Myth or Possibility?

Discussion in 'Pseudoscience Archive' started by Creeping Death, Oct 16, 2011.

  1. Creeping Death Out of darkness came light Registered Senior Member

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    This so called planet was mentioned by the ancient Mesopotamians, who named it Nibiru aka "planet x". It was known also to the Mayans, who associated it with their “long count” calendar.

    But lets look at this picture scientifically putting conspiracy theories aside.

    Is it possible there may be a planet visible in space from the earth's southern hemisphere only?

    Is the University of Chicago, together with those of Berkeley, Case Western Reserve and Illinois, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Society working on a project to build a telescope on Antarctica?

    Why would someone want a telescope out there?

    Perhaps watch out for incoming NEO's!
     
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  3. leopold Valued Senior Member

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    the southern cross is not visible in the US so i would guess that, yes, a planet could only be visible in the southern hemisphere.
    i can think of two very good reasons.

    atmospheric heat can render an terrestrial astronomical telescope almost useless.

    another good reason is smog and other pollutants.

    a telescope in antarctica will not have to deal with either of the above.
     
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  5. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    In addition to what Leo said, they also have *excellent* "seeing" (as astronomers call clear skies) for many, many days out of the year due to the extremely low humidity (that equals NO clouds in the sky). And don't forget the 6 months of no sunshine every year - totally dark skies and absolutely no light pollution, even from cities hundreds of miles away (since there aren't any).

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    As to "planet X", hopefully you are aware that Neptune and Pluto were predicted to exist well in advance of having ever been seen visually. That was because they caused small distortions in the orbit of Saturn. And there is NO disturbance/ perturbation of the orbits of the Earth, Mars, or Venus such as WOULD be present if planet X were real.

    It's nothing more than a myth, period.
     
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  7. leopold Valued Senior Member

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    i thought about "total darkness" too but soon realized there are southern auroras.
     
  8. Creeping Death Out of darkness came light Registered Senior Member

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    Interesting! It is known that Neptune and Pluto already have an established orbit in the solar system therefore by conventional astronomical methods these objects would eventually be unmasked. However NEO's do not orbit like other planets do. Could it not be possible that the so called "planet X" might be small enough to pass through the solar system undetected!
     
  9. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    Sure. But they are really infrequent and don't last long when they DO appear.

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  10. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    If it were THAT small, it certainly wouldn't qualify as a planet.

    No, the whole thing is just a myth - no different than their Sun God, etc.
     
  11. Creeping Death Out of darkness came light Registered Senior Member

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    I prefer to keep an open mind!
     
  12. OnlyMe Valued Senior Member

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    The southern cross is visible only from the southern hemisphere because it lies "south" of the solar plane. A planet might have an orbit that moves through the solar plane in a systematic way, but that would make it visible from the north at some portion of its orbit.

    Add to this that its gravitational influence should have been noted and the likely answer is myth or confusion.

    Even we're such a "planet" in a leading or trailing lagrangian orbit of another planet, its gravitational influence should have been detected by today's astronomical technologies.
     
  13. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    Do you have some links or information to back up this claim?

    Thanks.
     
  14. Read-Only Valued Senior Member

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    And that's fine and good!

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    Just make certain that it's not TOO open because that's the only difference between intelligent people and fools.

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  15. Creeping Death Out of darkness came light Registered Senior Member

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    Thats merely my presumption of their apocalyptic expectations !

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  16. decons scrambled egg Registered Senior Member

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    Mesopotamia is on the northern hemisphere.
     
  17. AlexG Like nailing Jello to a tree Valued Senior Member

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    So you're just making this up as you go along.
     
  18. Me-Ki-Gal Banned Banned

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    Planet X and Sun Gods . Hello !! Anybody out there ? Mikey to earth ? Roger and out .

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    789 cell phone home.

    American pride at its finest!! Megalomaniacs in the Meganation , irx

    I know it is unbelievable , so what ever , who cares .
     
  19. Creeping Death Out of darkness came light Registered Senior Member

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    Yes and Antartica is right at the bottom so what's your point?
     
  20. prometheus viva voce! Registered Senior Member

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    I think the point is that the Mesopotamians wouldn't have been able to see something visible only in the southern hemisphere because they were in the northern hemisphere.
     
  21. Creeping Death Out of darkness came light Registered Senior Member

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    Sumerian history only mentions the existence of another planet says nothing about the southern hemisphere or if they have seen it before. Antartica is just a possible observation point if it is visible again!
     
  22. Anti-Flag Pun intended Registered Senior Member

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    As was the Mayan civilization.

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  23. Ophiolite Valued Senior Member

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    Incorrect. Neptune was discovered based upon pertubations of Uranus, not Saturn. Pluto was postulated on the basis of apparent irregularities in Neptune's orbit. These irregularities were actaully errors, so that the discovery of Pluto at that time turned out to be pure luck - Tombaugh was looking in the right place for the wrong reason.
     

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