Astronomers have been searching for the mysterious Planet X for hundreds of years. It was the search for a theoretical planet beyond Uranus that turned up Neptune, and then again for Pluto. And even now there are some astronomers who think there's a more distant planet out there. Oh, and there are a bunch of pseudoscience cranks trying to freak people out about the end of the world. Don't worry, we'll make time for them too, but first let's start with some real science.

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I've mixed thoughts on this, Fraser.
The science segment was good, acknowledging there is potentially another "honest to god planet" (by her words), or even a "nemesis or brown dwarf" (by yours), in the outer solar system.
However, when you get into the pseudoscience segment dealing with Nibiru you not only misstate the name "Stichin" you suggest it will sweep passed the Earth and destroy it come 2012. Sitchin never made this claim, neither did he make the 2003 predictions.
Personally, I think if you're going to discuss pseudoscience you should at least know the pseudoscience, the exact claims, and to whom they're attributed.

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

If anyone is interested they can catch Prof Muller, the main originator of the nemesis theory, can be seen teaching Letters in Science Physics/Physics for future presidents at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php
physics without all the maths....think of this as soft physics.

In regards to brown dwarf stars, you can't see they with optical telescopes. An infrared one is used.
The proof of a brown dwarf going round our sun lies in alpha centauri. It has a spectral type the same as our sun, G2 V. It has 2 bright companions going round it. Our sun doesn't have that. Therefore it has to have one or 2 brown dwarfs that didn't LIGHT up.
The trick is, where are they? James McCanny says that uranus and neptune have been influenced by some big object from the south. Maybe the galactic plane is producing so much light that the astronomers in austalia and south africa can't see it.

Jim

Yes, Sitchin doesn't predict the return of Nibiru, untill 2087

I think he also claims that as the real end of the Mayan calender - That's quite handy as he wont be around then If it turns out to be wrong

I find it difficult to believe that the Spitzer Space Telescope, would miss a nearby Red/Brown Dwarf

There is also Voyager 1 & 2, that surely would have experienced some gravitational effects of such a dwarf star

Physics for future presidents --I would hope all our politicians would learn a bit more...

In his End of Days Sitchin discusses several dates: 2012, 2087, 2240, 2900.

Are you sure he claims Nibiru returns 2087, or that the Mayan calandar end-date is such?

I'm not.

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

Yes, You are Correct

2087 is the end of the Mayan Calender and the return of Kukulkan (Annunaki God - Also known as Thoth or Quetzalcoatl)

2240 is the return date for Nibiru, if as he claims the orbit is now 3160 years (After Great Flood passing), instead of the standard 3600 years (return 2900)

It still depends on what the correct start date is (why 3113?) and which multiplier you use, 360 or 365.25

Hmmm, I think you're confusing things some (not to mention this is off topic).

2087 is Thoth's "return" (again however, the start dates and multiplier aren't certain)

2240 is given as the date of the "End of Days" (this however is based on the Hebrew calendar of Nippur and is restricted by 6000 days from Beginning to End).

2900 is given as Nibiru's next arrival IF its orbit had been slowed to 3450 earth years instead of 3600 (calculated by its supposed "early" return in 556bc).


And I have no idea from whence your "3160 years(after great flood passing)" comes ??

Perhaps some refresher reading and a thread elsewhere to discuss Sitchin's work is in order?

__________________
"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

You are right

Start a thread and I will contribute

I'm not interested in promoting or defending his work per se, but I'll correct mistatements and misconceptions when I see them.

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

Back in 2002, I was in contact with Mark Hazelwood regarding the impending arrival (I believe it was May 12, 2003) of Planet X. He had a book out (I think it was called "Earth Changes"?) where he talked about the upcoming "disaster" based on information obtained by aliens called the Zeta through their Earthling conduit, "Nancy".

Being an open minded skeptic, I volunteered for the task of searching for Planet X. Unfortunately for Mr. Hazelwood, "Nancy", the "Zetas" and the rest of the Planet X crowd, they actually published the celestial coordinates of Planet X (at that time, in the constellation Taurus) and claimed it was a magnitude 12 object - and it was red. This was easily within the grasp of my amateur 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, so I planned out a few nights to do a detailed sweep of the area, comparing what I saw to a set of magnitude 15 star charts that I had on my laptop. Surely, I reasoned, if there was something out there that wasn't in the charts, I'd see it.

I gave it an honest try, and I had an even more open minded friend with me to assist and verify. But after 4 nights of searching, we came up with no objects anywhere near the coordinates provided. I came the conclusion that the object was not there, and informed Mr. Hazelwood not to sell the farm prior to May 12, 2003! Of course, after that day came and went, and everything was fine, I was told that we misunderstood the information from the Zetas, and there was new data pointing to Planet X. By this time, the fun had worn off and I retired from the Planet X hunt.

But I thought I'd share that little piece of history with you - my personal connection to Planet X!

Take care - LOVE the podcast!

Rick Towns
Astronomer at Large
Barrie, Ontario, CANADA