by Andrew Johnson (ad.johnson@ntlworld….)
16 June 2011
A couple of people have sent me this link:
which links to this video
(and there are quite few similar ones, it seems)
There seems to be another raft of Nibiru/comet Elenin stories now circulating such as the one below. I have said a number of times that I think there could well be a Nibiru type object out in the solar system – but if there is, it is a good way off. Amateur astronomers are "the key" to these issues as there are a fair number of them who watch for comets – perhaps partly in the hope of getting them named after them. Compared to 25 years ago, they have quite sophisticated equipment such as high resolution CCD-based cameras and telescopes and time lapse capture software etc:
They can detect fairly small objects quite a long way out (hence would detect bigger objects even further out). Also, larger objects can be detected by "occultation" which is where a dark object passes in front of stars, obscuring them. This is kind of how the rings of Uranus were discovered in 1977
The video below talks about an object being visible "only from the south pole" – this has been stated by quite a few people. However, the argument is essentially bogus. Unless the object is pretty close to the earth, it will be visible over a wide area – for example, the moon is only about 230,000 miles away. It’s quite large. Is it only ever visible from the equator – because it’s orbit is more or less "level" with the equator?
Specifically in the video below, it references a "blacked out section" in Google Sky – and the section of google sky REALLY IS blank/blacked out! AND I DON’T currently know why! (Download Google Earth yourself and check if you want – coordinates to paste in are: 5h 53m 27s -6 10′ 56). Here is an snapshot of the appropriate image:
Yes – you can clearly see it’s black!! However, let’s zoom out a bit….
Hmmm – I think I recognise part of the constellation, so let’s zoom out a little more….
Well, well – wouldn’t ya know it! It’s our old friend Orion! Visible from ALL OVER THE PLANET hence we see the flaw in the original story – i.e. the "blacked out area" is NOT "just visible from the south pole" – and straightforward checking reveals this.
Please also see: Comets, Calamities and Planet X
