Sir William Herschel died in 1822 (see http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/pages/staff/mre...reddy/herschel/ ). Herschel was one of the greatest visual observers in the history of astronomy, and I have great respect for his accomplishments, but that doesn't lend any credence to his crackpot hypothesis about the sun. Many other early scientists had misguided beliefs that were just as absurd. Newton was an occultist and alchemist, for instance (see http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/OTHERREFER.../Newtonian.html ). Unfortunately, there is no shortage of crackpots and their "theories" in these supposedly more enlightened times as evidenced by this post and so many others that I see on the Internet.

Dave Mitsky

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.