Dark Star News

Did the Earth once have other Moons?

Readers of the work of Zecharia Sitchin will be very interested in this news item: 

"...An astrophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, suggests small, asteroid-sized objects a few tens of kilometres across would have lasted the longest as Trojan satellites [caught in the LaGrangian points of Earth's orbit]. Matija Cuk estimates these 'lost moons' might have circled Earth for a billion years or more after the Moon's formation. 

"They would have looked more like Jupiter or Venus in the sky than a satellite," Cuk told New Scientist. "They would have resembled very bright stars.""

Reference: Ker Than "Did Earth once have multiple moons? " http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13836  With thanks to Lee

 

Robbie Williams and Aliens

Robbie Williams has always struck me as being a pretty sharp bloke, so I guess I'm not surprised to find that he has a major interest in the paranormal, including UFOs.  Attendees of the 2008 Laughlin UFO Conference may have been surprised to find him among their number in February; surprised, and I'm sure, elated.  BBC Radio has just broadcast a programme featuring the singer's trip to the conference.  He brought along the journalist who recorded the show, Jon Ronson, as well as a more sceptical friend of his.

It's a brilliant show, because Robbie opens up about his interest in the subject, despite his concern about how this will play among newspaper journalists back home in England.  He clearly enjoys immersing himself in the whole subject, and his attitude towards it is a healthy mix of open-minded interest and scientific scepticism. 

Robbie wonders about what 2012 might bring, and instead of just waiting to find out, wants to 'do something'.  As such, he's recently spent a lot of time surfing paranormal websites, and attending UFO-related events.  He's very open to the possibility that UFOs exist, and are potentially present all the time in our skies.  He speculates that they are spotted 'when they make a mistakes and the shields come down."

The radio programme focuses on his discussion with the mother of a British abductee, Ann Andrews, who gives a talk at the conference.  She is convinced that her son's stories of alien abduction are true, and she's written several books about the case.  Robbie interviews her, and it's quite revealing on both fronts.  At the end, she says "You look very much like Robbie Williams".  He replies, "I am Robbie Williams". 

Here's the link to the radio programme on the BBC, which is well worth listening to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/robbieandjonjourney.shtml

 

Dr Who and the Winged Disk Connection

Dr Who and the Winged Disk

I take a look at some of the symbols used recently in the new Doctor Who series.

 

Cold Brown Dwarf Discovery

Now this is what I'm talking about!  Here's an image of what is a rather red 'brown dwarf', which is very cold indeed by stellar standards.  It would approximate a Nemesis-style object in our own solar system back yard. Here's the press release:

"An international team of astronomers has discovered the coldest brown dwarf star ever observed. This finding, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, is a new step toward filling the gap between stars and planets. 

"An international team [1] led by French and Canadian astronomers has just discovered the coldest brown dwarf ever observed. Their results will soon be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. This new finding was made possible by the performance of telescopes worldwide [2]: Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and Gemini North Telescope, both located in Hawaii, and the ESO/NTT located in Chile.

"The brown dwarf is named CFBDS J005910.83-011401.3 (it will be called CFBDS0059 in the following). Its temperature is about 350°C and its mass about 15-30 times the mass of Jupiter, the largest planet of our solar system [3]. Located about 40 light years from our solar system, it is an isolated object, meaning that it doesn't orbit another star.

"Brown dwarfs are intermediate bodies between stars and giant planets (like Jupiter). The mass of brown dwarfs is usually less than 70 Jupiter masses. Because of their low mass, their central temperature is not high enough to maintain thermonuclear fusion reactions over a long time. In contrast to a star like our Sun, which spends most of its lifetime burning hydrogen, hence keeping a constant internal temperature, a brown dwarf spends its lifetime getting colder and colder after its formation.

"The first brown dwarfs were detected in 1995. Since then, this type of stellar object has been found to share common properties with giant planets, even though differences remain. For example, clouds of dust and aerosols, as well as large amounts of methane, were detected in their atmosphere (for the coldest ones), just as in the atmosphere of Jupiter and Saturn. However, there were still two major differences. In the brown dwarf atmospheres, water is always in gaseous state, while it condenses into water ice in giant planets; and ammonia has never been detected in the brown dwarf near-infrared spectra, while it is a major component of Jupiter's atmosphere. CFBDS0059, the newly-discovered brown dwarf, looks much more like a giant planet than the known classes of brown dwarfs, both because of its low temperature and because of the presence of ammonia.

"To date, two classes of brown dwarfs have been known: the L dwarfs (temperature of 1200-2000°C), which have clouds of dust and aerosols in their high atmosphere; and the T dwarfs (temperature lower than 1200°C), which have a very different spectrum because of methane forming in their atmospheres. Because it contains ammonia and has a much lower temperature than do L and T dwarfs, CFBDS0059 might be the prototype of a new class of brown dwarfs to be called the Y dwarfs. This new class would then become the missing link in the sequence from the hottest stars to giant planets of less than -100°C, by filling the gap now left in the midrange."

Reference: A & A Press Release, 10th April 2008  http://www.aanda.org/content/view/298/42/lang,en/ With thanks to David and Bruce

 

New Book Reviews

'Hidden Secrets of "Many, but One"' by Donald Ryles

'The Way of the Explorer' Revised Ed by Dr Edgar Mitchell with Dwight Williams

 

Andy Lloyd's new novel 

I've been working really hard over the last couple of months to write my first novel, and I am glad to say that the work is now complete.  It will be the first in a trilogy of books, which will explore the Dark Star system and its occupants in a fictional format.  This first book introduces the Dark Star to readers in a way that is exciting, intriguing and ultimately revelatory.  The manuscript is currently going though the process of editing and proof-reading.

If you want to receive info about the book upon its release (it will be published by the Timeless Voyager Press later in the year)  then please drop me an email to andy3751@hotmail.com

I've also just completed a new article for Paranoia magazine, due for publication in the Autumn.  It will take a look at the current question of 'Planet X and 2012'.

Thanks for your continuing support!

Andy Lloyd, author of the acclaimed book "Dark Star: The Planet X Evidence"

Meteorite from the Past

It seems remarkable, but this little piece of rock might be sufficient for planetary scientists to piece together a picture of what a long-gone planet in the solar system may have once looked like.  The meteorite (which is one of a pair) was discovered in Antarctica, where many impacted meteorites can be found sitting on the glistening white surface of that frozen continent.  But it not recognisable as a fragment of any of the known planets, or from our Moon.  It is an unknown.

The likelihood is that it is one of many fragments of a disintegrated dwarf planet from the early solar system.  The solar system may be full of such fragments. Each retains the memory of a world which once existed, but is no longer. Most of these worlds suffered great impacts, and many were undoubtedly lost from the Sun's great gravitational grip.

What interests me about this is whether this fragment might have once had a closer connection with Earth.  It is clearly neither Terrestrial, nor Lunar.  But it may have been part of the object which collided with the Earth billions of years ago; the object which caused the ejection of a massive quantity of terrestrial material into orbit, which eventually coalesced to become the Moon.  That impactor is presumed to have been Mars-sized.  Is it possible that this meteortic fragment was once part of that world?

Scientists have concluded already that this fragment was once part of a dwarf planet, and also that water was present on that world in sizeable quantities. At the moment, there seems little else to go on, but in time this fragment may hold a clue to the mighty collisions that once shaped the solar system, and, indeed, our own world.

Reference:  David Shiga "Meteorites may be remnants of destroyed dwarf planet" 13th March 2008 http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13456-meteorites-may-be-remnants-of-destroyed-dwarf-planet.html With thanks to Shad Bolling 

Pioneer Anomaly Deepens

Readers of my book will be acquainted with the mysterious physical effect experienced by several spacecraft in the solar system.  The effect has been most noticeable in the case of two Pioneer probes which have been heading away from the Sun at great speed.  Quick, yes, but apparently not quick enough.  Some effect unknown to the current laws of physics appears to be slowing the craft from their calculated trajectories.

Scientists have been looking at this problem for quite a number of years now, and it is a well-known mystery in the astrophysics community.  No one has done more work on this than the now retired scientist John Anderson, ex-JPL.  John has always had an interest in the question of Planet X, although it appears that he doesn't think that will provide the solution in this case.  He has now announced that careful measurements of several other spacecraft moving around in the solar system have provided more evidence of this effect (1).  Do the books on gravitational physics need to be revised?

I'm not going to say here that the proposed Dark Star can definitively offer an answer to this problem. But, I do think that it might be a factor, and that if it is, then the problem may be resolvable without the need to change the laws of physics.

Let's say that the Dark Star is about 10 Jupiter masses.  In that case, it has about 1% of the mass of the Sun.  The rest of the planets are of negligible mass in comparison, including Jupiter. When you count in the Dark Star, then the total mass of the solar system is 1% greater than we currently account for.  Not only that, but the total angular momentum fo the solar system is significantly higher than what we currently allow for, as well as the total orbital energies of the planets.  All of which means that the solar system's various fields, whether energetic, gravitational, or even magnetic, are all slightly askew from what is currently imagined.  Surely, somewhere in the maths, that has to count? 

If space-probes are moving differently to expected by a small margin, then it seems plausible to me that the additional mass, energy and momentum of the complete solar system, when factoring in a Dark Star at its periphery, may be the reason.  The problem then is that the complexities of the system as a whole are such that unravelling such an interaction may prove more difficult than re-writing the laws of physics.

Reference: (1) Charles Q. Choi "NASA Baffled by Unexplained Force Acting on Space Probes" 29th February 2008  http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080229-spacecraft-anomaly.html With thanks to Lee Covino

Japanese Progress on Planet X

Talk of the existence of Planet X often receives short shrift in the West.  I'm not sure why that is, because the vast majority of the total solar system (Including the comet clouds) is dark and uncharted.  That isn't to say that we should mark territory beyond Neptune as 'Here be Dragons', but we should at least respect the fact that we really don't have a clue what's out there.  The Japanese,who are famously known for the inventive thinking, appear to be less discouraged.  University researchers have declared an interest in finding Planet X, and they are quite certain that this Holy Grail of outer solar system research exists. Why? Because their theoretical models indicate that there is indeed a large piece of missing celestial jigsaw.  This is from physorg.com:

"Researchers at Kobe University in western Japan said calculations using computer simulations led them to conclude it was only a matter of time before the mysterious "Planet X" was found.

"Because of the very cold temperature, its surface would be covered with ice, icy ammonia and methane," Kobe University professor Tadashi Mukai, the lead researcher, told AFP.

The study by Mukai and researcher Patryk Lykawka will be published in the April issue of the US-based Astronomical Journal.
The researchers set up a theoretical model looking at how the remote area of the solar system would have evolved over the past four billion years.

"In coming up with an explanation for the celestial bodies, we thought it would be most natural to assume the existence of a yet unknown planet," Mukai said. [My emphasis]

"Based on our hypothesis, we calculated how debris moved over the past four billion years. The result matched the actual movement of the celestial bodies we can observe now," he said. He was hopeful about research by Kobe University, the University of Hawaii and Taiwan's National Central University.

"We are expecting that the ongoing joint celestial observation project will eventually discover Planet X," Mukai said."
(1)

I'm not sure whether it's too clever to provide the kind of accurate predictions for the orbital path of this Planet X body that the Japanese reseachers imply, however. This was from japantoday.com:

"According to the research conducted by Mukai and Patryk Lykawka, the planet is about 30-70 percent of Earth's mass and located more than 12 billion kilometers from Earth. It apparently tilts about 20-40 degrees to the plane of orbit and circles the sun in an elliptical orbit every thousand years." (2)

Fans of Zecharia Sitchin will note the tilt figure, which compares favourably with his own prediction of 30 degrees.  But the size, orbital period and distance are variables which could easily be adjusted dramatically, and still fit the data.  For instance, if you increase the mass of the planet, then it could achieve the same effect on the outer solar system by simply being located at a greater distance.  There would be a scale of possibilities, with size of the planet X body growing proportionally with its distance from the Sun, and therefore also growing with its orbital period.  So, I wouldn't read too much into these speculative figures.  All we can say is that as the projected body becomes more distant, it must become bigger.  The hunt is on!

 

References: (1) "Japanese scientists eye new planet" 28/2/08 http://www.physorg.com/news123406660.html  With thanks to Wayne

(2) "Another planet may be beyond Neptune: researchers" 28/2/08 http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/429498/all with thanks to Lee Covino

 

Stardust Mission Surprise Results

The results of the Stardust Mission have been released at last.  The component molecules of the Wild-2 comet have surprised scientists, who expected this object to have been a leftover from the beginning of the solar system. Instead, its nature is more akin to the asteroids betwen Mars and Jupiter.  This indicates to me that some of the cosmic matter beyond the planets (i.e. the comets) arrived there as a result of catastrophic events in the early solar system.  That it is, in actual fact, the debris leftover from great collisions in the inner solar system.

This is more in keeping with the theories of Zecharia Sitchin than the expected outcome of mainstream theories of the origin of the solar system. This result seems to indicate that cometary bodies in the outer solar system might have originated near the asteroid belt. This is the situation that Sitchin's 'Celestial Battle' between Tiamat and Marduk was said to create; the collision between a rogue planet moving in an elliptical orbit, with a large planet once located between Mars and Jupiter, created the asteroid belt, the Earth and comets.  Remarkably, this strange cosmic theory, which is based upon the readings of ancient mythology, may once again have a ring of truth in science.  

Here's the result summary, which, incidentally, has been a long time in coming:-

"RESULTS OF THE STARDUST MISSION
Bits of comet surprise scientists

David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor

Friday, January 25, 2008
Tiny samples of a glowing comet, flown back to Earth by a pioneering spacecraft named Stardust, hold remarkably little dust from any ancient far-off stars, but a lot of the stuff that makes up nearby rocky asteroids, Livermore scientists have found to their surprise.

The Stardust mission was the first in space history to snatch material from a distant comet in orbit around the sun, and researchers all over the world had expected the microscopic cometary grains to be older than the sun itself - material from a time billions of years ago when the solar system was merely a cloud of dust and gas swirling around a "proto sun."

Instead, a team of analysts at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has discovered that thousands of the comet's grains are actually bits of the same silicate rocks found in meteorites that fall to Earth from the asteroid belt between Earth and Mars.  The Livermore team's two leaders, materials scientist Hope Ishii and astrophysicist John Bradley, discussed their findings with reporters Thursday. Their full report is being published Friday in the journal Science.

Stardust was launched from Earth nine years ago on its journey of 3 billion miles. It circled the sun three times before it reached its target - a comet named Wild-2 - and grabbed samples of the comet's dusty material in a filmy trap called an aerogel four years ago. The spacecraft finally returned to Earth two years ago and jettisoned its precious cargo by parachute over the Utah desert. Since then, nearly 200 scientists at more than 75 institutions have been analyzing the particles from the comet, and the Livermore team is one.

Curiously, Ishii said, the comet's dust does not include many of the metals that scientists had expected to find in an object that must have been formed long ago close to the solar system and later was flung far out into a region called the Kuiper Belt.  Most scientists, she said, had expected to find a treasure trove of the solar system's most primitive material, but it's not there in comet Wild-2.

To Bradley, the fact that few of the particles the team analyzed appear to date from the solar system's earliest formation is "somewhat disappointing," but to scientists, he said, "a dose of cold reality is a good thing." It means, he said, that they must now try to understand why this comet - and perhaps many others - hold so little primitive material that formed close to the young sun, and so much that makes up what are known as chondritic matter found in meteorites from the asteroid belt."

 Dark Star Magical Seal

This early seal is similar to the magical amulets of the Graeco-Roman Era, which I havepreviously associated with dark Star symbolism. This example is much older, and is thought to belong to Queen Jezebel. Interesting, then that it should include the Winged Disk in a Hebrew setting, albeit with pagan overtones. Note, in this explanation, how the Winged Disk is associated with royalty (the Sun-god Horus, also depicted here), arguably alluding to the royal association of the planet Nibiru:

"Jezebel, whose life in the 9th century B.C. is chronicled in the Bible, was married to King Ahab of Israel.  As a Phoenician, the Queen was considered pagan and attempted to sway the people of Israel to abandon their God and accept her chief deity Baal, partly through forging her husband's seal on documents, according to the scriptures.

The Bible says nothing of her own seal, but archaeologists have long believed that the stone discovered in 1964 was Jezebel's, despite the ambiguity of the symbols and the name depicted on it.  Multiple icons on the seal, as well as its above-average size, indicate that it belonged to a queen, the recent investigations concluded.

"The lotus (below the Horus falcon) was a symbol of gender definition and refers to a female owner," Korpel told LiveScience, "[while] the winged sun disk was a well-known symbol of royalty in and outside Israel.

Other symbols on the seal also reinforce the connection to a monarch, such as the Horus and double-cobra, a figure probably adopted from Egypt, she said."

Reference:  "Royal Seal Indicates Biblical Queen Jezebel's Power"  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309761,00.html  With thanks to Joann

Did our Solar System once have another planet?

The Moon could hold the key to the destruction rampant in the solar system 3.9 billion years ago.  It could help to decide the fate of two distinct, but related, rogue theories in planetary science to do with the early solar system.

Careful analysis of the crater impact areas could be used to discover whether the rocky fragments which crashed through the inner solar system came from the asteroid belt (perturbed by a now missing 5th planet), as proposed by some astronomers recently.  It seems as though the impact crater sizes might be more in keeping with objects from the asteroid belt, than from further afield.

(Reference:  Did our Solar System once have another planet?  http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1691 With thanks to Al Cornett)

As scientists and engineers begin preparations to send a manned expedition to the lunar surface, some are wondering what the purpose of such a trip might be.  One answer is to look more closely at the craters on the Moon, in an attempt to establish their age.  By doing to, scientists might also discover proof for the Nemesis theory.  In other words, if it turns out that the bombardment of the Moon's surface by celestial objects occurs periodically, rather than randomly, then scientists need to establish the source of these regular bombardments:

"There's evidence in the fossil record that such impacts occur periodically, "once every 26 million years," saysPaul Spudis [a senior planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory]. "Not everyone agrees, but I think it is pretty convincing."

Why would this happen? "Some theories are wild!" There might be a dark, distant companion of the sun that periodically perturbs comets in the Oort Cloud, and the comets rain down on Earth."

Readers of this website will find this a rather familiar theme.  Both ideas send a distinct nod towards a major missing piece of the solar system puzzle.  It seems as though senior scientists have not yet ruled out the binary theory for our solar system, or, indeed, a missing planet closer to the Sun.  The real mystery of the solar system continues unabated.

Reference: NASA "The Moon is a Harsh Witness" 26th January 2007 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/26jan_harshwitness.htm

Sun's Distant Twin in Draco

This star is a long-lost relative of Sol, at least according to its 'genetic' stellar markers.  Spectroscopic analysis of the starlight from HIP 56948 shows a remarkable resemblance to our Sun. So, does this mean it was born alongside our Sun in a stellar nursery? Perhaps.  If so, then this would be a very interesting discovery indeed, because it would shed light on the Sun's origins.  Nowadays, it is some 200 light-years distant, rather like a long-lost half-brother who emigrated to Australia.  But it is a useful star to study, because it might tell us a lot about our own Sun; often we are just too close to study our own star due to its relative brightness. 

Reference:  http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/071109-sun-twin.html  with thanks to Peter Gersten

Multiplanet systems like our own may not be so unusual

 
Does this really need saying at all?  Astronomers have spent decades studying protoplanetary disks and are well acquainted with the theoretical model of complex planetary system formation. But, hey, it's nice to finally have the proof that our system is not unique in its planetary compexity. Now that a record fifth planet has been discovered around 55 Cancri by a team that includes legendary planet-hunter Dr Geoffrey Marcy, we can all rest a little easier in our beds at night.  Because our system may turn out to be as typical as the rest, with new Earths in abundance, and life prevalent across the galaxy.  It's just a matter of time before we know this to be true.
 
 
 
With thanks to Dave and Mart, and Monika
 
 
YouTube Dark Star & 2012 Video

I've been made aware of a video on YouTube which contains a lot of material derived from this website, and from my book 'The Dark Star'.  The video promotes the idea that Nibiru will stage a devastating return in 2012, and that NASA are fully aware of this. I would like to clarify things a bit here. Firstly, I am in no way associated with this video.  Secondly, I do not believe that Nibiru will return in 2012, or that NASA expect such an occurance to take place.  My own research material is in the public domain, so it is inevitable that it will be used by other writers and broadcasters as part of their own work.  Make of it what you will.  Here's a link to the video:

 http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=xoWrtZX6J4c

Sunless but livable world may be detectable

It's hypothetical, but fascinating as a possibility nonetheless.  Some astronomers believe that planets floating in interstellar space may be able to generate enough internal heat to sustain liquid water, and thus potentially harbour life in the form of extremeophiles. As our ability to detect planets improves, so may the possibility of finding just such a world.  If so, it would open up the debate about the likely character of the planet Nibiru considerably. Sitchinites could feasibly argue that Sitchin's idea for a life-sustaining Planet X is perfectly possible.  That would mean that the need for a Dark Star to warm such a world would diminish. However, this work is highly speculative and unproven at the moment.  Here's the link:

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/070910_sunless-planets.htm

With thanks to David Pearson

New Downloadable Interview Podcasts

It's been a busy week.  I recorded a two part interview for website 'Red Ice Creations' in Sweden.  Here are the details:

"We're joined by Scientist, Research and Author Andy Lloyd to talk about his Book: Dark Star - Evidence for Planet X. Topics Discussed: Zacharia Sitchin, Planet X Research, The Science behind the Dark Star, A surprising Force in our Solar System, The Object Emits Heat and Light, The Dark Star may have Planets Orbiting it with Life, New Findings, Jupiter as a "failed" Star, Velikovsky, Binary Star Systems or Dual Suns, Brown Dwarfs, The Orbit of the Dark Star, Where is it Now? Sagittarius and the Center of the Galaxy, Searching in the Infra Red Spectrum, Vatican Observatory, Mythologies about the Dark Star, Was Planet X destroyed: Evidence for this is in the Gap between Mars and Jupiter; the Asteroid belt? And Much More. Don't miss our Subscriber interview with Andy on Freemasonic Symbolism, Alchemical Art Work in connection to the Dark Star, The Return of the Gods and the Origins of the Rosicrucian's, 2012 and the End of the Age."

http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2007/09sep/RICR-070909.html


HERE'S THE LINK for the free downloadable podcast:

http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2007/09sep/RICR-070909-alloyd.mp3

I also recorded a shorter interview for 'Mysterious West' with Geoff Ward of the Western Daily Press.  The podcast was played on Glastonbury Radio, was accompanied by a large article in the newspaper, and is now available as a free download from the following webpage (see week 26):

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=229793&command=newPage

Sedna: Astronomers Suggest Jupiter-sized Perturber

One of my research associates, Rajasun, sent me some fascinating academic material a while ago. Amongst the papers and forum debates is this paper written by some mainstream professors about the potential for a Jupiter-sized planet within the Oort Cloud. I know I may seem a bit way out there with this Dark Star theory, but there are some serious astronomers who pondered the same ideas just last year.  They were attempting to explain the strange trajectory of Sedna and other similar anomalous bodies (DDOs).  Here's the abstract. For the full paper, click on the link below

"Most known trans-neptunian objects (TNO’s) are either on low eccentricity orbits or could have been perturbed to their current trajectories via gravitational interactions with known bodies. However, one or two recently-discovered TNO’s are distant detached objects (DDO’s) (perihelion, q > 40 AU and semimajor axis, a > 50 AU) whose origins are not as easily understood. We investigate the parameter space of a hypothetical distant planetary-mass solar companion which could detach the perihelion of a Neptune-dominated TNO into a DDO orbit. Perturbations of the giant planets are also included. The problem is analyzed using two models.

 

"In the first model, we start with a distribution of undetached, low-inclination TNO’s having a wide range of semimajor axes. The planetary perturbations and the companion perturbation are treated in the adiabatic, secularly averaged tidal approximation. This provides a starting point for a more detailed analysis by providing insights as to the companion parameter space likely to create DDO’s. The second model includes the companion and the planets and numerically integrates perturbations on a sampling that is based on the real population of scattered disk objects (SDO’s).

 

"A single calculation is performed including the mutual interactions and migration of the planets. By comparing these models, we distinguish the distant detached population that can be attributable to the secular interaction from those that require additional planetary perturbations. We find that a DDO can be produced by a hypothetical Neptune-mass companion having semiminor axis, b </=2000 AU or a Jupiter-mass companion with b</= 5000 AU. DDO’s produced by such a companion are likely to have small inclinations to the ecliptic only if the companion’s orbit is significantly inclined. We also discuss the possibility that the tilt of the planets’ invariable plane relative to the solar equatorial plane has been produced by such a hypothetical distant planetary-mass companion. Perturbations of a companion on Oort cloud comets are also considered."

 

Reference:  Rodney S. Gomes, John J. Matese, Jack J. Lissauer "A distant planetary-mass solar companion may have produced distant detached objects”  Icarus 184 (2006) 589–601 http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jjm9638/acm2005/YICAR7974.pdf

 


Red Giant's Enormous Tail Stuns Astronomers

Here's a startling discovery that is important for my 'Dark Star Theory'.  Stars with tails have deep symbolic meaning to those associated with the hunt for Planet X/Nibiru.  Here's the story:

 

"A distant star that hurtles through space at extraordinary speeds has a huge, comet-like tail trailing in its wake, astronomers say.

The appendage, which measures a colossal 13 light years in length, was spotted by Nasa's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galex) space telescope. The researchers said that nothing like it had ever been spotted around a star. They believe the star, known as Mira, will help them to study what happens as stars meet their demise.

Mark Seibert, a co-author of the paper, which was published in the journal Nature, and a scientist at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, said: "This is an utterly new phenomenon to us, and we are still in the process of understanding the physics involved."

Racing through space

Mira (also called Mira A) has captivated astronomers for more than 400 years. It sits about 350 light-years from Earth in a constellation known as Cetus, and is accompanied in orbit by a smaller secondary star, called Mira B, forming a binary system.

Billions of years ago, Mira would have been much like our Sun, but as it now enters its death-throes it has swollen into a type of star known as a red giant. As it races through space at 130km/s (80 miles per second) it sheds vast amounts of material. Yet despite centuries of study, its spectacular tail had remained undetected.

Now, ultraviolet images taken by the Galex space telescope have uncovered Mira's unusual feature.

"The fact that Mira's tail only glows with ultraviolet light might explain why other telescopes have missed it." The ultraviolet images also revealed a "bow shock" - a region, in front of the star, where hot gas builds up as Mira's stellar wind meets clouds of interstellar gas and dust.

The team believes that the hot gas in the bow shock is heating up gas that the star is shedding to create a turbulent tail trailing in its wake. The scientists said that the tail was made up of the material that Mira has been ejecting over a period of 30,000 years."

Reference: "Colossal tail trails dying star"  15th August 2007 With thanks to Brian Forsyth http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6947607.stm

 


'New Earth' around Gliese 581

A red dwarf star some 20 light years from us has attracted the interest of astronomers searching for potential life-supporting planets.  Gliese 581 has thrown up a new planet, this one lying within the system's planetary 'habitable zone'.  Temperatures on this new planet are just right for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface.  Where there's liquid water, there could be life.

Gliese 581 is much smaller than the Sun, so its habitable zone is much closer.  The new planet lies just 6 million miles away from Gliese 581, and travels around the star in just 13 days.  They lie so close together that the red Sun would appear massive in its sky, rather like this:

These great pictures appear in the Daily Mail.  Note the similarities in design between this last picture and my own painting of the Dark Star from the surface of one of its moons, a painting which appears on the cover of my book:

Nice to be making an impression amongst science journalists, finally!!  This discovery adds further credence to the notion of habitable 'moons' orbiting dwarf stars, some of which are much more active and exotic than previously thought (see next item below). The search for life seems destined to make its breakthrough amongst the dwarf stars. This is because smaller, Earth-sized planets are more able to be directly imaged and investigated when found orbiting around these smaller, dimmer stars, although the technology for this is several years away yet.  Even so, the bookmakers William Hill have shortened the odds on proving the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence from 1,000-1 to 100-1.

Reference:   "Found 20 light years away: the New Earth" 25th April 2007 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=450467&in_page_id=1965
 

Brown dwarfs: A new class of stellar lighthouse


Some brown dwarfs, which are highly active in the radio wave part of the electro-magnetic spectrum, appear to share similar attributes to pulsars.  This surprising result indicates that these dark, 'failed stars' are far from dead...

 

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0704/17browndwarf/
 

With thanks to David Pearson


Binary Stars can yield Planetary Systems

"Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have observed that planetary systems – dusty disks of asteroids, comets and possibly planets – are at least as abundant in twin-star systems as they are in those, like our own, with only one star. Since more than half of all stars are twins, or binaries, the finding suggests the universe is packed with planets that have two suns. Sunsets on some of those worlds would resemble the ones on Luke Skywalker's planet, Tatooine, where two fiery balls dip below the horizon one by one.

"There appears to be no bias against having planetary system formation in binary systems," said David Trilling of the University of Arizona, Tucson, lead author of a new paper about the research appearing in the April 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal. "There could be countless planets out there with two or more suns." "

Reference: "Spitzer Finds Planets Thrive Around Stellar Twins"  http://www.physorg.com/news94403553.html  With thanks to Barry Warmkessel

See also: "Multiple Suns?" 31/3/07 Astroprof's Page - http://astroprofspage.com  With thanks to Marshall Masters

Santa's Surprise Collision

That Kuiper Belt is doing its strange stuff again.  Dr Mike Brown, that leading discoverer of outer solar system planets, has found a KBO shaped like a rugby ball.  It may be on its way towards a close encounter with Neptune in the future, which may divert its path into the inner solar system. One can just imagine the god Neptune booting 2003 EL61 towards the rest of his team-mates in about 2 million years time.  It would be quite something to score a drop-kick from the back of the pitch!  Also, quite a kick is needed by Neptune: 2003 EL61 is about the same size as Pluto. (1)

This unusual orbital behaviour is matched by the bizarre shape of this object.  Speculation in the astronomical community is growing that 2003 EL61 (initially nicknamed 'Santa') was subject to a violent collision sometime in the past (2).  The odds of such an event occurring in the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt as it is known to exist today are very long indeed.  The objects in the belt are simply too scattered to present any kind of risk to one another.  Yet, this object appears to have taken a big knock, and may be on of a number of such objects in the belt. 

"Flanked by two moonlets, 2003 EL61 measures some 1,500 kilometers (950 miles) across, tumbling over and over at a prodigious rate and pursuing a weird egg-shaped orbit inclined at nearly 30 degrees to the plane at which almost all of the Solar System's objects travel.

"[Dr Michael] Brown's team found five other rocks, measuring between 10 and 400 kilometers (six and 250 miles) across, that they believe were smashed away from 2003 EL61 in the distant past. The cluster shares the same colour and the light they reflect has a signature that suggests they are covered with surface water ice." (2)

The astronomers speculate that the collision which sheared all of these smaller objects from 'Santa' took place around the time of the Earth's formation.  Interesting, don't you think?  It has to be said that the likelihood of that having happened is not very high...unless the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt contained a great many more objects 4+ billion years ago.  Add in a Dark Star to the equation and the whole scenario then makes much more sense... 

References: 

(1)  "Dwarf planet 'becoming a comet': An unusual dwarf planet discovered in the outer Solar System could be en route to becoming the brightest comet ever known. "   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6268799.stm  17th January 2007, with thanks to Paul Wood

2)  "Kuiper-belt Object Was Broken up by Massive Impact 4.5 Billion Years Ago, Study Shows"  http://physorg.com/news93105023.html  14th March 2007 With thanks to David Pearson

For more information on 'Santa' and other strange KBOs, visit my 'Xena' page.

 

Astronomers model 'binary' Solar System

Recent computer simulations have now proved that if the Sun had a binary companion, planets would still form around it.  Complex and time-consuming calculations using mainframe computers have shown that a allowing for a wide binary stellar object does little to alter the structure of the planetary system that forms.  As long as the binary companion stays beyond Saturn's orbit:

""The disk is modelled after the Solar nebula," Quintana explains, "we're comparing the planet formation process in these binaries to models of the Solar System." In other words, they are trying to find out what our Solar system might have looked like if the Sun were a binary star.
 

All of their simulations form at least one planet, an encouraging result. It turns out that the most important factor is the companion star's periastron, or point of closest approach to the star with the disk. A companion that gets as close as the orbit of Saturn (about 10 times farther than the Earth from the Sun) removes very little material from the inner disk, and even speeds up the process of planet formation by nudging the planetesimals into different orbits from time to time. A companion star that gets as close as Jupiter (about 5 times farther than the Earth from the Sun), however, will limit planet formation to the hottest central regions.

"Over half of the binaries [in astronomical surveys] are wide enough to allow planet formation in the habitable zone of solar-type stars." Elisa Quintana [of NASA's Ames Institute] concludes."

Including ours?

 

Reference: "Terrestrial Planet Formation in Binary Star Systems"  http://physorg.com/news89031463.html  With thanks to David Pearson

 

Dark Sun on Cocteau's Mural

I first came across this mural some years ago when reading 'The Templar Revelation' by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince.  A small black and white photo was included in the plates section, clearly depicting a dark sun at the crucifixion of Christ.  This mural was created by the artist and esoterist Jean Cocteau, and it can be found in the church of Notre-Dame de France in London.  I was recently contacted by a member of a Rosicrucian Freemasons Lodge, who sent me this picture and has kindly given me permission to reproduce it here.  He described some of the more heretical aspects of the work:

"See the 'Black Sun' of the alchemists?  The Rose of the Rosicrucians is at the foot of the (rose-)cross. The figure on the extreme right has the 'fish' symbol of Christ on his eye (the photo is cropped), indicating that he is Jesus. Hold on a minute then - if that is Jesus looking on at the crucifixion, who is that on the cross?  Cocteau himself looks away in disgust from the travesty of the accepted version of the crucifixion.  Lots of other symbolism in the mural, but that's another story. He was an independent Rosicrucian, as many in France are. Not a member of the fictitious 'Priory of Sion', as the new age fantasists and delusionaries will have it, and not a member of the SRIA either."

One might speculate that there is also some secret knowledge about a dark star shown here, seen in the sky during the life of Christ (note how both his birth and death are depicted on the altar and mural respectively...).  Nibiru?  It's a possibility that cannot be ruled out, although clearly its appearance cannot have been quite as spectacular as M. Cocteau is alluding to on his mural. Instead, Nibiru must have been a barely detectable object seen only by, well, Magi...

My learned Fraternal friend has also supplied some useful insights into our exploration of the "Lord of the Rings" Dark Star symbolism.

 

With thanks to Frater X, a member of a College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA).  I will be buildin on this information in a new article to be published by Paranoia Magazine in Autumn 2008.

 

Brown Dwarf Remnant of Stellar Cannibalism

It's an odd story, this one.  Certain kinds of binary star systems have a process going on whereby one of the stars feeds off the other, causing the latter to diminish in size over time.  theory has shown that eventually the stellar 'victim' becomes a brown dwarf, and its orbit around the 'cannibal' star gets longer over time.  Recently, one of these brown dwarfs was discovered:

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/913

(With thanks to David Pearson and Peter Gersten)

 

Planets form around tiny brown dwarfs

Marshall Masters sent me a link to a news story from last year which I hadn't come across before.  It likely links in with more recent discoveries of planets actually found orbiting brown dwarfs in the Chamaeleon I star-forming region, although these latest discoveries are wide binaries rather than habitable-zone rocky planets.  There's some juicy info in here, for sure, like the ratio of planet-mass to host brown dwarf:

"The discovery calls for a rethink of how diverse planetary systems can be, says Kevin Luhman of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. "We always just think of planets forming around stars about the mass of our Sun," he says. "But they could form in more exotic situations around very small brown dwarfs - there might be mini solar systems out there."

 

The lightweight brown dwarf, first identified five years ago, lies about 500 light years away in a star formation region called Chamaeleon I. Earlier observations revealed large amounts of water in its atmosphere.

The new observations by Spitzer clearly reveal signs of a disc around the dwarf, and suggest the inner rim of the disc lies about 700,000 kilometres from the dwarf's centre. Discs around brown dwarfs typically weigh about one-tenth of the mass of the star itself, so in this case it probably contains one or two Jupiter masses of available planet-building material. "I'd speculate that it could build a Saturn, or maybe a few smaller Earth-sized planets," says Luhman

What is more, these would-be planets could be habitable. The surface temperature of the mini brown dwarf is about 2000°C, which means that any planet 1.5 to 7 million kilometres away could maintain liquid water. The disc probably straddles this range.

Luhman hopes to find out whether even smaller objects - perhaps as little as five times the mass of Jupiter - can reign at the centre of nascent planetary systems. "It's still an open question as to how small you can go, but hopefully we'll be able to answer that soon."

"Spitzer really is a killer instrument for detecting this kind of object," says Andrew Collier Cameron, who studies extrasolar planets at St Andrews University, UK. He adds that the new result suggests brown dwarfs could prove to be fertile hunting grounds for planets, and it might be possible to image these planets directly - without being blinded by the glare that shines out from regular stars."

Reference: H. Muir "Brown Dwarf may someday harbour habitable planets" 8th February 2005 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6977  with thanks to Marshall

 

Barnard's star Mis-identified?

Can it be possible that one of our closest neighbouring stars is actually in orbit around the Sun?

 

New Extremophiles Discovered


You'll have probably already heard about the bacteria at the bottom of the ocean that thrives on geo-thermally heated lava springs.  This bacteria is not connected with the standard pattern of life on Earth, which is built upon the heat and light of the Sun.  Now there is a new set of extremophiles to consider, this time existing at a great depth in the Earth's crust.  They point the way towards a new ecosystem existing beneath the surface of the Earth, and quite possibly beneath the surface of various other planets and moons in the Solar System.  Which moves us another step forward...


"Researchers have found what they say are isolated bacterial colonies flourishing deeper in the Earth’s crust than was known to be possible.

The strange beings thrive on radioactive water, in a harsh setting cut off from sur­face life and its dependence on sun energy, the scientists claim. That, they add, raises hopes that other planets in our solar system could also harbour hardy microbes within them.  “We know surprisingly little about the origin, evolution and limits for life on Earth,” said bio-geochemist Lisa Pratt of Indiana University Bloomington, a member of the research team.

“Scientists are just beginning to study the diverse organisms living in the deepest parts of the ocean. The rocky crust on Earth is virtually unexplored at depths more than half a kilometre below the surface. The organisms we describe in this paper live in a completely different world than the one we know.”

The researchers argued that the bacterial communities they found are permanent, apparently millions of years old, and depend on radiation from uranium ores rather than sunlight. This raises the possibility that similar bacteria could live beneath the surfaces of worlds such as Mars or Jupiter’s moon Europa, the scientists said." (1)

 

References

1) World Science "Strange, underworld microbes raise hopes for alien life" 19th October 06 http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061019_bacteria.htm

2) Carnegie Institute "Otherworldly bacteria discovered two miles down" 20th October 2006 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=21111

 

Imaged Dark Star sets another precedent

A known binary companion, orbiting its star at a distance of a whopping 16 times that of Neptune, has been imaged.  This brown dwarf is comparatively cool, and will allow scientists to study the properties of the rare 'T' dwarfs.  But, perhaps more importantly, the confirmed existence of such an object sets a remarkable precedent for a proposed binary companion around our own Sun.  After all, the location of this object is comparable to my Dark Star proposal.  It surely can no longer be argued that a brown dwarf could not form at such a distance from the Sun!  Indeed, does this not increase the likelihood that such objects are actually commonplace?  That the majority of stars, including our own, have dark, cool companions in orbit around them at significant distances...

"The newly found companion, HD 3651B, is 16 times further away from HD 3651 than Neptune is from the Sun. HD 3651B is the dimmest directly imaged companion of an exoplanet host star. Furthermore, as it is not detected on the photographic plates of the Palomar All Sky Survey, the companion must be even fainter in the visible spectral range than in the infrared, meaning it is a very cool low-mass sub-stellar object. Comparing its characteristics with theoretical models, the astronomers infer that the object has a mass between 20 and 60 Jupiter masses, and a temperature between 500 and 600 degrees Celsius. It is thus ten times colder and 300 000 less luminous than the Sun. These properties place it in the category of cool T-type brown dwarfs." (1)

This latest discovery was found in the constellation of Pisces, at a very great distance from the solar system. The brown dwarf shines brightly enough to be imaged at this distance because it is currently very youthful.  Give it a few million years and the young fires in this companion failed star will burn out, leaving it a dark ember in space.  I suspect that this happens across the galaxy during the emergence of star systems.  I believe that the clusters of new stars contain fields of planetary and sub-stellar objects intertwined with the larger stars.  As the clusters break up, some brown dwarfs will remain as dark companions, whilst others will float freely in inter-stellar space.

Just in case you believed that our Sun was somehow created differently from this sort of scenario, new scientific thinking establishes the fact that the Sun was born in a cluster of stars, and that the Sun had sisters! (2)  As such, it would seem no surprise to find out that our Sun has a remnant dark sub-stellar companion orbiting it at a great distance.

References:

1) "The Star, the Dwarf and the Planet: First Directly Imaged Brown Dwarf Companion to an Exoplanet Host Star" 19th October 2006 http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/698904/the_star_the_dwarf_and_the_planet/index.html  With thanks to David and Eric

2) http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20061024/sc_space/informativeyearsthesunhadsisters With thanks to Brian and Pat
 

Stardust's Enigma - Updated

Scientists looking into the secrets of the comet composition have been surprised to find that some of the complex minerals collected by the Stardust probe must have been formed elsewhere.  Although the comet's origin, on the face of it, is in the coldest reaches of the Solar System, the minerals must have formed in the hottest parts of the early solar system.  Here's a bit of blurb about some preliminary findings:

"Analysis of the large particles that travelled all the way to the button of the tracks has revealed a remarkable range of minerals. Some of these particles contain minerals the form only at extremely high temperatures - temperatures that could not have existed where the comets formed. Some of these minerals are similar to "refractory" materials that formed in the hottest, innermost regions of the disk of gas and dust that formed the Sun and planets. If these minerals in the comet are from our solar system then they probably formed close to the young Sun and were transported all the way from inside the orbit of Mercury past the orbit of Neptune.

Another option is that these "hottest minerals found in the coldest place" actually formed around other stars. The distinction between solar system and extra-solar origin of these minerals will be determined by measuring their isotopic compositions. The abundances of the isotopes of elements like oxygen is quite different in true stardust grains, formed around other stars, than it is for materials formed in our solar system. One of the most exciting outcomes of the workshop was preliminary data suggesting that the comet is a mix of both stardust grains from other stars as well as materials formed in the solar system. As expected, there appears to be true stardust in Stardust." (1)

Now, it's certainly plausible that the Sun has captured interstellar comets originating form other star systems.  But it's also quite possible that the Stardust comet formed in another hot part of the solar system, i.e. in the proto-planetary disk of a brown dwarf companion.  In such a circumstance it would naturally have isotopic compositions that reflected the binary nature of the solar system, which I suspect is what we're seeing here.  It'll be interesting to see what the final analysis of these isotopic studies shows.  My bet is that anomalous isotopic compositions will indeed be discovered in the cometary admixture, and that the anomalies will be consistent with the primordial disk of a very low mass star, or brown dwarf...

Lee Covino has been keeping an eye on the (lack of ) developments with results from the Deep Impact probe.  As previously reported here, scientific findings from the mission have been hard to come by.  Relating obliquely to this, Lee sent me an article about a Japanese space probe which is studying the composition of an asteroid.  It has discovered that the asteroid was an amalgamation of debris from a previously shattered planet, or asteroid (2).  It seems that all the asteroid belt objects may have similarly been sourced from an ancient planet or planets which had disintegrated during the period of the early solar system.  Such a confirmation would, of course, take Sitchin's theories about the early solar system further forward.

References:

1) Dr Brownlee, Stardust Principle Investigator, "Stardust Analysis Update" http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/news/status/060512.html 12/5/06, With thanks to Monika Myers

2) University of Michigan "Floating Pile Of Rubble A Pristine Record Of Solar System's History" 2nd June 2006 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060602073338.htm with thanks to Lee Covino

 

WISE on Target to find Nearby Brown Dwarfs

The hunt for brown dwarfs and other potential neighbours to the Sun is picking up speed.  Spurred on by the exciting discoveries made by the Spitzer telescope in recent years, the scientists preparing the WISE launch are getting increasingly excited about what they might discover out there.  It's just a case of who's going to find the Dark Star first...WISE, SIRTFor the Japanese?  Either way, we're going to know within just a couple of years.  Here's an extract from a recent press release from NASA:

"An estimated $300-million mission, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or "Wise," has been in the planning stages for the past eight years. It is scheduled to launch into an Earth orbit in late 2009. It will spend seven months collecting data.

Such extensive sky coverage means the mission will find and catalogue all sorts of celestial eccentrics. These may include brown dwarfs, or failed stars, that are closer to Earth than Proxima Centauri, the nearest star other than our sun. Brown dwarfs are balls of gas that begin life like stars but lack the mass to ignite their internal fires and light up like normal stars. They do, however, produce warm infrared glows that Wise will be able to see.

"Brown dwarfs are lurking all around us," said Dr. Peter Eisenhardt, project scientist for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We believe there are more brown dwarfs than stars in the nearby universe, but we haven't found many of them because they are too faint in visible light."

Wright, Eisenhardt and other scientists recently identified brown dwarfs using NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Telescope. Wise will vastly expand the search, uncovering those brown dwarfs closest to Earth that might make ideal targets for future planet-hunting missions. Recent Spitzer findings support the notion that planets might orbit brown dwarfs."

 

Reference: JPL Press Release "NASA SAYS: 'BUILD IT AND INFRARED SURPRISES WILL COME'" http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/  13/10/06, with thanks to Monika and David

 


 

Brown Dwarf News

Mass cut-off between stars and brown dwarfs revealed

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn9771&feedId=online-news_rss20

With thanks to Shad Bolling

 

Dwarf survives in stellar furnace

"Until now, astronomers believed something as small, in relative terms, as a brown dwarf could not emerge unscathed from immersion in the fiery furnace of a dying star.

"We've discovered a small failed star called a brown dwarf lying next to another star called a white dwarf and the two are orbiting each other in a tiny orbit of two hours," Dr Matt Burleigh, a co-author of the paper and an astronomer at the University of Leicester, UK, told BBC News.

"We've found something 55 times more massive than Jupiter that has survived being swallowed by a red giant; can something smaller, like a known extrasolar planet, also survive?"" (1)

 

Discovery of the Nearest L Dwarf: The Intrinsically Faintest Object at Visual Wavelengths Known Beyond Our Solar System

"The purpose of CTIOPI is to discover and characterize overlooked stars and brown dwarfs in the vicinity the Sun. Objects are scrutinized by measuring their positions (and wobbles), their brightnesses and colors, and by taking spectroscopic fingerprints to examine their atmospheric composition. The estimated "missing" population of solar neighborhood members is expected to be composed primarily of very low mass stars with spectral type M (known as red dwarfs), and objects of spectral types L (like DEN 0255-4700) and T, many of which are actually brown dwarfs with too little mass to start long-term thermonuclear reactions. Such objects shine feebly, glowing only because of energy leaking out since their gravitational formation, many billions of years ago." (2)

Brown Dwarf Pair found in Interstellar Space

"...While they have similar masses to many of the giant planets discovered beyond our Solar System (the largest weighs in at 14 times the mass of Jupiter and the other is about seven times more massive), they are not thought to be true planets either. "We are resisting the temptation to call it a 'double planet' because this pair probably didn't form the way that planets in our Solar System did," said co-researcher Valentin Ivanov of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Santiago, Chile. The two objects have similar spectra and colours, suggesting that they formed at the same time about a million years ago. They are separated by about six times the distance between the Sun and Pluto, and can be found in the Ophiuchus star-forming region some 400 light years away." (3)

Brown dwarfs form during star conflict

There are many brown dwarfs in the galaxy, possible as many as there are stars.  Some are found orbiting parent stars, others moving freely through interstellar space. It's been difficult for astronomers to work out under what circumstances such a variety of these failed stars formed.  New computer simulations of young star systems interacting have given us a potential solution; that within the chaos of clashing proto-planetary discs, brown dwarfs emerge, with their own planetary systems!  (4)

One can see how the sheer variety of brown dwarfs observed in nature could have resulted from such cataclysmic events.  In our own star system's case, for instance, the Sun may have been born in a stellar nursery in close proximity to another star.  As the planets formed, the two systems could have rubbed up against one another, ejecting whole chunks of the disc into the outer solar system, or into interstellar space.  This might explain the anomalous shape of the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt on the edge of the solar system, and how a brown dwarf might have become lodged in the deep abyss of the solar system in the first place.  Kind of interesting from the point of view of ancient mythology, too....

Dark Star "Planemos"

Astronomers have now accepted that planet-like objects floating alone through space carry with them material that could make other planets or moons, something like miniature versions of our solar system.  What exactly to call any of these objects and systems remains up in the air, however.  But whatever the astronomers end up calling these Dark Stars (and I still think this is the best possible name) the fact is that they exist.  A real blueprint for a Dark Star system has been observed, in interstellar space (5).  Some astronomers want to call objects like these "planemos".  Not very catchy, though, is is?  You decide:

 

References:

1)  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5235306.stm Thanks to David Pearson and Phil Whitley

2) Press release http://www.noao.edu/  Thanks to David Pearson

3) BBC News "Strange New Twin Worlds Found" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5241774.stm  Thanks to Brant McLaughlin

4) McMaster University "Smashing young stars leave dwarfs in their wake" http://www.physorg.com/news69083174.html with thanks to David Pearson

5) http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060605_planemos.html With thanks to David Pearson and Phil Whitley

 


 

'Dark Star' book available through Amazon.com:

 

"Excellent work. Clear, logical, bold, documented"

 

'The Dark Star' by Andy Lloyd © Timeless Voyager 2005

 


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