AN HONEST LOOK AT THE SPECULATION ABOUT PLANET X AND 2012 By John Lyall Greetings. I hope and pray that the following will be helpful. Sorry, if it comes as a wet blanket in some ways, but I think it would really help to take an honest look at all the (internet) speculation about Planet X, 2012, etc. The articles below were written by an open-minded scientist with impressive credentials, someone who knows what he’s talking about, yet who even says, “I enjoy a good conspiracy theory”. Key portions of the articles below are highlighted in yellow; my comments are in red font. (If reading all 19 pages is too daunting, then just the red and highlighted portions may be sufficient.) Sincerely and with all good intentions in the search for truth, John Lyall
2012: Planet X is not Nibiru by IAN O'NEILL on JUNE 19, 2008 http://www.universetoday.com/57016/nibiru/
The Solar System‘s outer reaches still contain many minor planets yet to be discovered. Ever since the search for Planet X began in the early 20th Century, the possibility of a hypothetical planet orbiting the Sun beyond the Kuiper Belt has fuelled many Doomsday theories and speculation that Planet X is actually the Sun‘s long lost binary sibling. But why the fear about the PlanetX/Doomsday combination? Surely Planet X is just an unknown, hypothetical object and nothing sinister? As I’ve previously discussed in “2012: No Planet X“, doomsayers have linked the modern day search for Planet X, the ancient Mayan 2012 Prophecy and the Sumerian mythical planet Nibiru, culminating in bad news for December 21st 2012. However, the astronomical evidence
for these links is seriously flawed. Yesterday (Wednesday, June 18th ,2008), Japanese researchers announced news that their theoretical search for a large mass in the O UTER S OLAR S YSTEM has produced results. From their calculations, there might just be a planet, possibly a bit bigger than a Plutoid but certainly smaller than Earth orbiting beyond 100 AU from the Sun. But before we get carried away, this is not Nibiru, this is not proof of the end of the world in 2012; it is a new and very exciting development in the search for minor planets beyond the Kuiper Belt… In a new theoretical simulation, two researchers have deduced that the outermost reaches of the Solar System may contain an undiscovered planet. Patryk Lykawka and Tadashi Mukai of Kobe University have published a paper in the Astrophysical Journal detailing a minor planet that they believe may be interacting with the mysterious Kuiper Belt. Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs)
The Kuiper Belt occupies a huge region of space, approximately 30-50 AU from the Sun [1 AU (astronomical unit) = 93,000,000 miles, the distance between the Earth and the Sun]. It contains a vast number of rocky and metallic objects, the largest known body being the dwarf planet (or “Plutoid”) Eris. It has been known for many years that the Kuiper Belt has a few strange characteristics that may signal the presence of another large planetary body orbiting the Sun beyond the Kuiper Belt. One such feature is the aptly named “Kuiper Cliff” that occurs at 50 AU. This is an abrupt end to the Kuiper Belt, very few Kuiper Belt objects (or KBOs) have been observed beyond this point. This cliff cannot be attributed to orbital resonances with massive planets such asNeptune, and there doesn’t appear to be any obvious observational error. Many astronomers believe that such a sharp cut-off in KBO population may be due to an as-yet to be discovered planet, possibly as large as Earth. This is an object Lykawka and Mukai believe they have calculated to exist.
This research predicts a large object, 30-70% the mass of the
Earth, orbiting at a distance of around 100-200 AU from the Sun. This object may also help explain why some KBOs and transNeptunian objects (TNOs) have some strange orbital characteristics (such as Sedna). Ever since Pluto was discovered in 1930, astronomers have
been looking for another more massive body that could explain the orbital perturbations observed in
the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. This search became known as the “search for Planet X”, which literally meant the “search for an as yet unidentified planet.” In the 1980′s these perturbations were put down to observational error. Therefore, the modern-day scientific search for Planet X is the search for a large KBO or a minor planet beyond. Although Planet X may not be larger than the mass of the Earth, researchers are still very excited about finding more KBOs, possibly the size of a Plutoid, possibly a little bigger, but not much bigger. “The interesting thing for me is the suggestion of the kinds of very interesting objects that may yet await discovery in the outer solar system. We are still scratching the edges of that region of the solar system, and I expect many surprises await us with the future deeper surveys.” – Mark Sykes, Director of the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona.
Planet X is not scary
So where does Nibiru come in? Back in 1976 a controversial book called “The Twelfth Planet” was written by Zecharia Sitchin. [Note of the Editor: Zecharia Sitchin seems to be a freemason illuminati: Zecharia Sitchin: Jordan Maxwell's Butt-Buddy (FREEMASON ... Illuminati News: Zachariah Sitchin is Wrong! Zecharia Sitchin: Inventing the Nibiru and Annunaki Lie on Behalf of ...]
Sitchin had interpreted some ancient Sumerian cuneiform texts (the earliest known form of writing) as a literal translation of the origin of humankind [which has very little in common with the Book of Genesis]. These 6000 year old texts apparently reveal that an alien race known as the Annunaki travelled to Earth on a planet called Nibiru. It’s a long and involved story, but in a nutshell, the Anunnaki genetically modified primates on Earth to create homo sapiens to be their slaves. (I just worked out where the storyline for Kurt Russell’s 1994 movie Stargate probably came from…) When the Anunnaki left Earth, they let us rule the planet until they return. All this may seem a little fantastical, and perhaps a little too detailed when considering it is a literal translation from 6000 year old texts. Sitchin’s
work has been disregarded by the scientific community as many of his methods of interpretation are considered imaginative at best. Nevertheless, many people have taken Sitchin’s work literally, and believe Nibiru (in its highly eccentric orbit around the Sun) will be returning, possibly as soon as 2012 to cause all sorts of terror and destruction here on Earth. It is important to note here that I am not calling into question any archaeological, spiritual or historic evidence for Nibiru, I am simply pointing out the link between the 2012
Doomsday Planet X theory is based on very dubious astronomical “discoveries”; if this is the case, how can Planet X be considered to be the embodiment of Nibiru? Then there’s the IRAS incident and in 1984 and the “NASA announcement of a 4-8 Earth mass planet travelling toward Earth” in 1993. Doomsayers (often with a book to sell) cling on to these astronomical discoveries as proof that Nibiru is in fact the Planet X astronomers have been searching for over the last century. Not only that, by manipulating the facts about these scientific studies, they “prove” that Nibiru is travelling toward us, and by 2012, this massive body will pass through the inner Solar System, causing all sorts of gravitational damage. For more information on this topic, see “2012: No Planet X.”
In its purest form, Planet X is an unknown, theoretically possible planet orbiting peacefully beyond the Kuiper Belt. If yesterday’s announcement does lead to the observation of a planet or Plutoid, it will be an incredible discovery that will help to shed some light on the evolution and characteristics of the mysterious outer reaches of the Solar System. But as I write, I can guarantee that doomsayers are adapting this new research to be used as support for their nonsensical theories that
Planet X is in fact Nibiru, and it’s coming in our direction by 20 12 2012. Why do I get the feeling we’ll still be here in the year 2013?
2012: No Planet X by Ian O'Neill on May 25, 2008 http://www.universetoday.com/14486/2012-no-planet-x/
I’m sorry, but the “facts” behind the Planet X/Nibiru myth simply do not add up. Don’t worry, Planet X will not be knocking on our door in 2012 and here’s why…
Nibiru and Planet X
Is there any solid evidence for the modern-day Planet X?
Infrared observations = Planet X
There is much emphasis placed on the 1983 “discovery” of a mysterious heavenly body by NASA’s Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) on the outskirts of the Solar system, some 50 billion miles (540 AU) away. Naturally the world’s media will have been very excited by such a discovery and began making noises that perhaps this was Planet X (the most popular
accessible resources for Planet X advocates is the Washington Post article published on December 31st 1983 titled “Mystery Heavenly Body Discovered” Dr. Gerry Neugebauer, co-investigator in the IRAS project, was interviewed and strongly stated that what IRAS had seen was not “incoming mail” (i.e. the results did not suggest there was an object approaching Earth). On reading this interesting research, I was especially drawn to the paper’s conclusion: “A number of candidate identifications have been considered including near-solar system, galactic, and extragalactic objects. Further observations at infrared and other wavelengths may provide additional information in support of one of these conjectures, or perhaps these objects will require entirely different interpretations.” – Houck et al, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 278:L63, 1984. Although these IRAS observations were seeing mysterious objects, at this stage, there was no indication that there was an object (let alone a brown dwarf) powering its way toward us. But the rumours had already begun to flow. When follow-up papers were published in 1985 (Unidentified IRAS sources – Ultrahigh-luminosity galaxies, Houck et al., 1985) and 1987 (The IRAS View of the Extragalactic Sky, Soifer et al., 1987), there was little if any media interest in their findings. According to these publications, most of the IRAS observations in the 1984 paper were distant, ultra-luminous young galaxies and one was a filamentary structure known as “infrared cirrus” floating in intergalactic space. IRAS never observed any astronomical body in the
outer reaches of the Solar System.
Orbital perturbations = Planet X
In addition to the 1983 “discovery” of the Planet X brown dwarf, the 1992 Planet X claim goes something like this: “Unexplained deviations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune point to a large outer solar system body of 4 to 8 Earth masses, on a highly tilted orbit, beyond 7 billion miles from the sun,” – text from an un-cited NASA source on the “Planet X Forecast and 2012 Survival Guide” video. Pulling up the discovery of planets using orbital perturbation measurements, Planet X advocates point to a NASA announcement that in 1992, there were indirect measurements of a planet some 7 billion miles from Earth. Alas, I cannot find the original source for this claim. The only huge discovery NASA announced along these lines was the discovery of the first major trans-Neptunian object (TNO) called 1992 QB1 (full details of the discovery of this “cubewano-class” object can be found in the original announcement transcript). It has a diameter of 200km and is confined to the Kuiper Belt, a zone of minor planets (where Pluto lives) and asteroids from 30AU to 55AU, just outside Neptune’s orbit. Some of these bodies (like Pluto) cross the path of Neptune’s orbit and there therefore designated as a TNO. These TNO’s pose no threat to the Earth
(in as much as they wont be leaving the Kuiper Belt to pay us a visit in 2012). Since then, any Neptune orbital perturbations have been put down to observational error and have since not been observed… so there
doesn’t appear to be any obvious object any bigger than the largest Kuiper Belt objects out there. Still, to keep an open mind, there could be more large bodies to be discovered (that might explain why there is such a steep drop-off of Kuiper Belt objects at the “Kuiper Cliff”, the jury is out on that idea), but there is no evidence for a
massive body approaching from the vicinity of the Kuiper Belt. Even the strange Pioneer anomaly that the Pioneer and Voyager probes are experiencing cannot be attributed to Planet X. This anomaly appears to be a Sun-ward acceleration, if there was a massive planet out there, there should be some gravitational effect beyond what has been predicted by the other known objects in the Solar System.
4-8 Earth masses = a brown dwarf? It must be Planet X.
Probably the most glaring inconsistency in the Planet X hypothesis is the Planet X advocates assertion that the 1984 IRAS object and the 1992 body are one of the same thing. As announced on many websites and online videos about Planet X, the 1984 IRAS observation saw Planet X at 50 billion miles from Earth. The 1992 NASA “announcement” put Planet X at a distance of about 7 billion miles from Earth. Therefore, the logic goes, Planet X had travelled 43 billion miles in the course of only eight years (from 1984 to 1992). After some dubious mathematics, Planet X is therefore expected to reach the core of the Solar System in 2012. (Although many believed it should arrive in 2003… they were obviously wrong about that prediction.) Well, I think we might be clutching at straws here. For starters, for the 1984 object to be the same as the 1992 object, surely they should be the same mass? If Planet X was a brown dwarf (as we are led to
believe in the IRAS observations), how can it possibly weigh in at only 4 to 8 Earth masses eight years later?
Brown dwarfs have a mass of around 15-80 Jupiter masses. As Jupiter is about 318 Earth masses, surely the object hurtling toward us should have a mass of somewhere between 4,770 and 25,440 Earth masses? So I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I reckon the 1984 object and the 1992 object (if either object actually existed that is) are not the
same thing. Not by a very long shot.
“If there is no evidence supporting Planet X, it must be a conspiracy” If it can be this easy to cast the fundamental “scientific” theory behind Planet X into doubt, I see little point in discussing the historical reasons (mass extinctions, volcanic activity, earthquakes etc.) as to why the doomsayers believe Planet X should exist. If there is no renegade
planet out there of significant mass, how can Nibiru be a threat to us in 2012? [“Mass extinctions, volcanic activity, earthquakes” resulted from the Flood cataclysm when not only the “windows of heaven were opened” but also “the fountains of the great deep were broken up”. (Genesis 7:11) Afterwards came the re-creation of the Earth: “You clothed the earth with floods of waters covering up the mountains. You spoke, and at the sound of Your shout the water collected into its vast ocean beds, and mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed. And then You set a boundary for the seas so that they would never again cover the earth.” (Psalm 104:6-9, The Living Bible) The Flood was a cataclysm engineered by the Almighty. To think that it was the result of a passing planet seems to play into the materialist idea that God has very little, if anything, to do with us or the creation of the world; we and the state of the earth are all just the result of cosmic accident more or less. But no, the Flood cataclysm was very much a planned event. God didn’t just decide to fling a planet at or near the Earth and then let the chips fall where they may – as if He were some kind of arbitrary and unconcerned Being trying to do everything by remote control. No, He was very closely involved in the geological events that went on before, during, and after the Flood. And the same principle would apply, I would think, to the cataclysms that are to be unleashed at the time of Christ’s second coming. There is little point in speculating on how these events will occur. And probably it is better not to give the impression that some arbitrary cosmic accident will be the cause of it (as if God has very little, if anything, to do with the cataclysms that will rock our planet in the future). People should understand that God is in control, and not be given the impression that we are at the mercy of a capricious and mindless cosmos.] They will have us believe there is a global conspiracy of international governments hiding the facts from us. NASA is involved in the cover-up, hence the lack of evidence. In my opinion, simply because there is no
evidence, doesn’t mean there is a conspiracy to hide the truth from the public. So why would governments want to hide a “discovery” as historic as a doomsday planet approaching the inner Solar System anyway? To avoid mass panic and pursue their own, greedy agendas (obviously). As it turns out, this is the only strength behind the Planet X myth. When confronted with scientific facts, the Planet X advocates reply with “…governments are sending out disinformation and covering up the true observations of Nibiru.” Although I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, I will not support anything in the name of Planet X. If the basic science behind what we are led to believe are the foundation of Planet X existing is wrong, it seems a poor argument to say “the government did it”. … While conspiracies have certainly existed throughout history and they will continue to exist as long as people conspire for power or advantage, a lot of extremism and doctored information has also been promoted by conspiracy theorists. There is a lot of information out there that is unreliable, and in some cases, unrealistic and patently false. What we do know is that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”1 [Eph 6:12] This certainly indicates that spiritual forces of
evil will seek to work through some people in power, who will be conspiring to take over the world or seeking greater power and control. There are conspiracies in the world, and those in power will often conspire for more power. But that doesn’t mean that every event
that occurs is part of a carefully orchestrated conspiracy …
Realistically, the world is a complex place. So many intricate factors interact with other factors, and actions, decisions, and events interplay to bring about often complex results. It’s not usually possible to
reduce events and the political, economic, and religious scenes to simplistic equations; the world is too diverse. [By Peter Amsterdam “Word of God – Judgmentalism”, Aug/2010]
Therefore, the story that Planet X will arrive in 2012-21December is, in my view, total bunkum (but it helps to sell
doomsday books and DVDs by scaring people). Nibiru will remain in the realms of Sumerian myth. Sources: No Tenth Planet Yet From IRAS, Surviving 2012 and Planet X (Video), The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System, New Scientist, IRAS, Planet X and Pole Shift
Believers in Mysterious Planet Nibiru, Comet Elenin Await Earth's End From
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/24/believers-in-mysterious-planet-nibiru-comet-eleninawait-earths-end/#ixzz1UUpDjPT4
Renowned astrophysicist Carl Sagan once described a "baloney detection kit" — a set of tools that skeptical thinkers use to investigate any new concept. A few of the key tools include a healthy distrust of information that isn't independently verified, critically assessing an idea rather than becoming irrationally attached to it simply because it's intriguing, and a preference for simple explanations over wildly speculative ones. The waxing obsession with the planet Nibiru , which conspiracy theorists say is a planet swinging in from the outskirts of our solar system that is going to crash into Earth and wipe out humanity in 2012 — or, in some opinions, 2011 — shows that an astonishing number of people "are watching YouTube videos and visiting slick websites with nothing in their skeptical toolkit," in the words of David Morrison, a planetary astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center and senior scientist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute. A suspect origin The idea that doomsday will result from a planetary collision was first proposed in 1995 by Nancy Lieder, a self-described "contactee." Lieder claims she has the ability to receive messages through an implant in her brain from aliens in the Zeta Reticuli star system. On her website, ZetaTalk, she stated that she was chosen to warn mankind of an impending planetary collision which would wipe out humanity in May 2003. (When no such cataclysmic event occurred, Lieder's followers chose 2012 as the new date for the Nibiru collision, which coincides neatly with other doomsday prophecies focused on the ending of the Mayan calendar.) [Doomsday Facts (or Fictions)]
Missing planet The biggest missing link in the doomsday prophecy is Nibiru itself.
Because no giant, rogue planet has been found in the outer solar system to play the role of Nibiru, some
conspiracy theorists have decided that a small comet called Elenin " href="/cms/articles/11617-comet-elenin-wimpy-solarsystem"> (which will pass nearest Earth in October 2011) is actually Nibiru. Even then, though, scientists say Elenin will come no closer than 100 times farther than the distance from Earth to the moon. [What If Our Solar System Formed Closer to Milky Way's Edge?]
"The fact is that these folks are constantly changing their story," Morrison wrote in an email. "For some, Nibiru is no longer the Sumerian god or planet that is supposed to be returning to Earth in late 2012. It has become a catchword for almost any cosmic catastrophe." Internet rumors about Elenin began spreading earlier this year. Its approach to Earth was blamed for shifting the Earth's axis by 3 degrees in February, precipitating the Chile earthquake, then shifting the pole even more to trigger the Japan quake in March. "Ignoring plate tectonics as the cause of earthquakes, they suggest that the comet exerted strong gravitational or electromagnetic effects on our planet," Morrison wrote. When scientists pointed out that the comet is a mere 3-mile-wide glob of ice with no magnetic field and that it won't even pass very near Earth — and that plate tectonics, not comets, cause earthquakes — rumors began to circulate that NASA was withholding information about Elenin. Distinguishing truth from lies Morrison offered some advice to those who are interested in astronomy or are worried about impending collisions. "If it [a story] is real, it is likely to be in regular news media, not just posted on some website," he told us. Furthermore, "not everyone who claims on YouTube to be a scientist or an employee of NASA is. But there is no simple way to distinguish truth from lies." The Nibiru conspiracies are so nonsensical that Morrison wonders whether even their purveyors believe them. Because many websites sell Nibiru books, tapes and even "survival kits," Morrison thinks they are purposely taking advantage of people who aren't able to distinguish credible sources from crackpot ones. "This is especially a problem for young people, which is why I am so angry at those who target children," he said.
2012: No Geomagnetic Reversal by Ian O'Neill on October 3, 2008 From http://www.universetoday.com/18977/2012-no-geomagnetic-reversal/#ixzz2564kf4OG Using the Mayan Prophecy as an excuse to create new and explosive ways in which our planet may be destroyed, 20 12 2012 doomsayers use the geomagnetic shift theory as if it is set in stone. Simply because
scientists have said that it might happen within the next millennium appears to be proof enough that it will happen in [a specific date]. Alas, although this theory has some scientific backing, there is no way that anyone can predict when geomagnetic reversal might happen to the nearest day or to the nearest million years… [It is sometimes thought that there is basis for this belief in a geomagnetic reversal, or even Pole reversal, in the Bible: “Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.” (Isaiah 24:1) But this is simply a case of trying to read too much into one little phrase “turneth it upside down”. The margin in my KJV offers the alternate translation “perverteth the face thereof”. Other translations say “ruin its face” (NIV), “distorts its surface” (NKJV, NASB-U, NAS), “twist its surface” (RSV). Probably this phrase, as translated in the KJV, was not meant to be taken so literally. The surface of the earth will be wrecked is all it’s saying. The original Hebrew does not imply (at all really) that the whole globe is to be flipped, or was flipped.] Firstly, let’s differentiate between geomagnetic reversal and polar shift. Geomagnetic reversal is the change in the magnetic field of the Earth, where the magnetic north pole shifts to the South Polar Region and the south magnetic pole shifts to the North Polar Region. Once this process is complete, our compasses would point toward Antarctica, rather than northern Canada. Polar shift is considered to be a less likely event that occurs a few times in the evolutionary timescale of the
Solar System. There are a couple of examples of planets that have suffered a catastrophic polar shift, including Venus (which rotates in an opposite direction to all the other planets, therefore it was flipped upside down by some huge event, such as a planetary collision) and Uranus (which rotates on its side, having been knocked off-axis by an impact, or some gravitational effect caused by Jupiter and Saturn). Many authors (including the doomsayers themselves) often cite both geomagnetic reversal and polar shift as being one of the same thing. This isn’t the case. So, no doomsday then? Geomagnetic reversal is an engrossing area of geophysical research that will continue to occupy physicists and geologists for many years to come. Although the dynamics behind this event are not fully understood, there
is absolutely no scientific evidence supporting the claim that there could be a geomagnetic reversal around the time of December 21st, 2012. Besides, the effects of such a reversal have been totally over-hyped. Should we experience geomagnetic reversal in our lifetimes (which we probably won’t), it is unlikely that we’ll be cooked alive by the Solar Wind, or be wiped out by cosmic rays. It is unlikely that we’ll suffer any mass extinction event (after all, early man, homo erectus, lived through the last geomagnetic shift, apparently with ease). We’ll most likely experience aurorae at all latitudes whilst the dipolar magnetic field settles down to its new, reversed state, and there might be a small increase in energetic particles from space (remember, just because the magnetosphere is weakened, doesn’t mean we wont have magnetic protection), but
we’ll still be (largely) protected by our thick atmosphere. Satellites may malfunction and migrating birds may become confused, but to predict world collapse is a hard pill to swallow.
In conclusion:
Geomagnetic reversal is chaotic in nature. There is no way we can predict it. Simply because the magnetic field of the Earth is weakening does not mean it is near collapse.
Geomagnetic field strength is “above average” if we compare today’s measurements with the last few million years. The magnetic poles are not set in geographical locations, they move (at varying speeds) and have done ever since measurements began. There is no evidence to suggest external forcing of internal geomagnetic dynamics of the Earth. Therefore there is no
evidence of the solar cycle-geomagnetic shift connection. Don’t get me started on Planet X. So, do you think there will be a geomagnetic reversal event in 2012? I thought not. Once again, we find another 2012 doomsday scenario to be flawed in so many ways. Sources: NASA, US News, SciVee, How To Survive 2012, AGU [Ian O’Neill, founder and editor of Astroengine.com, is a published solar physics doctor and space science producer, editor and writer for Discovery News. Completed PhD in coronal loop dynamics with the Solar System Group (supervised by Dr. Xing Li) at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 2006.]