippolytus, priest, 2nd century

"And wast infinity
Of worlds...." -- Henry More, poet, Democritus Platonissans or The Infinity of Worlds, 1647

"... infinity of worlds there be;" -- Henry More, poet, Democritus Platonissans or The Infinity of Worlds, 1647

"Perhaps the major lesson to be learned so far from looking for planets around other stars is that nature can make a lot more planets than we can dream of." -- Alan P. Boss, astrophysicist, October 2008

New Scientist: Half-eaten dwarf planet reveals chemical secrets.

THE half-digested remains of a dwarf planet could provide the best insight yet into the chemical make-up of alien solar systems.

The Phaeacian Ships of Antarctica

"... or I've [Odysseus] come here [Antarctica] a much-suffering stranger,
from afar, from a distant country [Ithaca]. I therefore know none
of the people who inhabit this city and farmland." -- Homer, poet, The Odyssey, Book VII: 25-26, ~ 8th century B.C.

"... until you reach
your home and fatherland, or anywhere that's dear to you,
even if it's much, much farther away than Euboeia,
which those of our people who saw it, when they took
blond Rhadamanthus to see Tityus,
son of Gaea, say is farthest off.
They went there, and made it without effort,
and made it back home that very day." -- Homer, poet, The Odyssey, Book VII: 319-326

"Tell me your land and home and city,
so our ships, directing their minds there, can convey you,
for Phaeacian ones don't have pilots,
and there aren't any steering oars that other ships have,
since the ships themselves know men's thoughts and minds,
know also all their rich farmlands and cities,
and cross the sea's gulf with the greatest speed,
wrapped in mist and cloud, and never have
any fear at all of being damaged or destroyed." -- Homer, poet, The Odyssey, Book VIII: 555-563

"Good souled Alcinous sent a herald with him,
to guide him to the swift ship and sea's shore.
Arete sent slave women with him,
one with a well-washed cloak and a tunic,
a second, whom she sent to attend the strongly-built chest,
while another carried food and red wine.
Then after they'd gone down to the ship and sea,
the illustrious convoys immediatley took and stowed it,
all the food and drink, in the hollow ship.
They spread out a blanket and linens for Odysseus
on the hollow ship's half-deck, so he could sleep unwaking,
in the stern. He got himself aboard and lay down
in silence. Each of them, in order, sat down
at the oarlocks, then freed the cable from the perforated stone.
When they leaned and threw up the sea with their blades,
right then sweet sleep fell upon his eyelids,
unwaking, very sweet, like the closest thing to death.
As on the plain male horses, yoked four together,
all speed along as one under the whip's lashes
and, rearing high, swiftly make their way,
so the ship's stern lifted up, and behind her
the purple wave of the loudly-surging sea rushed mightily.
She ran very surely, steadily. Not even a hawk,
a falcon, nimblest of winged things, could have kept pace,
she ran so swiftly, cutting the sea's waves,
carrying a man with counsels like the gods,
who in the past had suffered many sorrows in his heart,
cutting through men's wars and painful waves,
and at this time slept quietly, forgetting all he'd suffered.
When the brightest star was up, that most often comes
announcing early-born Dawn's light,
then the seafaring ship put in at the island [Ithaca]." -- Homer, poet, The Odyssey, Book XIII: 64-95

Strabo On Odysseus In Antarctica

Strabo, The Geography, Book I, Chapter 2, 7

For at one moment he [Polybius] quotes the words of the poet: "Thence for nine whole days was I borne by baneful winds"; and at another moment he suppresses statements. For Homer says also: "Now after the ship had left the river-stream of Oceanus"; and "In the island of Ogygia, where is the navel of the sea," going on to say that the daughter of Atlas lives there; and again, regarding the Phaeacians, "Far apart we live in the wash of the waves, the farthermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with us." Now all these incidents are clearly indicated as being placed in fancy in the Atlantic Ocean; but Polybius by suppressing them destroys what the poet states in express terms. In so doing he is wrong ....

Odysseus In Antarctica

"But Odysseus led the high-hearted men of Kephallenia,
those who held Ithaka and leaf-trembling Neriton,
those who dwelt about Krokyleia and rigged Aigilips,
those who held Zakynthos and those who dwelt about Samos,
those who held the mainland and the places next to the crossing.
All these men were led by Odysseus, like Zeus in counsel.
Following with him were twelve ships with bows red painted." -- Homer, poet, The Iliad, Book II: 631-637, ~ 8th century B.C.

"Next again the old man [Priam] asked her [Helen], seeing Odysseus:
'Tell me of this one also, dear child; what man can he be,
shorter in truth by a head than Atreus' son Agamemnon,
but broader, it would seem, in the chest and across the shoulders.
Now as his armour lies piled on the prospering earth, still he
ranges, like some ram, through the marshalled ranks of the fighters.
Truly, to some deep-fleeced ram would I liken him
who makes his way through the great mass of the shining sheep-flocks.'
Helen, the daughter descended of Zeus, spoke then in answer:
'This one is Laertes' son, resourceful Odysseus,
who grew up in the country, rough though it be, of Ithaka,
to know every manner of shiftiness and crafty counsels.'
In his turn Antenor of the good counsel answered her:
'Surely this word you have spoken, my lady, can be no falsehood.
Once in the days before now brilliant Odysseus came here
with warlike Menelaos, and their embassy was for your sake.
To both of these I gave in my halls kind entertainment
and I learned the natural way of both, and their close counsels.
Now when these were set before the Trojans assembled
and stood up, Menelaos was bigger by his broad shoulders
but Odysseus was the more lordly when both were seated.
Now before all when both of them spun their speech and their counsels,
Menelaos indeed spoke rapidly, in few words
but exceedingly lucid, since he was no long speaker
one who wasted his words though he was only a young man.
But when that other drove to his feet, resourceful Odysseus,
he would just stand and stare down, eyes fixed on the ground beneath him,
nor would he gesture with the staff backward and forward, but hold it
clutched hard in front of him, like any man who knows nothing.
Yes, you would call him a sullen man, and a fool likewise.
But when he let the great voice go from his chest, and the words came
drifting down like the winter snows, then no other mortal
man beside could stand up against Odysseus. Then we
wondered less beholding Odysseus' outward appearance.'"-- Homer, poet, The Iliad, Book III: 191-224, ~ 8th century B.C.



Newton, I., Revised History of Ancient Kingdoms: A Complete Chronology, 1727

896 B.C. Ulysses found Calypso on the island of Ogygia [Antarctica] .... She was the daughter of Atlas, according to Homer. The ancients at length imagined that this island (which they called Atlantis after the name of Atlas) had been as large as all Europe, Africa and Asia, and sank into the sea.

"Odysseus' island is no longer a fantasy." -- Robert Bittlestone, consultant, Odysseus Unbound, 2005

Revisiting Herodotus

On The The Egyptian Origin of the Phoenecians

"This people [the Phoenecians] , who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Erythraean [Red] Sea, having migrated to the Mediterranean and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria. They landed at many places on the coast, and among the rest at Argos, which was then preeminent above all the states included now under the common name of Hellas." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

On the Trojan War

"Now as for the carrying off of women, it is the deed, they say, of a rogue: but to make a stir about such as are carried off, argues a man a fool. Men of sense care nothing for such women, since it is plain that without their own consent they would never be forced away. The Asiatics, when the Greeks ran off with their women, never troubled themselves about the matter; but the Greeks, for the sake of a single Lacedaemonian girl, collected a vast armament, invaded Asia, and destroyed the kingdom of Priam." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

On Cyclical Devolution

"... the cities which were formerly great have most of them become insignificant; and such as are at present powerful, were weak in the olden time." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

On Prisca Sapientia

"Our fathers, in time past, distinguished right and wrong plainly enough, and it is our wisdom to submit to be taught by them." -- Herodotus, historian, The History, Book I, 440 B.C.

Nero's Emerald Spectacles

"Nero princeps gladiatorum pugnas spectabat in smaragdo [Emperor Nero watched gladiator combat in emerald]." -- Pliny the Elder, historian, Natural History, Book XXXVII, Chapter 16, 77