Archive for the ‘Visual Scan’ Category

The Sun at Play

Friday, September 21st, 2018

Welcome to the 2019 Summer Edition of Scifihorizons! In this issue Scifihorizons returns to its roots with three new Video Scans! (Sorry, no Text Scans. Haven’t had the chance to get out and do any interviews.) There is also a significant change to The Universe Today. The new title for this SFH feature has been changed to The Universe Tomorrow! (That way nobody gets this site and that other guy’s site confused.)

Lots to talk about in this issue, so let’s get started!

Enjoy!

Video Scan

What: Project Blue Book

When: Currently between seasons

Where: The History Channel

I was quite surprised to see the History Channel debut with such a bold move. This subject is, of course, legitimate history (insomuch as Project Bluebook was formed and did investigate numerous cases), but, even in the twenty-first century this subject matter is still considered controversial. Previously, there has only been one attempt to tackle PBB, and that was by Jack Webb in the seventies. Webb tried to stay true to eyewitness reports, and gave Bluebooks conclusions, although most of the episodes shown fell under the “Unsolved” category. Despite Webb’s best efforts, the series only lasted one season. Now the History Channel is using the same records, but creating an entirely different show. And somehow, they have still managed to present this material in a way befitting the History Channel.

The first thing you need to understand about this production is that the stories you’re being shown are not the actual incidents which were reported. These episodes are, rather, suggestive of, or in the spirit of, what witnesses say happened. (Sometimes what the viewer is shown bears little or no resemblance to the original reports, at all.)

But don’t get mad-there’s a reason the producers are taking this sort of approach. And it’s actually a very good reason.

True to form, these productions are designed to give the viewer a feeling for the history of the post war period. Paranoia created by the advent of the nuclear age, fears of a repeat of the famous Orson Welles scare on a national level, a new awareness of science and technology and all this might portend, these were but a few of the fears that simmered and rippled throughout the post war United States. Things that we’d laugh about now were taken quite seriously then. Not that people of the forties, fifties, or sixties were stupid (most of them were given a broader education than their modern counterparts) but, with all the miracles that science was achieving, they simply didn’t know what was really possible, and so they could never be certain what to believe. And the show reflects that by attempting to give the viewer a feeling for the vibe of the period. In this regard PBB scores high. As to actual history-not so much.

Look, don’t get me wrong, I really do like the series! It has a little bit of everything: remote places, strange lights in the sky, government cover-ups, secret military experiments, Soviet spies, and, of course, men in black. But there’s more! Sex, betrayal, murder-yes, PBB gets checks in all of these boxes. Paranoia and suspicion abound, and no one is who they seem to be. This is no dry documentary, it’s a show!

There is a story to tell here, and the producers do this very well. Not only does the viewer know (like the witnesses), that Bluebook isn’t always giving them a rock solid, real world explanation of what was seen, but, the viewer also knows why. They know the situation and realizes what is at stake. To avoid a panic, the citizens must be given a rational explanation or else that panic will spread. One of the main themes that runs throughout the first full season of this show is that PBB is essentially a fire brigade, jumping from point to point as they douse the flames of panic before they can take hold. The show also hints that one of the functions of Bluebook may be that it is occasionally used as cover for some of the military’s more private ventures. (There are even suggestions made in the show that the military might have some undefined involvement with an otherworldly contact.) Besides that, (in both the show and the real world) Bluebook also came in handy when providing explanations for things that couldn’t be readily explained. The verdict of their investigation was often considered the final word on the subject by the vast majority of the populace, and so the incident was promptly forgotten. Once again, this falls into line with what is considered to be the accepted history of the time.

PBB, the real PBB, had a very important role to play, and, with a little help, they played their role well. By the late sixties, when Bluebook was finally shut down, the thought of flying saucers and little green men was considered laughable, and anyone who saw strange lights in the skies learned to keep their mouths shut. To speak of such things publicly would lead to a loss of friends, reputation, and often, their employment. (Mr. Spielberg covers this quite well in his first movie on the subject.) While Bluebook may have lasted only a score of years, the effects of the program were profound, and they still reverberate today.

Project Bluebook, the television show, provides mystery and intrigue on multiple levels. PBB uses the evolving storyline format, and sprinkles the plotline with seemingly normal and obviously nefarious characters, whose paths constantly crisscross and intertwine. The story that the show tells about the lives of the investigators, their families and friends, is involving enough, and the effects are good, and there are the (inevitable) mysteries that are hinted at, lying just beyond the reach of the viewer. You know what I mean, ‘always to be briefly glimpsed, yet never fully comprehended.’ (Part of what keeps the viewer coming back.) In all, a very good show that gives the viewer a glimpse of a simpler, and much more dark and deadly time in America.

Something else worth mentioning. This show also has many scenes which may not be suitable for the very young, so view this one after you put the little ones to bed.

Even if you have no interest in the subject matter, you should still find PBB entertaining. (Try to catch it from the beginning, if you can.) The surprising twists and turns in the plotline, the paranoia, the very nature of the phenomena, all of these elements combine to make Project Bluebook a very watchable show. (On the History Channel!)

Give it a look and see if you agree.

Video Scan

What: The Orville

When: Currently between seasons

Where: Fox Television

A little over a half century ago, the imaginations of a considerable portion of the human race were fired by an idea…a dream…

When I first heard of the Orville, I was disgusted by the thought of it. A show that would lampoon a treasured icon of the boomer generation, and of later generations? Unthinkable.

So, I determined to sit down, watch the show, hate it, and never watch it again.

At least, that’s how it all started.

The opening scenes were coarse, and as soon as I saw the ship, with its “Jagger” drive, a wide open laughing mouth with the tongue sticking out at me, I was sure. I almost changed channels then, but decided I’d watch a little bit more.

There was lampooning (as expected), and even a genuine ‘Hope and Crosby’ moment between the two leads, but there was also more. Much more. There was some ‘boldly going’ stuff, and there was drama, excitement, interesting and complex relationships, even (what are currently considered to be) ‘moral issues’ that most shows either ignore or have difficulty addressing; all of which made for some really good science fiction.

And (you guessed it!) I soon found myself watching each succeeding episode, and looking forward to the next one.

Humor abounds here. It is rare that I can watch the show without smiling once or twice, or even laughing out loud. Classic bits (such as the Hope and Crosby thing) are often used in this new context, and they play just as well or better. When contrasted against the more dramatic scenes they balance out the presentation and give it depth.

The effects on this show can be dazzling. Well thought out and well rendered, they are a definite plus for the viewer. But it’s the stories that caught my interest. Sometimes funny, sometimes scary, and even (occasionally) sometimes very, very serious, they give the viewer something to chew on. And, they also perform the truest function which science fiction is capable of in our current environment-taking today’s most troubling and toxic issues, and placing them in a context in which the viewer will be comfortable enough to watch and consider them. In the modern world, this is the purest form of science fiction. (And has been, almost since the advent of the genre.)

The production also performs the secondary function of science fiction quite well; to fire the minds of the young and the young at heart, so that they will stop and look up at the stars occasionally, rather than just always stare down at the ground.

Give this show a try, and I think you’ll get a kick out of it. If nothing else, you’ll get a smile or two, and maybe even a laugh out loud moment.

See what you think!

…that dream, still lives…

Video Scan

What: Day 5

When: Currently between seasons

Where: El Rey

(Before we go any further, it should be noted that Day 5 is actually the definition of what is known as an Adult program. So, I guess, is this review. Little ones should not see either of them.)

If you’ve ever found yourself on a dark, empty road, just after midnight, and the needle is pegging E, but you still have the pedal to the floor because, at that very moment, you happen to be on a drug fueled ride to hell, then Day 5 may seem familiar to you. If you’ve never experienced such a horrific interlude, then prepare yourself! Because Day 5 is probably the most radically adult program to yet be aired on ‘regular’ cable television, and El Rey chooses to hold nothing back. There is full nudity (not pixelated), there is rampant drug use (not pixelated), there is death both savage and serene (none of which is pixelated), plus, the show features most of the popular curse words, and they are often used in some of the most interesting combinations. And not even one syllable of it is bleeped (not sure about the pixilation). This is a truly adult show, and it tells an adult story.

It’s also one program that you need to watch from the beginning to get the full effect. Day 5 is worth the ride.

At first Day 5 seems bizarre, and yet, at the same time, dreamlike. But, as the series progresses, the dreamlike quality quickly fades, and is immediately replaced by a more nightmarish aspect. The premise of the show revolves around the various characters desperate struggles just to stay awake. To stay alive. In Day 5, sleep means death.

The world that they stumble through is one of the most uniquely realized post-apocalyptic worlds to yet be described. It’s hard to put into words exactly what the Day 5 world is like. This is because there are simply too many facets to this jewel, and all of them must be blended together before your mind’s eye can form a truly coherent view of that upside down landscape. Telling you about any one of portion of it couldn’t even begin to give you the whole picture. You simply have to see this view for yourself. Then you may understand.

Day 5 has a (prerequisite) mystery that drives the story, and a seemingly unreachable goal, but that isn’t really what this show is about. Day 5 is about the characters. They provide the meat (sometimes literally) in this production. To call them an odd assortment would be a gross understatement. These characters come from every walk of life, and the only thing most of them share in common is a burning desire to stay awake. During the run of the show the viewer will find themselves cheering for some of the most unlikely people, even as they wonder if that character really is who they seem to be. And what is that character’s real agenda? (This conundrum is what drives the show, of course.) The characters are constantly trying to figure out who is who, which side their companions are on, and how could one or more of them participate in such a monstrous undertaking as trying to kill the whole world? And most important of all, can the bad people be stopped before the characters becomes so physically exhausted they simply collapse and die?

Day 5 is a compelling story, and it is well told.

When it comes to production values, it’s hard to say enough about the cast and crew of Day 5. The writing and the acting are always on the mark. Special effects scores as well, and even the makeup and prop crew deserve recognition for their efforts. They make the freakish world of Day 5 appear seamless.

How seamless? To answer that let’s close with an actual comment that was made by a viewer after seeing the first episode of Day 5.

“Well, at least somebody finally made a show about real people.”

See if you agree!

That’s it for this portion of Scifihorizons! The Universe Tomorrow is up next!

The Universe Tomorrow

Welcome to the 2019 Summer edition of The Universe Tomorrow! (Yes, the name has been changed, but not the content!) As to the new name, I was unaware when I started this page that someone already had the name as a website. So, to avoid confusion, I thought I’d try something different. Besides, as those of you playing along on the home version know, most of what you are reading here today will be considered science fact tomorrow. Hence, the name.

In this issue, we are going to walk to the very edge of the abyss, and peer out into it (and the abyss will gaze back at us), and then, we’re going to jump!

Don’t worry, though-I promise you a soft landing.

See you on the other side!

Mars or Boom!

The fiftieth anniversary of the first Moon landing has seemed to reinvigorate not only the space program, but the people’s interest in exploration in general. The return to the Moon not only allows us to test new systems that will be used in a Mars landing, but will also help immensely in scouting for potential sites for colonization on the Moon itself. We need these landings so that we can take and build upon what we‘ve learned, perfect and refine it, so that when it comes time for the actual first humans to step out onto Mars, they’ll be ready. It’s been fifty years since we last walked the Moon and those original systems that were used then are seriously outdated now, and it is very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to recreate them. So we need new systems, new vehicles, a totally new approach.

NASA’s original plan for getting men to the Moon and back safely was done in stages, each component was tested and proved in real world (Earth orbit) circumstances. Even when the point was finally reached where men were actually sent to the Moon, the first missions were only flybys and practice missions to see if all that careful planning was really going to work. In the last mission to the Moon, before the landings began, Apollo 10 flew low over the Moon and the Command Module and the Lunar Excursion Module detached, and the LEM’s flight capabilities were evaluated. Then, the two vehicles were reattached, and returned to Earth. Imagine being so close to the surface of the Moon, flying in the equipment that you knew could do the job, and then just having to pack up and leave. Apollo 11 gets all the glory, but it was Apollo 1 thru 10 that proved the systems would work.

Obviously, we will not be able to perform such extensive tests before landing on Mars. The distance to Mars is simply too great. Which is why NASA has to bank everything on one all or nothing throw. And if NASA succeeds, and makes it all the way to Mars, then they have to land. (And take off again.) With only one shot, they have to send everything but the kitchen sink, and try to do as much science as possible in the time allotted. And that’s if nothing goes wrong. If problems arise, there is no backup. The astronauts will be totally on their own.

Which seems a bit risky, especially if NASA is using systems that are only being given their real world test for the first time when they land on Mars. That is some very high stakes poker, because if NASA casts the dice and loses, then and entire crew could die. At least when NASA was working in the space between the Earth and the Moon, if everything went south then they could always abort the mission and come home. But this is not the case with Mars. The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to a trip to Mars is this: once those intrepid astronauts leave Earth orbit and go to max burn to start their trip to the red planet, their chances of an emergency abort and early return start to diminish rapidly. Long before they reach Mars, long before they even reach the halfway point, they will have already gone far beyond the point of no return. So, if something goes wrong then (or later), too bad, because they’re in it for the duration.

This is why everything has to be perfect the first time. There is no room for mistakes. A trip to Mars that ended tragically would be disastrous to NASA. A major blow from which the program might not recover. This is why, if they do it, they have to succeed. Because, if they fail, they might not get another chance.

That’s why I’m pushing so hard for the return to the Moon first. We need the practice. And there are also some nearby asteroids we can investigate while we’re at it. The reason for this is that missions to any object beyond the Earth/Moon system will allow us to test our manned deep space capabilities, while missions to the Moon will help us test new ‘lander’ vehicles, and help refine the investigative tools and machines we’ll be using on Mars. And what we learn from those missions will help to shape not only the type of ship we build, but will also determine what we’re going to take along for the ride.

Look, I’m not saying to put the trip to Mars off, just to be ready when we go. While we’re exploring the Moon and the local asteroids, we can actually build a full sized, unmanned ship, and send it to Mars to see if the vehicle works as expected. (And we should do this before we send the first humans to Mars.) We can test the ship’s spaceworthiness, and even launch a lander from it. (AI will probably be of great assistance in this situation.) It is possible that NASA might even be able to guide the lander to a safe touchdown, have it scoop up a few samples, then takeoff again and return to the unmanned ship. And then bring it back to Earth, of course. At which point we know the systems work, and we can then move ahead with manned flights.

So, if NASA can do all that, then why send humans at all, you may ask? The answer is simple. At this moment in history human beings are still more intuitively aware of their surroundings than their AI counterparts (though it is doubtful that this will last for long). A machine turns to the direction it was programmed to turn, and takes the picture it was programmed to take. A human in a spacesuit would look around, glance down and see something interesting, and pick it up to examine it, and immediately recognize a fossil. The machine’s only hope is that the light was right and some scientist going over the photo minutely will discover said fossil. And the machine didn’t even know the fossil was there-it just took the picture it was programmed to take. (As previously noted, all this will change very soon. So, sentient readers of the future, no offense. This is just the way things are now. Remember, Sents are people, too!) Ultimately, the reason for manned flight is that some questions can only be answered by putting spacesuits on the ground.

As you can see, I support a manned flight to Mars for a multitude of reasons, only a few of which have been listed in this article. I just want to see it done the right way. In fact, my only complaint is, “Are we there, yet?”

Since We’re Going Anyway

So we’re off to Mars! Sounds great! Just one or two things before we leave, okay?

Physical fitness comes to mind. Because no matter how hard our astronauts exercise on the journey, we have already seen real world proof of the condition they will be in when they reach Mars. A NASA astronaut spent a year in space, roughly the amount of time it would take to travel from here to Mars, and when the Russian capsule landed and the hatch was opened, the astronaut had to be helped out of the capsule. This will not be an option on Mars.

Argue all you want about how Martian gravity is only one third our own and I’ll simply point out that the astronaut in question, one of the most highly trained and physically fit men in the world, couldn’t even lift himself up. If this were the Moon we were talking about, I might agree. With only one sixth of our gravity, astronauts might be able to function on the Moon after a year or more in zero G, although at first it will tax them a bit. But this is Mars, and everything has to work right the first time because there is no backup. Landing successfully on Mars, only to have the astronauts so weak that they’re unable move, is not a win/win scenario.

Maybe it’s time to try something else.

As I have noted before in these articles, and invention by a brilliant Japanese scientist may be of some assistance with our little problem.

A quick recap so we’re all on the same page. This scientist was aware that our skin goes through certain preparations in anticipation of our muscles moving. This is a purely autonomic response over which we have no conscious control. So, this truly brilliant may built a metal framework that could be clamped on to his subjects, all of whom were paraplegics. Running along the outside of the body from the shoulders to the feet, this framework was equipped with sensors that could feel and interpret those skin changes, and move the framework, just as the muscles would have moved. And, suddenly, the paraplegics could walk! Even more amazing, after a few weeks using the framework, they could take it off and still walk. Their movements were mechanical, even without the framework, but they were walking.

(I’m sure most of you already know where this is going.)

NASA should consider building such technology into our latest generation of spacesuits. But they need to build a comprehensive system that will allow for full body movement. Even (and most especially) the hands and fingers. I mean, even if all you have to do to open the airlock is press a button, if your finger is too weak to depress the button, then you’re back to square one. Our astronauts will need some sort of physical support like this if they plan to perform even the simplest tasks immediately after touchdown. Remember, they won’t have anyone there to help them out of the capsule. They will be totally on their own and the astronauts have to be able to do everything they’re supposed to do.

A spacesuit like the aforementioned might serve other functions, as well. Like creating a little negative feedback in the suits while in space. Negative feedback as in each time the astronaut moves in zero G, the framework offers some resistance. A small amount of negative feedback whenever the astronauts moved should create some additional tension on the muscles they are moving. While a poor substitute for gravity, this suit would allow the astronaut to ‘work out’ 24/7. Of course this function could easily be turned off for EVA’s and other such endeavors. The framework in this configuration would be a passive system that would assist in maintaining muscle tone, but it might get in the way of the more important jobs the astronauts will be required to perform in zero G. That’s why there would be three settings. Passive, Off, and Positive. One for zero G. One for doing the important stuff. And one that allows the astronauts to sit up, push buttons, turn knobs, and even go outside and take a walk.

As to those of you who are pointing to all those rotating cylinders, let me say this one more time. I for real know one of the folks at NASA that programmed the simulations. You can build a classic cylinder in space and start it rotating peacefully, and there will be gravity. And everything will be fine until anything that is inside the cylinder moves. Even barely moves. As soon as this happens, the cylinder begins to bob and sway, and within a few minutes the whole ship tears itself apart (Kubrick, and the rest of us, missed it on this one.) So, if NASA wants to put our astronauts into hibernation and load them onto a cylinder and then rotate it, and if nothing shifts or falls over during the entire flight, and NASA stops the rotation completely before awakening the astronauts, then it might work. But first, of course, we have to work out that hibernation thing.

(By the way, in case anyone is interested, I spent hours arguing about this nasty little fact myself. I tried proposing all sorts of scenarios and all sorts of ships that might help overcome this barrier. But there was simply no way to get around the laws of physics. Once you start moving around in an object that is being rotated to simulate gravity, your movement, no matter how slight, throws the whole system out of whack and the spaceship destroys itself. So even I was forced to face the facts on this issue. While the concept sounds great in theory, and all those ships with the rotating and counter-rotating stuff really do look neat in the flashy videos, sadly, the model just doesn’t play out in the real world. So we have to find another solution.)

According to current NASA planning, the astronaut’s bowel movements will be placed in plastic bags and then taped to the interior surfaces of the capsule as anti-radiation shielding. I’m sure the reaction you’re having right now was similar to the one I had when I first heard this tidbit of space news. Why NASA would want to be responsible for the first serial killer in space, I’m not really sure, but I do know the aforementioned is certainly a recipe for one. Either that or a mass suicide. I’m not joking. Despite efforts by NASA and the worldwide space community in general to go really low profile on this story, we know that one of the astronauts aboard the ISS apparently tried to tunnel out. As to why they did this and where they thought they were going to go, your guess is as good as mine. And that was after only a few months in space. A trip to Mars and back would take a minimum of a couple of years. And that’s a lot of time to work on a tunnel. There simply has to be a better way to deal with this waste than the one which NASA proposes. One possible option would be to include a series of compartments in the outer hull in which human (and any other) waste can be injected. Then it would be out of sight, out of mind, and still do its job. We already know the waste will attempt to clump together (as objects tend to do in zero G), and so we’ll have to account for that, among many other things, but at least this option presents a much more workable solution than the one NASA has in mind.

When it comes to the hard radiation that NASA is worried about, I still say we need to build a bunker in the interior of the ship, and then create a magnetic field around that bunker to help keep out the bad stuff. Up until this moment, that would have been an outrageous suggestion. The only reason that we can contemplate such an option now is because the ship that flies to Mars probably won’t be blasting off from a launch pad. At least, not all at once. The ship that goes to Mars will have to be built in stages in Earth orbit. And it will have to be tested there, also. NASA will eventually come to the realization that they’re going to need a spaceship for the voyage to Mars, since a capsule launched from Earth simply cannot contain enough fuel, supplies, air, or a lander, (and living room, for that matter) to be a viable candidate for the trip. They’ll have no choice but to build a workable spacecraft. (A reusable one if they have the slightest bit of sense. WAKEUP NASA!) And this is how and why we include an anti-radiation bunker on our ship. Sure it’s heavy, but we can ship it up in pieces if we have too and then assemble it in space, just like we did the ISS. That’s the same thing we’ll have to do with the rest of the ship, anyway, right? With all the new technology currently at our disposal, it seems mandatory that the astronauts have such a space, even if (worst case scenario) the effect was only psychological in nature (although with a heavy metal bunker to retreat to, odds are that you would have a better chance of surviving than you would in a feces lined command module. And you’d probably feel better about it, too.)

I’d say more (and usually do), but we’ll leave things here for now. As previously noted, since NASA is going (and I fully support that) then let’s go! Just make sure the astronauts pack right for the occasion.

Big is Small Again

One of my favorite snowballs I like to throw at the astrophysical community is that they have yet to come up with a sufficient way to express the unbelievably large numbers that are being used to express distance in astronomical terms. The everyday person on the street hears numbers like thirty-two to the twenty-eighth power and their eyes just kind of glaze over. That number is so large it’s hard for them to comprehend. So their mind slides right over it and back to more mundane thoughts. And the kids lose the game right at the beginning, before they get a chance to teach anything. Unfortunately, this state of affairs still exists, right up until this very day. So, I got tired of complaining, of waiting, and invented my own system.

In this system, there are three sets of values, and they use three different sets of measurement. They are, in ascending order, plans, stels, and ints. (Notice that each is pronounced in such a way that it would be difficult to confuse that word with one of the others.)

Plans are the easiest, so we’ll start with them first. All distances on planets or moons will be measured in kilometers, and generally all planetary measurements of any sort would be done using the metric system. While precise, and more than adequate to describe distances here on Earth, the metric system fails miserably when it attempts to depict the truly vast gulfs of space that surround us. The numbers are simply too large. But, here on Earth, and the Moon, and even Mars, or an asteroid, they should work just fine. So, we go with kilometers to measure distances on planets, moons, and asteroids.

Stels are almost as easy as Plans. Right now, our most basic measurement of large distances within our solar system is the A.U., or astronomical unit, which is roughly ninety-three or four million miles. This is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. Very nice, I guess-I like the concept-but that’s and arbitrary number. Instead, why not just round that number up to one hundred million. And then we can add four hundred million more to it. Enough to equal one stel. A stel is five hundred million miles (hey, is that Jupiter I see up ahead!). Two stels would be one thousand million miles. Ten stels is five thousand million miles. Easier to picture in your mind, easier to say, and easier to understand what you’re talking about. (Very large distances can be expressed with just a few stels.) And, when it comes to exploring our home system, where all nine planets are located, the part that I refer to as the Inner Solar System, keep in mind that region, as immense as it seems right now, is only a very small part of our entire solar system. In fact, the eight (or nine) planets are just the beginning. We need a way to express those stellar distances in a way people can comprehend as soon as they hear it.

Ints are another story, because the distances involved here are so great that astrophysics has trouble describing them. We need another type of yardstick for interstellar space. We have to start big. Some of the latest estimates as to the size of our solar system say that it extends outwards some two point three light years in every direction (like I said earlier, the Outer Solar System is really big). Now, we could go with this as our number, but once again it’s arbitrary and requires additional cogitation. So we’ll round that up to two point five light years. But we aren’t there yet. That is only one quarter of an Int. An int is ten light years. Which means ten ints is one hundred light years, and one hundred ints equals one thousand light years. The Centauri system, our closest neighbor, is less than half an int away. Here again, incredibly large numbers can be expressed without a need to go to the nth power, and these numbers can be understood, not by just a rarefied few, but by everyone. When it comes to measuring distance in interstellar terms, stating these larger numbers as ints simplifies things considerably.

To recap: The metric system for measurements on anything resembling hard ground. And miles for measuring distances within the confines of our (or any other) solar system. Light years for travel out into the stars. We need to establish these as the basic sets we use for all three venues. And once we adopt this set of measurements, we stick to it. Why? Well, then we won’t have probes plowing into planets and moons because somebody got feet and meters confused. (It has happened more than once.) So far these minor mistakes have cost a few countries some very expensive machines, but that’s all, and no one wants to see any further, more serious losses. That is why the scientific community needs to come to an agreement on this issue. So, feet and miles in space, and meters and kilometers once the vehicle touches down. This way, the next time a probe smashes into an object, we’ll all know it was on purpose.

If we adopt ints, stels, and plans, we can make the infinite abyss that surrounds us seem a little less distant, and maybe even more familiar and comfortable, as well. So that when scientists start to discuss those mind numbing gulfs of interstellar space, then everyone will comprehend what they are saying. Since, the Arabic numeral system has run into the same dead end that the Roman numeral system stumbled into: the numbers we deal with now are too large for the Arabic numeral system to express, it is imperative that we find a way to foreshorten the numbers we are now encountering. While ints, stels, and plans don’t pretend to be the answer to this dilemma, they do offer a partial solution, a way to help the system limp a little farther. A way maybe, to keep those really big numbers just small enough so that everyone will be in the conversation.

Kid’s Stuff

Many people around the world have seen the toddler’s ring toy. A simple device, it consists of a conical set of rings that fit around a post. The rings, in descending order, are colored red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. The red ring is the smallest in circumference, and each ring gets progressively larger as they descend, so as to form a multicolored cone. Babies, and toddlers up to two or three years old, can play with this toy for hours, and often do. But maybe this kid’s toy can be of some use to us, too.

To start with, take the post and base thingie and toss it. We won’t be needing it.

Now, take the red ring and lay it flat on the table. Take the orange ring, the next largest one in the series, and hollow it out until it fits neatly around the red ring. This is not as easy as it sounds because you have to be sure that the tube that forms the orange ring is exactly the same size as the one that forms the red ring. The orange ring will simply be longer than the red ring because it has further to go to make a full circle. Once we’ve done this with the red and orange rings, we’ll do the same with the yellow, green, and blue rings. (If you’re still not sure how this works take a garden hose, cut off both ends, take a length of hose, make circle with it, cut it off and glue it together, paint it red, and you have the first ring. Wrap another length of garden hose around the red ring, cut it off, glue the ends together, and paint it orange. And so on. Note that the size of the hose never changes, just its length.)

Wow, pretty! Look at all the colors, right? But our re-imagined toy is more than just eye-catching, it serves a double purpose, because what we also have built is a model of our own primordial solar system. The very center of the hole in the middle of the red ring is the location of the Sun. The red ring represents the ring in which Mercury formed. We can see why Mercury is so small, since it only had so much material to work with. The orange ring is where Venus formed. Which makes sense, because Venus is a much larger world Mercury. More gas and dust, equals bigger planet. The third ring, the yellow one, that’s us! So, we get a planet slightly larger than Venus, plus a Moon. Everything according to schedule, so far.

And then we get to Mars, and the whole analogy comes crashing down. And it can’t, since our latest images show early solar systems where a star is blazing (the kids get that one) and there are distinct rings around the star (I get that one), each one bulging with dust and gas, just enough to build ONE planet in each ring (as I first proposed in 2010-no inner system bowling alley). Each circumference of each ring, the tube of dust and gases, is the same size as the ring inside of it, in so much as the clouds of gas and dust have the same width and depth, but each successive ring needs to be progressively longer to fully encompass the ring inside of it. This is where all the extra material comes from and why planets grow progressively larger the further away from the Sun that they form. By all rights there should be a much larger planet, with one or more moons, in the ring Mars occupies. And there isn’t. Also, there should be an even larger planet, and moons, in what we now call the asteroid belt, and there isn’t one there, either. Something is wrong. Two of our planets are missing.

Trust me on this one, folks, or look at the model we’ve just built and trust your own eyes. There should be two progressively larger planets, each with one or more moons, occupying the fourth and fifth rings, where Mars and the Asteroid Belt are located, but they aren’t there. Where are they?

The truth is, I don’t know. And that scares the hell out of me.

Either they got completely knocked out of the solar system for some unknown reason, or they were pushed onto some really long orbits that may bring them sunward only once every few hundred million years. (Which reminds me of all those references to an additional planet or planets in ancient writings. As modern scientists are finding out, our ancestors weren’t idiots but were actually very keen observers when it came to astronomical events. If they say they saw something in the heavens, they probably did.) If that’s true, consider the consequences. An unexpected visit from a planet a third larger than the Earth could play havoc with the inner solar system.

Right now some of you are pointing to Mars, and saying there is a planet in that orbit. To which I say, well-yes and no. Mars can in no way begin to account for all the gas and dust that was originally found in the ring it now occupies. It is, after all, only one third the size of the Earth. Which doesn’t add up. Mars should be much bigger. Much bigger. The reason I say we have two planets missing is that I think Mars got promoted. Whatever event or series of events that removed planets four and five from the inner solar system left the fourth planet’s moon behind. A moon we now call the planet Mars.

And if anything like the moon to planet ratio we have in the Earth/Moon system was in force there, then that means Mars would have been roughly one tenth the size of its parent planet. If Mars is one third the size of Earth, then its parent world, planet four, would have been much larger than our own. Exactly like the colored rings demonstrate it should be.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, planet five was even bigger, and had moons, too. (Cere and Vespa are the mostly likely candidates in this category.) Even so, with the amount of material left over in what we call the asteroid belt, planet five, while larger than the Earth, had not completed the building process. Which makes sense because, according to astro-geologists, Mars formed very early in the process. That means that its parent planet had already formed, too, but also allows for planet five to still be accumulating mass at the same time. The picture I saw showed a couple of empty rings in the midst of those billowing ‘ring’ clouds of dust and gas. Planets had already formed, leaving these gaps, indicating that planets form at different rates in a developing solar system and not all at once, as was previously assumed and has been modelled often in visual representations. (Score another one for yours truly. Astrophysicists acknowledged this year that Jupiter was probably the first planet to form in our solar system, something I was writing, and providing an intellectual model for, in 2010. Like I said from the beginning, read it here first.)

So where could these two planets have gone, and why? Models made by expectant astrophysicists show that two masses of that size colliding would have lost a certain amount of material, and then they would have proceeded to make a new, larger planet that was a conglomeration of the two previous worlds. The resulting mega-planet (by their models) would have had one or more moons. But that is not what we see. There is no evidence for anything like that scenario. No massive planet with accompanying moons. No evidence of where all that extra material may have gone. Even the ‘great bombardment’ scenario stuff, the Hadean Period, can’t begin to account for that much mass, some of which still would be roaming around the inner solar system. Yet, we don’t see anything remotely resembling that state of affairs. Which means that planets four and five must have simply left. As impossible as it sounds, at some stage early in the development of our solar system, both planets somehow managed to exit the inner solar system, possibly (and hopefully) never to return. And that brings us back to the original question-where did they go, and why?

I wish I had the answer for this one, but it’s a total mystery to me, too. I’ve gone through models in my head, accounting for the fact that the Earth/Moon system and Venus are still forming, Mars and its parent planet are formed, planet five is almost full grown, and Jupiter is fully formed and is building or has built moons, plus, of course, the big ball of gas at the center of our solar system that is responsible for it all. I even went so far as to include Saturn and the outer planets, and whatever errant comet, asteroid, or planetoid might have shown up, and I still can’t find the answer. At the moment, I’m unable to construct a model that would just scoop two planets up and throw them out of our solar system (without wreaking havoc on the rest of the solar system). In fact, the only thing I can tell you with any certainty is that planets four and five were there, and now they aren’t. And somehow we got Mars in the bargain.

The Big Splash

I shudder at the thought of what I’m about to tell you. I suspect the temperature in Hades just took a precipitous drop. That said…

A new theory states that Mars may have been struck by a large object, and evidence has been provided to demonstrate that such a strike did occur. Current estimates place that strike in the Borealis basin. Funny thing is, they’re kind of right this time, and they’re still wrong.

If you look at their model, the first thing you see is a huge, well defined crater near the pole, and the splash pattern radiating out from it equally in all directions. But this crater is not located in the Borealis region, but is now one of the poles of Mars. Since this crater is at the center of the splash pattern, this is where the strike happened. Which means a strike really did occur, just not where they thought it did. (I know, I can’t believe I’m writing this, either.) This massive object that struck Mars near the pole really did do what their models suggested. And didn’t. It hurled into the planet with such force it may have penetrated all the way to the core. Yet there is no evidence that Mars incorporated that world into its mass, and Mars does not have a moon large enough to accommodate all that additional mass. So there models are wrong. Still, when this collision took place, what a sight that must have been.

The object, possibly a companion moon or perhaps a planetoid that was just passing through, struck with such force that a portion of that hemisphere around the pole was compressed down and inward. As this was happening, the Martian equator, with all that weight pressing down on it, bulged outward. Mars, unlike the Earth, didn’t have a moon large enough to create tides, so whatever wave action may have occurred on Mars, was driven by wind and weather. Which means that the Martian crust was much thicker than the Earth’s and therefore not as flexible. When the equator bulged outwards from the strike, a massive lateral seam in the crust, running from east to west, was ripped open. We know this feature today as the Valles Marineris. (Always knew it was a geological feature, and not something created by wind and rain.)

Whatever more complex lifeforms which may have existed on Mars were probably wiped out, since such a catastrophe definitely qualifies as an extinction level event. And yet we keep getting methane readings from Mars, which is important to scientists because on Earth methane exists primarily as a waste gas emitted by decaying flora and both living and decaying fauna. And yet, after the magnitude event that was just described, that still doesn’t sound very promising, and NASA goes to great pains to point out that there may be other sources for the amount of methane the planet is producing. Which seems right, because, after that kind of strike, if any life is left on or near the surface of Mars, it would most likely be single celled organisms. (Which can, by the way, emit their fair share of methane gases.) And that is where things have stood, until now.

Since this strike did occur, it presents a tantalizing possibility. While Mars had no raft of crustal plates, (then, or now) it may have still had oceans, or seas. The topography that wasn’t covered by the big splash seems to show continents and seas, even rivers and lakes, a world somewhat like our own. But, without crustal plates, voluminous amounts of Martian seawater could not have been trapped deep below the surface, as so often happens on Earth in subduction zones. However, with a strike of this magnitude, it is possible that during all the flexing that was going on (enough to create the Valles Marineris) that some of this water may have been sub-ducted during the event; taking whatever surviving oceanic lifeforms that may have been present there with it. Which means that some of the more complex Martian lifeforms may still exist far beneath the surface, in near or total darkness, drawing both warmth and sustenance from the core of the planet. So, while we may not find little green men on Mars, we may find some little green fish.

As hard as it is for me to admit, the kids are (partially) right on this one. Mars was struck by another object that may have been at least a tenth the size of the planet. (I know, my fingers are bursting into flame as I type this.) The evidence is pretty solid on this one, and it does finally give me a chance to provide you with a rational explanation for the formation of the Valles Marineris, and one that actually fits the facts. (I’ve been working on models to explain its formation for some time now, but hadn’t yet published. Guess I can throw all that stuff away.) However, one thing to take note of is that despite their models, the object that struck Mars did not knock stuff off destroy one entire portion of the planet. Instead, it splashed out over the planet like a bucket of water being thrown at something. So much for that model. The only support to that model is the presence of the two Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, one or both of which could have been spawned by this event.

This also goes a long way in explaining why we keep losing probes between here and the red planet.

You can chalk up a certain number of those incidents to programming errors, undetected faults in the equipment, and even intervention by foreign powers, and there are still a lot of missing Mars bound probes to account for. Maybe there is still a cloud of material thrown up from this strike that travels with the planet, either in front and/or behind Mars, or perhaps even surrounds the planet at some distance. If the material is small enough, or dark enough, it might be difficult to detect, except for the old fashion way.

There’s still one thing that’s bothering me. I can model that strike coming in from the side, but I have a really hard time modelling it coming in from directly overhead. While such an angle is not impossible, it is very improbable. Instead, it seems that Mars was struck in either its eastern or western hemisphere, and the hit was so hard that it knocked that hemisphere upright and reoriented the planets spin. This would help to explain the planets extreme wobbles, and why the magnetic poles seem to have shifted to so many different points on Mars. Which shouldn’t have happened. Magnetic reversals yes, but the poles shifting to other points on the planet? No. Remember, Mars has no moon one tenth the size of the planet to control the Martian tides, and without tides to create constantly changing pressure on the surface, no shifting continental plates. And that should mean no shifting magnetic poles. The location of the poles should have pretty much always remained the same, but they haven’t.

Finally, we must ask ourselves, did this strike occur in association with the disappearance of planets four and five? I suspect the answer is yes. The Martian ELE probably took place either during, or shortly after, these two planets exited the scene. Either way it was probably a direct consequence of this event.

Go Fever

In the early days of the space race, there was a phenomenon known as ‘Go fever.’ Everybody at NASA was working so hard then, putting in sixteen to seventeen hours a day, often for six or seven days a week, and nothing was going to slow them down. Like the famed military “maximum effort” NASA personnel and other private firms associated with the program gave it their all. But, this mindset could also lead to impatience, a desire to make it happen already, a ‘we have to go’ type of attitude. And this opened the door to error. The Challenger accident is probably one of the best examples of this attitude being carried to the extreme.

But it wasn’t just NASA itself, it was the astronauts. During Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo, the rocket would be hauled out to the pad, fueled, the astronauts loaded on board, the countdown begun, and then there would be a hold. Some gauge would be giving an incorrect reading, and nobody was sure if it was a real problem or just a faulty gauge. Hours would be spent tracking down the problem, fixing it, and then the countdown would begin again. And would just as likely be stopped again for another problem. The astronauts would sit on the pad all this time and, after all the months of training and prep, they’d start to become restless. They knew if they didn’t go soon, NASA would scrub the launch and then they’d have to wait until another day, and still face similar delays. It was not surprising that the astronauts would occasionally shout things like “let’s light this candle!” or “c’mon guys, let’s go!”

And now, NASA has go fever again. I just hope this time it’s not too late.

A visitor passed by our Sun only a short time ago. Called O’muamua, this asteroid, comet, or whatever the current explanation is for the object, zoomed in from behind the Sun, did a neat speed increasing slingshot move, then raced out past us headed into the outer solar system. It got a boost to its speed as it looped around the Sun, the same way we do with our probes (except we loop probes around planets and moons). This is a maneuver that takes a certain amount of planning and calculation to work right. Most objects either plunge into the Sun, or end up in orbit somewhere around it. But this was different. An object from interstellar space sailed into our solar system, did a slingshot move that boosted its speed considerably, then flew past us and back out towards interstellar space. The object’s behavior caused a prominent astronomer to speculate that O’muamua might be intelligently controlled, that it could even possibly be either a ship, or a probe. Eventually, after taking some spectroscopic readings on the object, scientists determined that it must be a really weirdly shaped comet, and there was nothing about it that indicated signs of intelligence.

You won’t be surprised to see that I disagree with that statement.

Let’s go over the facts.

The object approached from interstellar space, executed a perfect slingshot move around the Sun, and then flew past us, and is currently heading back into interstellar space. And it was already going faster than any natural object we know of when it entered the solar system. And with the boost it got from the loop around the Sun, the object is now flying faster than any man-made probes we have thus far created. To me, at least, that denotes some level of intelligence behind this object. The loop was just a little bit too perfect, the speed a little bit too amazing. Astrophysicists have tried to come up with scenarios that will explain why the object was travelling at such an incredible rate, but they’re just shooting in the dark, and they know it.

For roughly one hundred years now, we have been pumping ever stronger radio (and later television) signals into the cosmos. Without fear, I might add, since we are so certain that we are alone. Blithely, we have announced our presence to the universe. Even if whomever, or whatever, is out there doesn’t use radio (which would be a time consuming process since, with good old fashioned radio) other intelligences still would probably notice that our solar system is pumping out more energy than it should be. And they would probably know what that means.

So, what do you do, when you’re sure a new race has arisen on some previously inactive system? You don’t come and land on the Whitehouse lawn, because you’re not sure about what kind of welcome you’re going to receive. (If they’ve seen any of our video, they probably consider us a very violent race that acts on impulse, and that makes us potentially dangerous.) The best thing to do in this situation is to send in a probe disguised as a natural object. That way it can get in close, do a quick survey, and slide right out again. It also allows our curious neighbors to assess out space capabilities. We did not send a probe or ship out to investigate O’muamua, which shows that we aren’t very far along on the space thing. That is something we didn’t want any outside agencies to know.

Don’t get me wrong. I acknowledge that the passage of this object may have just been an amazing, once in a million coincidence. In a universe this big anything is possible. Plus, there is another, non-hostile, alternative to consider. O’muamua could also have been an otherworldly version of some space delivery system. If your life span is over a million years, sending a special delivery to another solar system this way might just be some alien’s version of snail mail. The best way to determine this is to calculate O’muamua’s trajectory, and then, by extrapolating its new course, see if it is going to intercept any nearby stars in the next ten thousand to one hundred thousand, or even the next few million years. If that is the case, then we can breathe a sigh of relief, because the fact that it passed by here first would just be a coincidence. Our star was simply the most conveniently positioned to loop O’muamua in the right direction, and give it a speed boost.

Go fever got us to the moon, but then after that, we didn’t go anywhere else except for low Earth orbit. There were plans to build a space station, and the shuttle was designed for that purpose. Yet it took thirty years before work began on the ISS. We were going to build colonies on the Moon, and then we were going to Mars. None of that happened. Instead, the people were told that too much was being spent on space, and that we should be feeding the poor. That was in the seventies. In the eighties there were more homeless people on the streets than during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, and military spending skyrocketed. So, I guess we found out who the poor really were.

If we had followed the original formula as outlined by NASA in the sixties, we would have had a probe, or ship (something) which could have intercepted that object. Probe, spaceship, or interstellar comet, at least then we would have known what O’muamua really was. Imagine what it would be like to collect material from an object from another solar system, an object that has passed through interstellar space. How much could we have learned?

O’muamua is racing towards the depths of the outer solar system right now. And from there on out into the great dark seas of interstellar space. It is a mystery to us, and will forever remain one. If this was a test of our capabilities, we failed miserably, and now our potential opponents know that while we make a lot of noise, we’re not so far along in our space program. And that was something we didn’t want them to know. So every human being on this planet hopes that O’muamua was/is exactly what the astrophysicists thought. Otherwise…

Well, that’s it for this issue. There should be another issue out this year in early Fall 2019, which will focus on exploration and exploitation of the Asteroid Belt, as well as the potential for conflict in space; who will be doing the fighting, and how, since conventional weapons won’t work there. I’ve even come up with a new method to deliver material from orbit to Earth without losing any mass along the way!

Until then!

 

Previous Issue

Welcome to the autumn 2018 Issue of Scifihorizons! There are a wide array of articles and topics to peruse in this issue, and lots of new ideas to consider! Enjoy!

 

(My apologies to those of you playing along on the home game. There has been an unavoidable delay between the previous issue and the current one. During these past few years, I’ve first cared for, then watched helplessly, as both of my parents died. It wasn’t easy, but I made it though. And then, just five weeks after I buried my mother…well-read on.)

 

 

 

Good News and Bad News

 

Okay, I have good news and bad news. I’m going to tell you the bad news first. And here it is.

In late September of 2017, Charlie Callahan, Scifi Horizons web tech and erstwhile host of his own site, Web Monkees, suffered a brain hemorrhage. I was the person who found him and made sure he got to the hospital, and during the first sixty days I visited and talked with him on all but three days while he languished in a coma. I’d just go and sit and talk to him, and even though he was in a coma, he’d open his left eye and watch me intently as I spoke. It’s always been hard for me to stand still, so I tend to pace a bit, but no matter where my wandering feet led me, that left eye followed. He may have been in a coma, but deep inside he was still semi-aware.

For the next seven weeks Charlie was lost to the world. His body was wracked and contorted daily by brain spasms. Multiple operations were performed on his skull to relieve the pressure and to try and seal the aneurism. For a few weeks the doctors even had Charlie on life support. He lost so much weight that he seemed to be only skin and bones. (Charlie is over six feet tall and originally weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds, so he was already thin. It wasn’t like he had a lot to lose in the first place.)

Roughly eighty percent of those who suffer a brain hemorrhage die. Charlie, did not. He survived! In fact he is doing quite well. His mentality, as well as his familiar personality, seem to be intact. He has a few holes in his memory, and sometimes he has to concentrate to read something, but otherwise he’s doing great! As for the memory thing, well, some of that he simply may not get back (which is common in situations like this), but he continues to progress with his reading skills, and the doctors are predicting a ninety-five to one hundred percent recovery for him within a year. In fact, they say he should be able to start living an independent, or semi-independent, lifestyle in pretty much the same time frame.

So, not only did Charlie survive, he’s going to get his life back!

Charlie is currently recovering in a senior citizens residence, because that is one of the only places in this region that someone can get professional twenty-four hour a day care. Since he’s not even fifty yet, he feels somewhat out of place, but the older folks are actually very nice to him and that makes all the days and weeks and months he’s spent there bearable. He’s already looking forward to getting back out on his own, of course, but, as he has said to me on more than one occasion, he knows he’s playing the long game (his words) and that if he wants to get his life back then he has to have patience. And that is exactly what Charlie is doing.

Charlie Callahan is a good man. He didn’t deserve what happened to him (most people don’t). In spite of everything he’s been through, he has refused to surrender to this unexpected mountain that life has dropped on him. He hasn’t given up on the world, and allowed himself to sink into the cloying depths of self-pity and despair. Instead he chose to be a man. To survive! To win!

The rest of us should be so strong.

 

 

The Disappearing Island of Titan

 

As usual, it falls upon me to point out the patently obvious when the kids miss it, and so here we go again.

Recently I saw a piece about an island on one of the seas of Titan that routinely appeared and then disappeared from a series of photographs taken over an unspecified amount of time. The reason for this was so readily apparent that I was surprised that the issue was even being discussed. And yet it was, and the viewer was even being told that it was a mystery to science.

Various theories were put forth, including that it could be a thin methane ice sheet floating on the surface of a frozen methane sea, but no real conclusions were drawn. And since, according to radar soundings, the depth of the sea was quite shallow, what could the answer be? How could the island be there on one pass, and then vanish completely in the weeks or months between the next flyover? It seemed impossible.

And, it would be, of course, unless the scientists used their eyes.

If you look at the pictures the probe has taken, and ignore the island, paying attention to the shore line instead, then answer is as plain as day. When there is no island, the shore line is very narrow, but, when the island is visible, so are additional features along the coast line, and there are two to three times as many features (and coast line) visible as there are when there is no island. The fact that more land is visible when you can see the island can mean only one thing: the level of this particular sea on the moon Titan is rising and falling. The most likely culprit for this anomaly is weather and the seasons. (Yes, even a moon orbiting Saturn can have seasons.) Apparently, on Titan, this must be the subzero “rainy” season. The photographs indicate that the icy methane sea rises, the excess liquid ice evaporates or is drained away, and then the next flood comes and the entire process repeats itself. (Kind of like a very wet summer in the temperate latitudes of our own world.) And since Titan is so far away from the sun, this “endless summer” that the frigid moon is currently experiencing may continue for years or even decades. Lots to be learned here, and possibly quite a bit of time to study it. (Unless, of course, massive Saturn is the main influence on Titan’s seasons, and, therefore, the moon’s weather. The constant push and pull of Saturn’s gravity could just as easily be to blame for what we see. If that is true, then you wouldn’t have seasons so much as a constant heating and then cooling of the moon, creating alternating warming and freezing spells. Which would not really be seasons, per say, just very short summerlike and winterlike spells, with nothing in between.)

Your radar readings are wrong, kids. The levels of that distant, frozen sea are clearly rising and falling, and most of you who have dedicated yourselves to a lifetime of study in this field know the implications of this even better than I do. The real mystery isn’t why the island keeps vanishing and reappearing. The real mystery is how the level of a partially frozen, liquid methane sea can change so dramatically in what is (geologically speaking) a relatively short amount of time? That deceptively simple (but undeniable) fact is what seems impossible. And yet this phenomenon is something that is both very real, and very mysterious.

(The other explanation is that it’s getting super cold and the semi frozen liquid methane is solidifying and appearing to create additional shore line where before there was only sea. The sea is still there, it’s just solidified.)

When all things are considered, there are some very interesting possibilities that present themselves to us, and it is hoped that further research into this anomaly will be done-it needs to be.

 

 

Interstellar Spermia

 

For this next article, we must once more assault the foundations of Man, glorious Man, brightest and most wise of all of God’s creations-the blindingly brilliant center of the Universe. As we all know, Man and Man alone is the reason for all that was, is, or ever will be, so therefore, Life must have begun here, and nowhere else. Leaving us only with the tantalizing question of how it all got started. A riddle to be solved in due time by none other than Man, glorious Man, himself.

Yeah, right.

Let’s talk about the realities of the situation, rather than whimsical fancy.

According to the most reliable estimates, our Universe is some thirteen plus billion years old. These same sources tell us that there have been three major stages of star formation in our galaxy, and that our own solar system is part of that third wave. First there were the short-lived blue supergiant suns, which self-destructed and left behind the material to build the second wave of stars (many of which are still in existence), and then there was the third wave which formed from stars in the second wave that lived their long lives, then blew up and provided yet another fresh set of more complex elements-which is where we come in.

And it was only then, in this third wave, some thirteen billion years after the Universe was formed, that life finally took hold. (No matter what your scientific beliefs may be, when you read that preceding sentence, you can’t help but realize just how ridiculous that sounds. So, it really took that much time for the first life to form? Seriously? And lucky us, it just happened to be here, of all places?)

The truth of the matter is that the first life probably formed over ten billion years ago. And that seeds of that life (small, single celled lifeforms) survived the destruction of those earliest stars, and were part of the matrix of the nebulae that formed the second wave of stars. Flung by meteors and comets on to the surfaces of countless worlds, or transported on the motes of dust that made up the foundations of those selfsame worlds, these single celled lifeforms prospered and multiplied in nurturing primordial environments where chemical and mineral sources of food were abundant, and there was no active competition for resources, or predatory factors. Under such circumstances these lifeforms would have flourished, and have given birth (through competition) to newer, more complex variations. And the cycle of life would have repeated itself-but not exactly the way it would have the first time around. With new environments come new challenges, and so the lifeforms created in the second wave might have been radically different from their first wave ancestors. The only thing that would not have been changed is the base of their genetic code.

And then there is the third wave. Then, there is us.

(Most of you can already see where this is going. Now it’s time to break the biologists’ hearts.)

In an earlier article, I posited that life may have formed in the globe of dust that became our solar system. Which would mean that said life would have been more or less evenly distributed throughout the entire solar system, and not just here on earth.

However, if this new hypothesis is correct, then single celled life would have already existed in the nebula from which our solar system, as well as many others, was formed. Which means that life similar to our own, though different (remember: new environments require new adaptations), may exist not just throughout our own solar system, but on many of the planets and moons that orbit the stars around us as well. (At least those nearby stars that formed in our original local group and stayed close instead of wandering off.)

The basic determining factor in all of this will be the infamous genetic code. If we find other life in this solar system, especially far out in the solar system, and it has anything even resembling our genetic code, then we are related. (The assumption that all life must be based on a genetic code like ours is yet another conceit of Man. The truth is that once we step onto the surface of another world, all bets are off. We cannot make assumptions about that world based solely on knowledge of this world. Different environments, right?)

The bottom line is this. There may be no magical moment when the amino acids combined to form the first life here on Earth. However (and wherever) that may have occurred, it happened long ago and far away, and it is probably not possible for us to reason out the origin of life without the proper context. (In other words, we’d have to go to the place, or places, where life originally began some ten billion years ago, see the circumstances, and then deduce how everything got started.) No, in this scenario, life doesn’t form here, it just kind of drops in and makes itself at home. As it must have done all over this and many other solar systems that formed alongside of us in that same primordial nebula. (And aren’t we glad it did!)

Soon we should have more concrete evidence. Although there may be some (valid) arguments about trans-spermia between the Earth and Mars, if we discover life similar to our own in the regions that lay beyond the asteroid belt, then, we will know. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find some form of life on every planet and/or one or more of its moons, in this solar system.

The funny thing about this theory is, the chances of me being correct are a lot better than those of the biologists who are currently looking for the moment in which life spontaneously combusted. If I’m right, then the first single celled lifeforms were thriving long before our solar system came into existence. And those early lifeforms, no matter what shape they took, vegetable, animal, or Cthulhu, were our direct ancestors.

(Wow, another hairline crack in the pedestal. Maybe, if we keep working at it, we can actually bring Man, glorious Man, down to earth.)

 

 

A Wheel in the Sky

 

As you’ve probably already guessed, this article is about the Norway thing. By this time I’ve seen far too many films from far too many different angles to think this is a hoax, so I’m going to take a shot at explaining what was seen. Unfortunately, I can’t fully explain what happened, I can only show you the elements involved and give you a basic idea of what was going on. I don’t like to run any article until I’m satisfied I can give you a full explanation, but even I can’t see precisely how the whole thing works. I can, however, show you what caused that rotating spiral of light in a darkened sky.

The whole episode begins with the launch of the Russian rocket, whose smoke trail can be seen in the background of most of the videos that were taken “head on” to the event. According to numerous reports the rocket lifted off and then, at some point, suffered a loss of positive guidance. When it did the vehicle shifted from a semi vertical to a more horizontal trajectory. Once they realized that positive control was lost and that the rocket was beyond recovery, the Russians pressed the self-destruct button and that was that. Stuff happens, right? (Especially in the space game.)

That is the first element. That semi horizontal, spiraling cloud of smoke, full of not only particles of fuel, but also ice crystals that were unfrozen by the exhaust of the rocket, and then immediately refrozen in the subzero high altitude air after the rocket’s passage. And, lest we forget, there is the point in the air where the rocket exploded, and filled that portion of the sky at the forefront of the spiral exhaust cloud with droplets of unused fuel, and myriads of those aforementioned refrozen ice crystals.

(Some of the kids just figured one this out-good for them! For the rest of us…)

Now we need to introduce the second element. This is the unseen element-the one that is hiding far below the horizon, and whose efforts, while undoubtedly central to that fantastic light show, have so far gone unacknowledged. That second element would be, of course, the Sun.

And lastly we have the third and most innocuous element of all. The one right beneath our feet. Home sweet home, the Earth.

All of the elements have been introduced, so it’s time to solve the mystery.

The Earth is rotating, which means that far below the horizon, the Sun is rising. It is still so far below the horizon in Norway that the sky is pitch black, but that is not so for that horizontal, spiral section of rocket exhaust, floating high above the earth. The first glint of sunlight is just coming over the curve of the Earth from the perspective of the cloud, and it looks a bit like first contact when the Sun is coming out of an eclipse. The angle of the cloud is such that the Sun is not shining directly into the spiral, but rather sunlight is entering more from the side, like a reflection.

To explain what happens next, I need to refer to an experience which is common to all astronomers, amateur or professional, who have used a spotting scope to line their telescope up on an object. If you have a certain amount of experience (and luck) you’ll look down into the eyepiece and there the planet or star you’re looking for will be. And sometimes, not. But, if you have gotten the scope in close enough to the object, and if the object is bright enough, you’ll see a flare of light coming from the side, which is a reflection of the object which is currently just outside of your field of view. Those of you who are familiar with this experience will understand what comes next.

You see, what I just described to you is basically the process which created the rotating spiral. The difference is, that instead of the spiral cloud becoming the world’s largest natural telescope, the spiral cloud actually behaved more like an old fashioned film projector.

Somehow or other (I told you, this is the part that bugs me because I can’t fully explain it) the droplets of fuel and the ice crystals in the cloud refracted the light of first contact down the entire length of the westernmost portions of it and then, perhaps using the point in the sky where the rocket exploded as the lens (filled as it was with all those concentrated droplets of fuel and ice crystals) projected the image of that first contact into the frozen skies over Norway, where the image was resolved at what had to be, for want of a better word, the primary focal point of the spiral cloud.

Here is where things get really fuzzy.

As the Sun rose, more of the ice crystals and droplets of fuel in the cloud refracted the light down the spiral cloud and resolved it many miles away. Since the Earth is rotating, the angle of the Sun was constantly changing in relation to the end of the spiral cloud through which light was entering. (I believe this is why the image rotates.) That meant that more and more light was being refracted down that spiral path as the Sun “rose,” and since the Earth is moving, as the Sun passed by (let’s say just beneath for wont of a better word), the spiral grew brighter and larger, and then, grew steadily smaller as it passed out of position. When it passed beyond the edge of the easternmost “open end” of the spiral cloud, and was no longer being refracted down the length of it, the image abruptly vanished. Imagine an eclipse of the Moon in reverse. When the Sun was exposed to the eastern horizontal end of the spiral cloud, it passed just beneath it like the Moon passing in front of the Sun. Except, instead of growing darker, like in an eclipse, the image grew brighter and the slowly rotating arm spiraled outward. The arm would reach its maximum extension, as it does in the videos, when the reflected sunlight was passing directly beneath the end of the spiral cloud. The, the trailing, spiral arm (which is an extended reflection of the Sun) would start to shrink back in upon itself again. When the angle changed significantly enough, so that the reflection of the sun was no longer being projected down the length of the spiral cloud at all, the central point of light seemed to just wink out. Oddly enough, the way that the central point of light “snapped off” looked just like what you see when you turn off one of those old timey film projectors.

While this may not be to the letter what transpired that night, it is a close approximation. Time out the rotation of the Earth and compare it to the rotation of the spiral, and I think you’ll find they’re the same.

This is a natural phenomenon, with a one in a billion chance of occurring, and we were just lucky enough not only to see it, but to get the image on video. Nothing supernatural to see here, folks. The majestic, slowly rotating spiral of light is indeed quite beautiful, and serene, sublime, maybe even a little bit scary, but it is still merely a distorted reflection of the rising Sun.

 

 

Another Wheel in the Sky

 

So, since we now know how the Norway thingie occurred, let’s take a step back. Waaaay back. Maybe five to seven thousand years ago, to be slightly more precise. (Some Archaeologists are doing backflips right now.)

Why did I immediately label the radiant spiral a hoax? Because, I had seen it before-knew it all too well, in fact. You see, I’d been puzzling over it for most of my life.

When I was very young I set out to learn everything I could about everything. There was no subject too mundane or too esoteric for my interests, and I devoured and digested every piece of information that was available. Archaeology was just one of the myriad of subjects I was pursuing, but I found enough in that field to have maintained a lifelong interest in the subject. During some of my earliest forays into paleo-archaeology I became fascinated by a strange symbol carved upon every available space on the walls of certain Neolithic tombs. A spiral consisting of two lines winding inward towards the center and curving around, but never touching, each other. Never meeting. For decades I have puzzled over the meaning of this symbol. Life to death, perhaps? Are these people expressing a belief in a translation from one state to another, a moment of crossing over? After all, the tombs in which these symbols appear are built as one long hallway (sometimes with small side corridors), and a stone wall at the end of the long hallway, which is also covered in the same broad, spiraling symbols. In these tombs, on the morning of the Winter Solstice, a shaft of light from the rising Sun shines all the way down the hall and illuminates the back wall of the tomb. Those supposedly simple Neolithic folks had a lot of symbolism going on here, right? (As well as some exceptional engineering skills, and a very precise knowledge of the movements of the Sun and the Moon.) Over the years, I’ve often wondered what that tantalizing symbol might mean.

And then I saw the wheel in the sky and-once I realized that the image was quite real-at that point I finally understood.

Sometime between five to seven thousand years ago, ancestors of some modern day Europeans were sleeping in their (partially underground) huts made of thatch and stone, when suddenly, the sky above grew very bright. So bright that the light shone right through the thatched roofs, and the animals, both domesticated and wild, started to freak. There was a flash of light, brighter than anything the people of that period had ever seen, and for once a truly earsplitting thunderclap, then, after that, nothing, except for the frightened cries of the animals. Those Neolithic peoples must have rushed outside and come face to face with their neighbors, (who either lived adjacent to them, or only a few meters away) and stared at one another in fear and bewilderment. After a moment or two, when nothing else momentous occurred, they probably start talking and laughing, speculating about what had just happened, while inwardly wondering if it was close enough to dawn to go ahead and get up, or, since it was so cold, maybe just go back inside and get some more sleep. And, just when things seemed to be back to normal, suddenly, someone cried out and pointed towards the eastern night sky.

It began as a point of golden light, high up in the air, which grew steadily brighter. And as the point of light brighten it spawned a curved, trailing arm of that spiraled outward into the black sky. The radiant spiral grew to an enormous size, and as it did it turned-slowly, gracefully, hypnotically. After a few minutes of this, the whirling wheel of light began to grow smaller, and the spiral tail grew shorter, until eventually there was only a golden point of light left. At the last instant, the point of light seemed to swirl in upon itself, and then pop out of existence.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are one of those Neolithic types, as intelligent as us, but lacking our knowledge of science. What would you think had just happened? Remember, these folks didn’t have wifi or cell phones. All they had were wood and rock and bone and maybe some Copper tools, and anything else they possessed was probably made with and from one or more of the aforementioned items. Remember, this is the New Stone Age we’re talking about. At this point in history nobody has seen anything even remotely resembling a pyramid. Nobody has even thought of building one yet! Witnessing a display such as the modern one in Norway would undoubtedly be the kewlest thing they’d ever seen, and would be the fodder of stories for generations to come. Down through the centuries that followed, their descendants would envy them for their extraordinary experience. Think what life was like for most of our ancestors during this period, not just in Europe but everywhere else around the world. All of our ancestors lived very difficult lives, and for any of them to have been able to look up and see a luminous rotating spiral suddenly appear in the early morning sky and then put on a performance like that, well, it would have been the memory of a lifetime. Perhaps, even a deeply spiritual experience. (Ironically, nowadays, anyone with access to the net can call up that same scene any time they want and view it from multiple angles.)

Now for some proofs (more or less).

As to why I say this must have happened in winter (most likely near or on the Winter Solstice) the answer is quite simple-in the more southerly latitudes where this image appeared the air had to be cold enough to act as both a screen and a lens for the projection, just like it did in Norway. For the same type of rotating spiral to have been seen as far south as Ireland, the event had to have happened during the winter. And it must have been a very, very cold winter.

What, specifically, was the object in question that created a spiral shaped cloud infused with frozen droplets of water? For better or for worse, our choices are limited here. The object had to be a meteor or comet (there is currently no other natural object we know of in space that could have made a spiral cloud in the upper atmosphere and also supplied the additional material needed to form the lens that was needed to focus the projection). As to the trajectory, the object was moving at a slight angle from east to west just before it exploded, at least, it had to be if it was going to mimic the conditions which were present in Norway.

And what about the symbol? The two lines curling inward, but never meeting? One line was the spiral itself and the other was the band of darkness between the lines. Both wind their way into the center of the display, but never join.

As to the exact circumstances, that is impossible for me to say, although I think all of the above play a part in what those Neolithic people must have seen. No matter how it happened, I think it is relatively safe to assume that few thousand years ago some Western European types saw a glowing spiral swirling in the skies above them just before dawn, and (probably quite naturally) thought that they were seeing something magical, even divine. The image they saw in the darkened sky on that frosty morning became a deeply meaningful symbol to them, a linchpin in their most cherished religious beliefs for centuries to come. It is even possible that the roots of stories of magic, as well as the foundations of certain religions, can be traced to this event.

Now that I know what it was that they saw, and can see how faithfully they reproduced it on the stone walls of those tombs, I can rest a little easier myself. Another mystery solved.

Only a few thousand more to go.

 

 

 

 A Period of Readjustment

 

Most of you will remember the December 26th earthquake, deep beneath the ocean, that spawned the tsunami which laid waste to portions of Indonesia. The video that showed the tide going out and laying bare the seafloor. The rush of the water as it returned, and how the wave rose up to thirty feet or so as it reached and then washed over the shoreline. The people being bowled over and swallowed by the incoming wave, or riding atop the wash of water, vainly reaching out to try and grab some piece of a building, or a telephone pole, or a tree. The number of human lives lost in the aftermath of this quake was tragic-unacceptable. And yet, we were forced to accept it.

After the quake, I began to worry. You see, when a plate goes through a major shift like that, the story isn’t going to end there. And, sadly, it did not.

A short time later (geologically speaking) intense earthquakes rocked Chile. Not just one, but a series of them. Then the disturbance moved further north, and Peru was next on the dark list of destruction. A series of equally strong quakes occurred here, too, and, like in Chile, they were centered along the coastline.

None of these events, as tragic as they were and still are, surprised me. I was expecting them. In fact, I could have almost predicted them. (Like anyone would of listened if I had. So I kept my mouth shut until now.) What worried me most was, I was fairly certain that there was more to come.

When Japan was subjected to that vicious earthquake that damaged the reactor and sent a muddy black tidal wave rolling across that flat, well cultivated plain, my heart was broken. I cried as I watched the live feed, and cheered for those lucky folks who managed to escape. And then I sadly turned my attention back to the eastern rim of the Pacific (the geographical one).

Then the earthquakes occurred along the western coast of Central America. Exactly where I’d expected them to be. (Not that great a leap in logic-I noted that the line of quakes was following a line from south to north on both sides of the Pacific, and with that information was able to deduce where the next set of earthquakes would most likely occur.)

Back and forth across the wide expanse of the Pacific, the plates have been shifting to conform to the new shape that was dictated by the December 26th quake. First the (geographical) southwest corner of the rim of fire, then next the (geographical) southeast corner of the same (the southwest coast of South America), then back again across the Pacific to Japan, and finally ending on the western coast of Central America.

And then I waited. And I waited. But nothing happened.

You see, I had come to the conclusion that, considering how far north Japan is (geographically), then there should have been at least one more large earthquake which would have taken place, and it would have been centered along the southwestern coast of North America.

California is no stranger to earthquakes. As anyone who lives close to, and especially west of, the San Andreas Fault knows, earthquakes happen. It is simply a part of life in Southern California. ‘Sure, there could be a big one at any time, but probably not today, or any time soon,’ is an approximation of the mindset I’ve seen whenever I was out there, and that kind of thinking amazes me because an entire region of highly motivated, intelligent individuals have all decided to agree that they will remain in a permanent state of Cognitive Disassociation when it comes to the certain danger from earthquakes. Earthquakes that will happen. These are the earthquakes which are already regularly occurring due to interactions between the San Andreas Fault and its companion plate and will continue unabated for all of our lifetimes. And when those quakes are strong enough man-made works will tumble, and people will die. (Not trying to go Old Testament on you or anything like that, just stating the facts as bluntly as possible.) Don’t worry though, the people who live in Southern California won’t hear a word I’ve just said. Their mindset, as well as their reasons for being there, are far too strong for me to even make a dent in them.

But the earthquake I was worried about would have been so strong that those same Californians would have called it ‘the big one.’ Which would have been wrong because the quake would not have been caused by the smaller plate grazing its larger eastern companion. No, the earthquake I’m talking about would have been in direct response to the resettling of the plates at the extreme southeastern and southwestern edges of the Pacific Basin. Under those circumstances the movement of the plate would, rather than being northward, have been outward, and downward.

Tidal waves would have just been the beginning. An outward and downward movement might have left downtown Los Angeles looking more like ye olde Port Royale. Much of the southwestern coast would have suffered the same fate.

So I have waited, and have I worried. And this still hasn’t happened. Almost seven years have passed since the original event, so now it feels like maybe it’s safe to discuss this subject.

Not, of course, to say this still can’t happen. It can, and it may, occur. But there has been a definite rhythm to these events, and that rhythm seems to have been broken. Perhaps the reason Japan endured such a severe earthquake and tidal waves was simply because it was physically closer to the source of the original disruption, which would mean that there is no reason to expect a conforming movement along the eastern edge (geographically speaking) of the Ring of Fire. If that turns out to be the case, then the southwest coast of the United States should be okay. There haven’t been any more strong earthquakes taking place near or north of Japan (along the coast of Central and Northern Asia) which is probably a signal that the cycle has run its course. Probably, the plates along the rim of both the southeastern and southwestern portions of the Pacific Basin have settled into new (and, hopefully, less stressful) positions. (Probably.)

As the December 26th earthquake, and the subsequent earthquakes which followed, demonstrates, even today, with all our tools and technologies, we are helpless when confronted with events which are occurring on a planetary scale. This is one part of our existence over which Humankind has absolutely no control. And we won’t for centuries, or even millennia, to come. Whenever events like this take place, all we poor humans can do is batten down the hatches, hold on tight, and hope for the best. And even that probably won’t be enough.

(I always like to end things on a cheery note.)

 

 

The Sun at Play

 

It has been noted recently that our Sun seems to be tilted about six degrees to the side. What that means, in the most basic terms, is that the Sun is not level with the plane along which most of the acknowledged planets follow. The centerline of the Sun, its equator, is slightly above that plane on one side of the Sun, and below it on the other.

There has been much speculation in the scientific community about this state of affairs. The consensus at the moment is that there is another, larger super planet, Planet Nine, which is responsible for this unusual tilt. Planet Nine, which is thought to be located somewhere in the depths of the outer solar system, isn’t actually affecting the Sun, though. Instead, it is affecting the planets. Because of its size and mass, Planet Nine is slowly dragging the eight known inner planets down, away from the centerline of the Sun’s rotation.

That is, of course, one possibility. There is another.

Before I discuss that other possibility (one of many, it should be noted) I’d first like to comment on the Planet Nine theory.

If Planet Nine is really out there, and it’s large enough to have such a marked influence on the planets close to the Sun, then it is playing havoc with the Kuiper Belt objects. All of those dwarf (and larger) planetoids must be smashing together all the time, while further outwards comets, and other detritus beyond the Kuiper Belt which we are not yet even aware of, are constantly being tossed willy nilly by their interactions with Planet Nine and are regularly being thrown out of the solar system. Worse still, any day now, one or more of the Kuiper Belt objects should come rolling in from the outer reaches of the solar system to create an Inner System catastrophe.

Except that none of this is happening. We have cameras and sensors pointing out into the cosmos in virtually every direction. And not just visible light instruments, but instruments that will record different types of light and energy, from radio to infra-red to x-ray. And not a peep from any of them. The chaos which would be created in the outer solar system by an object as large as Planet Nine simply isn’t there. So, while an object somewhat like Planet Nine may exist, somewhere in the darker regions of the outer solar system, it cannot be as large, or have as much mass as the kids think, or else its effects would be seen throughout the entire solar system, not just here, in close to the Sun.

So, what’s really going on, then?

While astrophysicists have quietly been folding much of what I’ve written here into their cosmic view (remember, when I started this site I told you that you’d see it first here) they still haven’t adopted my model of solar system formation completely. They’ve taken what seems to best fit with their established models, and tried to ignore the rest. Which is why they currently have such a bizarre (and wrong) view of how the planets originally formed. You see, until you know how the planets formed, you can’t really understand the rest of what is going on out there.

Since I deal with this in another article in this issue, I won’t go into it now. Instead, I will simply note that all planets in the solar system, except the Earth, wobble, and some of those wobbles are very pronounced. The reason the Earth doesn’t wobble as much as most of the other planets is because the Earth has the Moon, which has in total a mass that is roughly ten percent of the total mass of the Earth.

In other words, the Moon has a volume and mass equal to one tenth of what the Earth has in volume and mass. So the Moon stabilizes the Earth to a certain extent, and while the Earth still wobbles, it does not take the deep dips that other planets in our solar system do. (Have you seen Uranus lately?)

If you’re clear on the wobble thing, skip to the next paragraph-if not, read on.

The best way to describe the Earth’s wobble is with yet another familiar childhood toy-the ubiquitous top. Take a top, pull the string, and watch the top spin. Fun, easy, and part of many children’s childhood experience. Think back, remember the way the top used to spin. At first, it would stand straight up and whirl away. But, as it began to lose energy, the topmost part would start to lean over, to lean outward. As the top slowed, this leaning outward would become a wobble, and at a certain point, the top would began to dip precipitously, shortly after which it would fall over and roll around in a circle on the ground. The motion of the Earth’s wobble is kind of like the point where the top first starts to slow and lean out. The Moon steadies us and keeps our planet from performing some of the more radical dips the top will take as it is running out of energy. Other planets in our solar system, which don’t have moons equal to at least ten percent of their mass, aren’t so lucky.

According to astrophysicists, all of the objects in the solar system, every planet, moon, asteroid, comet, and fleck of dust added together equals only one percent of the total mass of the Sun. And, unlike many solar systems, the Sun does not have at least one stellar companion. Which means that all the mass in our solar system can’t steady the Sun enough to keep it from wobbling in a more pronounced fashion. And it is.

Scientists believe that it takes somewhere between twenty to twenty-five thousand years for the Earth to make one full wobble. That’s from beginning to end. At which point another wobble begins. When you consider the volume and mass of the Earth, and compare them to the Sun, and realize how long it takes the Earth to complete one wobble, then compare that to the Sun, you see that the time it takes for the Sun to complete one full wobble can’t be measured in tens of thousands of years, but in millions.

Yes, the Sun is tilted, and one hundred thousand years from now the degree of that tilt will be slightly more or less than the current tilt. As to which it will be, well, I guess we’ll just have to wait one hundred thousand years and see.

 

 

The Bearded Star

 

Until very recently, we have tended to think of the ancients as rather backwards when compared to modern day humans. Because of that, we didn’t take anything they said very seriously. After all, they were primitives, with uninformed views, and they seemed to live in a world that was half real and half fantasy. Now, we’re beginning to realize that they were actually competent observers of their world, and that they most often hid their knowledge in symbolic stories.

Some examples:

The story of Lot describes where pillars of salt can be found. The tale of the Golden Fleece leads you to a region where gold can be found. Archaeologists, using a system of ropes at ninety degree angles, got one of the Easter Island Moa to walk, just like the islanders said they once did. And now, the mythical continent that was always said to exist in the Indian Ocean has been found. Turns out that none of this was fantasy, but fact. Our ancestors were telling the truth in those symbolic stories, the listener just had to be clever enough to figure it out. They weren’t idiots-we were.

Prior to modern times, humans were always big on tradition. Even now the names by which we know the constellations are at least a couple of thousand years old. Well, what if those names are older than we realize? Names that were handed down to our ancestors from ten or twenty thousand years ago? Or maybe even tens of thousands of years earlier?

Why is this important, you ask? Because, Venus was known in ancient times as “the bearded star.”

A rather colorful appellation, but obviously more silliness from our ancestors. But what if it isn’t? What if Venus didn’t blow its heart out around one hundred million years ago? What if that happened much more recently, within a human time frame?

The tumult which shook the face of Venus must have thrown a lot of debris into the Venusian sky. Volcanoes erupted planetwide, and much of the inner core was relocated to the surface. It seems like actions as traumatic as those would throw a lot of gas and dust high into the atmosphere, some of which might bleed off and trail after the planet in a narrow, luminous, triangular tail. It may be that the suicide of Venus, or post boom actions, took place within the last two hundred thousand years, and were seen and noted by our ancestors. (While the main eruptions may have taken place one hundred million years ago, Venus may have been periodically letting off steam since then.) Even after the planet assumed its more familiar form, the nickname for it still held on for centuries, long enough to survive and go into the written record. Keep in mind that the Pleiades, in the constellation Taurus, have been called the Seven Sisters since ancient times, and yet only six stars are visible today. Here again, we assume that one of the stars must have faded over the centuries. But, what if our ancestors were still calling the Pleiades the Seven Sisters when they only saw six stars, too? Doing it because that was the name that was handed down to them by their ancestors. Tradition is a powerful thing, remember? (Let’s face it-does anyone have an overwhelming desire, even today, to call the Pleiades the Six Sisters? No, of course not. Then we’d have to change the name.) We cling to tradition, even when there is no longer any justification for it. Our ancestors may have been doing the same thing.

Anthropologists tell us that humans almost identical to us, with the same brains and the same ability to reason, have been around for the last two hundred thousand years. Which leads me to believe that Venus must have exhibited some activity during that time frame. Our ancestors saw this, made note of it, and tradition preserved the name until very recently.

But there may be more to this story. Considering the geological and astronomical scales of time that are at work here, the truth is that Venus my still be active. We may just be seeing it during one of its more passive phases. The next series of cataclysmic eruptions could be less than a hundred years away, or they may be beginning right now. As with so many other mysteries in Astronomy, only time will tell.

 

 

And What of Mercury?

 

Mercury. The little ball of iron that floats in close to the Sun; slowly rotating, alternately baking and freezing its semi-metallic surface. A curious world. Very little rock on Mercury. No thick crust of stone like you find on every other solid moon and planet in the solar system. It shouldn’t be that way. And that fact is driving astrophysicists crazy.

Since it has been decided that the Inner Solar System was a primordial bowling alley, scientists are certain they can tell you why Mercury is Mercury. A wandering planet, larger than Mercury, either knocked off or stole Mercury’s mantle, leaving only the core exposed. (Yes, Mercury’s crust was stolen!) Either that or the rocky surface is floating in a trailing orbit with the planet and the Sun keeps us from seeing the debris.

To which I say-well, I can’t write that here, so let me respond in another fashion.

To understand why Mercury is like it is, you have to understand the most basic rule of solar and planetary formation. I call this rule The Power of Two.

The Power of Two states that: In a developing solar system, any rotating body of sufficient volume and mass will attempt to form a companion.

To demonstrate this most basic of all cosmological principles, we have to go back to the earliest days of the Sun, when it was only slightly larger than Jupiter. The Sun has already begun to rotate, and it is in the process of spinning up a companion. A really, really small dwarf gas giant. For a time the two giants grow and interact with each other, but the Sun quickly becomes so large that the tiny dwarf gas giant can no longer feed. Soon the gas giant that will be the Sun swells up so large that the smaller dwarf is nothing more than a tiny moon in comparison. Since the two objects are so close together, and no longer interacting, to all intents and purpose they are like one object, so the Sun attempts to spin up a second companion, which is Jupiter. Being much further away from the Sun, Jupiter is more successful in accumulating material and Jupiter and the Sun interact for a while. But the Sun is so large that Jupiter is soon starved out. Jupiter continues to grow, but much more slowly than the Sun. Eventually, like the tiny dwarf gas giant, Jupiter becomes a moon, grabbing what it can, when it can, while the gas giant Sun gobbles up everything else.

Then, the Sun ignites. And there is that tiny gas giant, floating in very close to it. In a short span of time (astronomically speaking) the dwarf gas giant has virtually all of its gases stripped away by the relentless solar wind, until finally, only the bare metallic core remains. And then you have Mercury.

That’s why there’s no appreciable rocky crust to be found on that tiny world, kids. Never was. Like all gas giants, Mercury has a metal core. No rock involved. Want to know what lies at the heart of Jupiter? Or the Sun? Mercury is ready to tell you.

(And, in case you didn’t notice, I also just explained how the famous double double in Ursa Major was formed.)

So, there you go. Short, simple, and to the point. Try using The Power of Two in your models, kids, and see how things turn out.

Inner system bowling alley my-

 

 

The Power of Two

 

Right now, most of the big kids are angrily taking note of the fact that I did not provide any concrete figures for my equation. The formula reads “sufficient volume and mass” but does not state what the base number is for that equation. The reason for that is quite simple. I don’t know. We haven’t taken enough pictures yet, or ventured out far enough into our own solar system to uncover what would be, for me, at least, a definitive answer.

In the previous article I described the gas giant Sun as being the size of Jupiter when it spun up its first gas giant companion, Mercury. However, that is just and informed guess. If that formation had occurred sooner, with all the material spiraling from above and below into the center of the solar system, then the Earth/Moon system would regularly be eclipsed by the Sun grazing gas giant, Mercury. (This is what is going on with all those close in gas giants the kids find parked right next to their parent star.) If you’re looking for a good example of this in our own solar system, I would point you first to the stable dwarf planetoid Pluto/Charon system, and its attendant moons. (The fact that the two bodies we see in the Pluto/Charon system are so small is the main reason why I hesitate to say how large a rotating body must be before it spawns a companion.) Secondly, I would then direct your attention to the unstable Uranus/Neptune system, which formed but was apparently never at peace. (While what we see on Uranus might be a mid-wobble sort of thing, it may also be the result of a particularly violent break-up with its sibling.) Thirdly, I would ask you to take a look at that big white thing that’s in the sky almost every night, governing our tides and stabilizing our planet. The Power of Two fits the evidence. It works.

But Venus doesn’t have a moon, right? And where is Jupiter’s companion? Or Saturn’s?

Venus doesn’t have a companion because it formed like a moon, not like a planet or a star.

Jupiter doesn’t have a companion because it was formed by the gas giant sun AS a companion.

Saturn had a companion. A much smaller companion (although it was larger than the Earth.) Saturn’s companion strayed too close, and the gravity of the yellow gas giant crushed it. This was a good thing, of course, because not only did it create all those pretty rings, but some of the leftover rocky and metallic bits combined to form new moons. One of these new moons has decided to become a public fountain, and so it constantly spewing jets of water up so high they’re actually leaving the surface and the gravity well of that tiny moon, and are then floating inward to add new material to the outermost rings.

As for Mars, in issue after issue of The Universe Today it has been noted that Mars still has two of its largest ring fragments in orbit. Astronomers call these two tiny moons captures, but they aren’t. They are part of the ring system that formed around Mars once the Red Planet began to rotate. Yet another attempt of one body to spend up a companion.

Why and/or how does it work this way?

That’s the easiest part of all.

Once a body in a developing solar system is large enough and is rotating, some of the material being pulled towards it goes into orbit around the main mass instead of becoming part of it, forming rings. Variations in gravity which are inherent in the main mass cause material in the rings to first slow and then speed up in response to the rotation of the main mass. Material begins to clump together. This clumping eventually leads to the formation of a second body, almost identical to the first in content, and, depending on how great the inflow of material is, a body that may grow to almost the same size as the original main mass. If the main mass is significantly larger before it spins up a companion, then the new sibling will almost invariably be a dwarf.

(We see this pattern repeated over and over again with stars and with planets in our own galaxy and in billions of other galaxies, as well. Most star systems in our galaxy contain a minimum of two or three stars. Take, for instance, our closest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, which is a quad star system (which means that a journey to our nearest star begs the question, “Which one?” There are four to choose from). The blue giant Sirius, only eight light years away, has a tiny, nearly invisible companion, Sirius B. And that’s just in the local neighborhood.)

The benefits of such a system are obvious. If the companion is at the right distance, and its volume and mass are at least ten percent that of the main mass that formed it, then this stabilizes both bodies. As to how stabilizing the system works for planets, well-we certainly benefitted from it. When it comes to how stabilization help stars, we’ll talk about that later. All I can say for sure is that The Power of Two helps to create and maintain stable systems which then continue to remain stable for billions of years. Despite the elegance of the system you have to keep in mind that this is a kneejerk reflex that is taking place-the main mass does not consciously set out to create the companion. The companion body exists because the rotation of the main mass spawned rings then, the gravity of the main mass, interacting with the rings, spawned the companion.

This is all about modeling a stable system. Otherwise, things don’t work. And to build a solar system, or a galaxy, or a universe, there have to be stabilizing factors or the whole shebang won’t function. Divine Intervention is not the issue. Not at all. One circumstance piles upon another until suddenly, you have a Universe.

This is why your models to date have been wrong, kids. They have not incorporated The Power of Two, one of the most fundamental laws of the Universe. Without it, we have no Universe.

Yes, I know, it’s not big and splashy like the video guys want, right? I mean, and inner system bowling alley really makes for some eye popping planetary collisions, doesn’t it? Great for the ratings, isn’t it? And, as anybody who goes into the field already knows, that is what Astronomy is really all about: massive suns going supernova and planetary collisions, right?

The Power of Two isn’t going to wow any of the viewers, because it is not meant to. It’s just the truth. Understand the motions, work out the basic equations, plug it into your models, and see how things really work out there. This is basic framework of the Universe stuff and your models will continue to be flawed until they incorporate The Power of Two.

But at least you’ll keep getting good ratings.

 

(So kids, which one of you is going to steal this one from me? I used to hear so much about Scientific Integrity. As to what I think of it now, refer to my last comment at the end of the previous article and substitute the words “Scientific Integrity” for “Inner system bowling alley.”)

 

 

Hitting the Bullseye

 

I was watching a familiar science fiction show a few days ago when something interesting suddenly caught my attention. The figures being transported sparkled, vanished, and then reappeared on the planet below. Nothing strange about that, happens all the time, right? I started to think about the real physics involved and something occurred to me that relates to both transportation and time travel. That is, the difference between real and apparent motion.

“Say what?” you might ask.

To which I would reply-the spaceship is orbiting above the planet and that orbit does not keep the ship hovering over the same spot. In fact, the ship is often seen moving in a direction that is completely the opposite of the direction in which the planet is rotating, which means the ship’s position is constantly changing. All of this must be taken into account before you can beam somebody down. If motion is carried over from the point where you were, to the point you are transported to, then you would have a very unpleasant landing. Your body would be moving one way at eighteen thousand miles an hour, while the planet would be moving in the opposite direction at its rotational speed. You might plow a deep furrow into the ground before you came to a stop, or skid a few meters, or miles, before you came to rest, and you might just skip off the planet and bounce back into space. The same would probably hold true for time travel.

Gee, so we have the problem solved already. That was quick.

Except…

That is only the apparent motion. Actual motion takes into account the movement through space of the rotating planet at both solar and galactic scales. Remember, the Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Sun revolves around the galactic center, and the galaxy is zooming along in space at an incredible speed (has anybody figured out which way we’re going yet?). And there is also the speed and direction of the spaceship as it orbits the planet, with all the above included, of course.

That is the actual motion.

To safely transport a person or object in time and/or space, the actual motion of whatever is being transported, and the actual motion of the object which is the target of the transport, must be taken into account. If you don’t, there will be serious problems. Either the transported will arrive with the motion of the object it was traveling on when it was transported, or it will arrive with no motion at all. Neither of the aforementioned turns out well for the subject of the transport.

Remember, if the transporter imparts no motion to the transported, you arrive at a complete stop-a total stop, so that you are perfectly still and not moving in any direction or at any speed. Well, you might catch up with the galaxy some three or four solar systems behind us (barring any unforeseen collisions) or you might see the entire galaxy flash by you and race away into the intergalactic night (barring any unforeseen collisions).

To successfully move an object from one point in space or time to another point in space or time, the instrument being used must remove the motion the object had before it was moved, and impart the object with the same motion as the point in space or time that it is being moved too. This is the only way that either form of travel could work. (If you don’t take this into account before attempting to move a person or object in space or time, then don’t expect me to clean up the mess.)

The questions that comes up next is, “Do we have to worry about all this when we’re just moving an object from one point on a planet to another point on the same planet?”

If the device that’s doing the teleporting moves the object and does so with the actual motion the object already had (which means that it is either not canceling the motion or maybe just can’t), then it might be possible to move an object to the other side of the planet, that is directly opposite the spot that the object is being transported from. (But I wouldn’t volunteer for it.) However, if you try to move an object only ninety degrees instead of the full one hundred and eighty degrees, that could lead to a rough landing. If you move the subject to another latitude other than the one you’re in, that could lead to even more problems.

When moving between one point and another in space or time without physically crossing the distance in-between, actual motion must be used in all calculations. And the device that’s doing the moving must be capable of canceling and imparting said motion. While that may not be an issue at the moment (may not) it will be…in some time or space, errr place…in the not too distant future.

Like I said, you’ll read it here first.

 

 

The Big Charge

 

Tesla was right. There is a palpable electronic field surrounding the Earth, and it is very powerful.

Scientists always spend a lot of time talking about the Earth’s magnetic field, but they very rarely speak of the equally powerful electric field that creates it.

Thousands of miles beneath our feet a liquid iron dynamo is spinning, and this means lots of electricity, and that is why we have a magnetic field. But the electronic field is equally strong. We are bathing in it right now (and I’m beginning to wonder what effect it will have on humans if they leave this field for an extended amount of time).

How strong is this field? Well, lightening is striking all over this planet as you read this. Over one hundred strikes a second by current estimates. (Roughly six thousand strikes per minute.) As I have noted before, lightening is the way in which the inner core and the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth transfer energy back and forth. Lightening is just the Earth’s static electricity, on a truly massive scale.

Clouds, of course, provide the perfect medium for this exchange, for two reasons. First, they are often thousands of feet above the surface, and extend tens of thousands of feet higher. Second, they develop their own electric charge, which makes them excellent conductors.

This interaction between the outer magnetic field and the inner core is demonstrated by a simple toy many people either own or have seen. You know the one, with the little metal rod in the center with orange plasma energy coruscating around it, and the glass globe which surrounds it. Plug it in and watch as tiny bolts of electricity arc out and strike the interior of the glass globe. If you place your hand on the globe, a more intense, more focused bolt rises to meet it, and will remain there as long as your hand does. In essence, that is what is going on here. We live in a powerful electronic field, though it is mostly spread so thin as to not be noticeable to us. Lightening is constantly bleeding off all of the Earth’s excess energy. But, when that field is focused it can be very, very strong.

But Tesla took things a step further. He realized that while this field was quite useful to power low energy items, like the field full of light bulbs that he just plugged into the ground, if he could just learn how to harness and focus that field, then he could concentrate energy at any point on the planet. He spent much his life pursuing this goal, and had some success, but never really solved the problem. The reason for this, sadly enough, is that he didn’t have the proper technology available to him. With it, who knows what the man could have accomplished?

It was noted in an earlier aside that since we spend our entire lives immersed in this electro-magnetic field, and I cannot help but wonder what will happen when the first humans journey outside of it during voyages to Mars or the Asteroid Belt. Look, there could be absolutely no effect on our brave astronauts at all, but without the electro-magnetic field which all humans have lived in since the beginning of our species, those astronauts might suffer noticeable physiological changes. (Which is why I maintain that our spaceships should have some sort of instrument capable of generating a focused magnetic field around one or more portions of the ship. Not only would it offer some protection from a sun blast, it may be important to the continued health of the astronauts, too.)

Tesla, as was previously noted, was right (to a point). He became aware of the electro-magnetic field that surrounds the Earth, noted the field’s effects, and then looked for a way to focus the field. He knew that if he could focus all that energy the way it was focused when he placed his hand on that glass globe, then he could change the world. And he partially succeeded. The fact that aurora borealis was appearing over his work site proves that he was creating a bridge between the inner core and the outer magnetic field. The only reason he did not succeed more completely was lack of funds and lack of technology.

It is sad Tesla was born when he was, in a time when the world couldn’t even began to grasp what the man was trying to do. Imagine what things would be like if he had been born one hundred years later? In our more modern times! Teleportation? That would just be the start!

(Sigh.)

 

 

More of the Sun at Play

 

Time to put it all together.

Since the Sun is wobbling, and since, even if all the planets remained in permanent alignment, there is not enough material in the solar system to function like a counterbalance, a companion, to our Sun, this leaves us with some very disturbing possibilities. What if the Sun continues to wobble over until it is angled in such a way that the band of solar activity is no longer pointed squarely at the Earth? As has already been discussed, the electro-magnetic field that surrounds the Earth is quite powerful, as it must be to fend off the assaults by our Sun. So, what happens if all that energy suddenly stops flowing into the field? Would our electro-magnetic field subside a bit, and stabilize, or would just the opposite occur?

Could the field become so overcharged that you could walk up to someone, hold out your arm, and, as they reached up to take your hand, out from your appendage would leap a static electric charge that would knock the other person flat? (Heckuva way to say hello.)

And if the Sun were to dip over even further? Like Uranus, for example? If the Sun were to tip over on its side, then we would only be exposed to the solar wind twice a year, for two seasons. What effect would that have on our electro-magnetic field? (Or for life on Earth, for that matter!)

All of the above is possible because, during its formation, the Sun was unable to spin up a companion of sufficient size to stabilize it. And, without one, we really have no idea just how far over the Sun may wobble before it is able to right itself again. (And, of course, as with so much else in the Universe, we have no control over it.)

However, before you start constructing your underground bunker, consider this. All of the above will take place in a stellar time frame, rather than a mortal one. We’re talking millions of years here, or even tens of millions of years. By the time the Sun has wobbled so far over as that, there might not even be a Human Species left to see it.

(Always on a cheery note.)

 

 

That’s it for this issue of Scifihorizons! The next issue will concentrate on some of the new speculative fictions shows coming online during the next few weeks and months! (I’ll try to have a new issue out before the end of the year.) And yes, they’ll be more space stuff, too! Until then, have fun!

 

The Contracting Universe

Welcome to the Autumn 2015 issue of Scifihorizons!

For the last few years I’ve been attempting to construct an argument sufficiently strong enough to at least present a creditable challenge to the current model of the formation of the Universe. At this point, I feel like I have succeeded. When I began this series of articles, I had no idea where it would lead. If you had told me seven or eight years ago that I’d end up here, now, propounding a theory of a Contracting Universe, I would have laughed. And yet, here we are, right?
TUT is going to take few months off (my head deserves the rest) but will be returning sometime during the first half of 2016. Our next “printing,” which should be out before the end of the year, will be a NEW issue of Scifihorizons! But for now, though, all I can say is, prepare to be amazed!!!!
Enjoy!
The All-Conquering Darkness

A supercomputer simulation which appeared in the January 2015 issue of National Geographic caught my attention a few months ago. It was, quite simply, a “photograph” of the Universe. If you haven’t seen this simulation yet, then I think you might want to take a look at it, because what you’ll see really is both majestic and thought provoking.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, allow me to give a very brief description of what this simulation purports to show.
In the foreground there are three main regions of bright dots which immediately attract the eye. One is to the middle right and slightly below the center line of the frame. The next region is to the far left of the picture, and at the same level vertically as the first. The third main region is below and slightly to the left of the second one. In each of these regions there are sparkling clouds of light spread throughout. And each cloud of light is made up of many smaller dots. But these glowing pinpricks of light are not galaxies, they are galaxy clusters. That is the type of scale we’re dealing with in this simulation. All three of the aforementioned regions are imbedded within, and connected to one another by, an immense cloud of dark matter. This titanic cloud is so incredibly huge that it seems to extend out of both the right and left sides of the frame. Stretching far above and below the roughly horizontal spire of dark matter which encloses these three regions there is a tangled spider’s web of lesser arms, which crisscross the Universe. In many places one strand joins into another, and there are junctions where three or more meet. At the heart of these junctions, just as all throughout these various dark matter strands and pools, there are tiny pinpricks of light. (This is especially true at the junctions where three or more arms meet.) In the smallest arms, (those that are only about as large in circumference as, say, the region of space occupied by our local galactic cluster) at the point where one or more galactic clusters have formed, the web-like strand appears to be dissipating, leaving the pool of dark matter where the galactic clusters formed hanging, like a balloon, at the end a slender thread of dark matter. But this is only taking place at this lowest scale. There are larger strands of dark matter here, too, and many of them appear to have circumferences so immense that they dwarf the smaller strands. Many spider-like bits of dark matter webbing are connected to these larger strands, or arms, and they show no signs of fading. As to the far background, essentially, all the empty spaces in between these dark matter webs, these are colored a pale violet grey. This wan grey backlighting is, we are told, dark energy.
Here is what the scientific community says we are seeing. The web-like strands of dark matter exist because dark matter pushed some matter halfway (or more) across the Universe to shove it into one particular pocket. That, they say, is the reason for the myriad strands which we are seeing. Dark energy, they say, is filling in all the empty spaces, and stretching the fabric of spacetime as it does. Due to this expansion of the void, which is occurring at a pace that is faster than the speed of light, all of these galaxies and galaxy clusters are moving further away not only from us, but each other. Basically, this is how astrophysicists interpret this simulation.
Here’s what I see.
As anyone familiar with this site already knows, I maintain that what we call our Universe is actually what we call Matter. (Which is stars, moons, and planets, and everything else in the Universe, both great and small, that is not dark matter or dark energy. That is our Universe of Matter.) Also, I go even further and say that our Universe is surrounded by, and floats suspended in, an ocean of dark matter, whose volume is so large that to us it would literally seem to be infinite.
So, the first thing I see when I look at this supercomputer simulation is the enormous amount of empty space. To me this is quite significant because I believe that all the dark matter contracting around our Universe of light once occupied this space, and may have done so for gulfs of time uncounted, until all the Matter which makes up our Universe was introduced into this medium. At which point dark matter began to move towards Matter, to encompass it, enclose it, and push it into pockets, then to begin to squeeze these pockets, and that it was from this interaction with Matter what we call our Universe was born. I don’t see galaxy clusters being pushed halfway across the void-instead, I see galaxy clusters forming in the midst these monstrous strands of dark matter. And as to the strands of dark matter themselves, what I see when I look at this simulation are massive feeder lines, just like those fragile tendrils that connect globes of dust to their parent nebulas. I believe the same process is going on here, as well. These gigantic tendrils are feeding additional dark matter to all the places in the Universe where large amounts of Matter are already concentrated. And they are drawing all that dark material from the near limitless ocean of dark matter that lies beyond the edges of the known Universe. And remember those smallest feeder lines, the one where galactic clusters had formed within them and the rest of the tendril appeared to be dissipating? Well, I think these tendrils were minor pipelines which once led to the larger clusters of dark matter, and when small clusters of galaxies formed within them, these galaxies began attracting all the dark matter coming down the pipe, which is why the other section of the line, the one that was connected to a greater mass of dark matter, was shut down. (Because the group of galactic clusters was using up all the dark matter that was being sent its way, there was simply nothing left to pass along down the line, and so the line collapsed.) But there’s more! Do you remember those mid-sized, and even truly massive strands of dark matter, the ones where larger galaxy clusters had formed inside them, not just at one point, but all down the line? Well, I think that all of these lines were moving whatever Matter they came into contact with as they coalesced from the boundless, placid cloud of dark matter that must have existed before Matter was introduced, and that by some process all the Matter these conduits of dark matter had picked up along the way and were carrying started to accumulate in one spot. As to how this was done-well, it seems possible that there were eddies within these gigantic pipelines of dark matter, especially in the most massive ones, and, as Matter was being swept along, it accumulated in these eddies, which led to the formation of all those groups of galactic clusters that we see imbedded within the tendrils of dark matter. Or, it could be that these strands may have originally contained multiple junctions with multiple inflows of dark matter, which led to the formation of these same groups of clusters. At some point in the past the smaller tendrils feeding these junctions no longer became necessary, and so they collapsed. Lastly, as to those junctions, great and small, where multiple lines meet and end? Well, what we are seeing here are those pockets I’ve been telling you about-pockets in space where all matter is shoved into, from every conceivable direction, and then endlessly compacted. And as to all that empty space? Well, it’s just empty space. There is no such thing as dark energy. All that dark matter that is now constricted so tightly about our Universe once had to have filled that space. And now it is drawn close around all the matter in the Universe. The thing scientists should be amazed by is how something that has so a much greater volume than the total mass of all Matter in the Universe, could be compacted into such a small space, and yet still need feeder lines to draw in even more material. (That’s the thing that really blows my mind.) So why is everything getting further and further away? It’s all a matter of perspective, I guess. You see, the Universe isn’t expanding, Matter is contracting. Dark matter is busily compacting all of the Matter in the Universe, and has been doing so since the beginning of time. As to all of those galaxies out there-you don’t need to worry about them. They aren’t getting further away. They, we, and all the other Matter that makes up our Universe, is just shrinking.
The Mega Planet
Or
How to Build a Star without even trying

One of the biggest problems I’ve had to face during the last few years is this-how does a star form? I mean, I already had worked it out in my head, I knew how stars were born. With gravity, as soon as the first star started to form in a nebula, using the motions created by its formation and mass, then I could easily build every other star in the aforementioned nebula. But, I couldn’t build the first star. Not, at least, with gravity.
Despite all my efforts, I kept coming up with (initially) a solid rocky core, around which hydrogen began to accumulate. Now, as to how and why only hydrogen was going there, I couldn’t make any sense of that. Anyone who has read the Life, the Universe, and Everything article which I wrote previously (located near the bottom of this page) will know that there was a lot happening in the globe of dust, and how or why just one object could receive an exclusive amount of any specific gas or solid-well, it just couldn’t.
Then, I tried focusing on a nebula, and building a star out of it using dark matter. And not only did it work, but I was able to turn the entire nebula into stars!
Let me show you how it’s done!
First, we need to take a look at all those billowing clouds of stardust call Nebulae. And as we do we need to realize that there isn’t what we’d call traditional weather in space. And certainly no air pressure. So, when we see billowing clouds in space, then something funny is going on because many nebulae (probably the more freshly minted ones) don’t have these familiar, stormcloud shapes. Okay, so what’s up with that?
What we are seeing in these billowing clouds is dark matter at work. It is taking measured portions of Matter and compressing them into globes of dust. Why does dark matter simply not take the whole nebula and make one huge star out of it? Haven’t got a clue (yet). But it is fascinating how, like some conscientious cook, dark matter leavens out enough for the basic recipe and makes a star, while right beside one slowly bulging dome another is starting to form. And that is why we see billowing starclouds, because dark energy is happily building one or more stars within each billow. In following this process, dark matter teaches us a curious fact. From the macro all the way down to almost the micro scale, dark matter apportions out Matter in smaller amounts, and begins to compact it. This is probably the reason why the entire Universe isn’t just one giant galaxy. Dark matter creates larger pockets, then fills them. Then, within these pockets dark matter divides Matter again, and starts to compact it. And then the process is repeated, over and over again; from the largest galactic cluster right down to the smallest grain of dust. So, dark matter does have rules that it plays by, and this is one of them.
Dark matter takes a portion of nebular cloud, and begins to compact it. And as it does, the material within starts to get hotter, and hotter. And chemical reactions start to occur, creating more complex elements. Hydrogen, along with enough heavy elements to create a Moon or Earth sized body, settle into the center of the quickly forming globe of dust. The globe of dust becomes a chemical factory, creating more and more new elements and gases. At the heart of the globe of dust, the gas giant that will one day be a star continues to form. Once it begins to rotate, the planets begin to form, and once the planets have formed and they begin to rotate, they spin up moons, too.
All of this continues right up until the star ignites, and then everything changes. Dramatically.
(For the next bit we’re going to use our own star, Sol, as our example, to see how this relates directly to us.)
While I hate to even entertain the idea, the most likely scenario is that the Sun exploded into life (I’d much rather the Sun smolder and slowly ignite, but the evidence we see all around us says that’s not so). The globe of dust from which we sprang still surrounded a large amount of space, and our Solar System sat right at the heart of it. But, as soon as Sol burst into life, it threw out a massive wave of heat and light. This colossal wave of energy moved out and away from the Sun in every direction, not just laterally along the center line where the planets had formed. The wave swept up all the material of a certain size and smaller (from grains of dust to asteroids) and carried this material directly out and away from the Sun. (Imagine the Sun with a great big ball expanding around it like a balloon.) This expanding wave crashed all the ring systems around the planets in the inner solar system, cratering the surfaces of every planet and moon inside the orbit of Jupiter. (Although, it should be noted that it was the moons that took the brunt of these impacts, since they were already located within said ring systems.) Whatever ring systems Mercury or Venus might have had were blown away, while the size of our Moon, plus its lover’s embrace with this planet, helped in part to hold it in place. But only partly. Although we are only out as far now as the orbit of Earth, the wave is starting to lose steam. The wave appears to be weakening noticeably by the time it reaches Mars, because two ring fragments, partially formed moons, still remain in orbit around the red planet. The fact that there are so many asteroids in the Belt (really big asteroids) also seems a strong indication that the wave was losing a lot of momentum by the time it reached that region. The most likely reason for this is that as the wave expanded and compacted more material, this bunching up of stuff began to slow its original impetus. By the time the wave reached the edge of what we consider to be the “planetary” part of the solar system, it had lost most of its energy, which is why all those objects were spat out there, and continued to drift further out into the solar system. Eventually the Sun caught most of them before they got away, and they settled into more stable orbits. Still, it can even be argued that a hot ring of dust was dumped into the Kuiper Belt, out beyond Pluto, made up mainly of leftovers from the inner solar system, and, that before that region cooled, additional dwarf planet formation may have taken place. However, that balloon like wave was still expanding. Now, along the center line where the planets were located, there was a lot of material, but that was not the case everywhere else. Once again, evidence indicates that there was a misty, opaque globe of dust at that time, which may have extended right up to the surface of the gas giant Sun. Keep in mind that until shortly after the Sun ignited, we still had a tendril of dust attached to our globe of dust, which was the tendril our globe of dust was using to draw material from our parent nebula. Bottom line is, there was still a lot of dust and gases falling into the solar system, even after the Sun exploded into life. The dust which was not on that center line, where the planets could be found, still continued to expand in a circular bubble, and apparently, this material was still carrying some heat while it did. Why? Because, by the time that misty cloud reached the outer edges of the globe of dust, that is where a globe of comets formed. (There is a globe of comets which encircles our entire solar system and it’s located about two light years out.) Simply by their presence, these comets show us the shape and size of the globe of dust within which our Solar System was born. There is no longer any question about the globe of dust. Its outlines are easy to see. Our own private little dark matter pocket.
For those of you who understand exactly what I just said (and note that this is the first time in Human History that one of us has been able to put all this together), you’re welcome!
Starwalkers

I’ve been wondering for some time now about the whole speed of light thing. How dark energy can spread apart the Universe faster than light, and yet it is supposedly impossible for us to travel at such speeds. To which I say-well, it’s not polite to print what I say to such a patently ridiculous statement.
After giving the problem much thought, I came up with what appeared to be an equitable solution. But, before I could print it here, a scientist came up with a theory that closely resembled my own. So closely, in fact, that I was forced to reconsider the issue at some length. But that may have been the best thing, after all, because I’m starting to see space travel in a whole new light.
Before going any further, I’m going to give you a basic outline of the theory that the scientist came up with, and then tell you what I had in mind, and what I chanced upon after further consideration.
This scientist (sorry, I didn’t catch the name-he was already well into his spiel before he caught my attention) proposed that we could partially cancel out dark matter as we traveled through space, and that this would lower the natural resistance of dark matter to the passage of matter through it at near relativistic speeds. Neat, huh? But there was more-once we had lessened the effect of the proceeding wave of dark matter, the one that was resisting us, the following wave, the one that was pushing us, would accelerate us even greater speeds. So, not only would it push the spacecraft along, but, the faster you go, then the harder the following wave would push. Using this type of approach could allow us to slice through interstellar space at what would seem to be unbelievably fantastic speeds.
Beautiful theory, isn’t it? Truly elegant. Well done, sir!
And almost (but not quite) what I had in mind. You see, I think that over time, and possibly within a very short span, we’re going to learn more about the true nature of dark matter and dark energy. And, as we do, we’ll also develop theories about canceling its effects. So, my idea was to take a dark matter canceling beam, wave, or whatever form it ultimately took, and place it on the forward most point of the spacecraft. Cancel (read eliminate) the dark matter directly in front of the ship, and then enter that point in space only the tiniest fraction of a second after you did. As long as you got the timing right, then you could travel so fast that you might be able to reach the other side of the galaxy in mere days, or take a trip to one of our nearest companion galaxies, Andromeda, in only a few weeks or months. Without dark matter to hold you back, the only limit on your speed is the one set by the structural integrity of your ship.
Some of you are probably holding up your hands right now, so let me answer the question before you ask-since we’re canceling out the effects of dark matter, we don’t need to worry about running into any objects in space because, without the compression provided by dark matter, such objects will dissipate. They will cease to be, and so will not be an issue. However, what this does mean is that we will have to plot our course carefully, since we don’t want to flash through the heart of some massive star, or a living planet. Although we wouldn’t notice a thing from our vantage point inside the ship, the consequences for any object (of any appreciable size) that we encountered during our journey would be catastrophic. We might have to plan our travels in a series of jumps, just to avoid such encounters.
To me, at least, the main benefit from having such a mode of propulsion would be the relatively small size of the engine. Since we’re canceling out dark matter, we don’t need a massive engine to push us. This would leave a lot of empty space inside our craft that we’ve never had before. Which means that while this sort of travel might never be luxurious, it could certainly be made more comfortable.
As to the following wave pushing us along at even higher speeds, well, I missed that one entirely. As ironic as it seems, me, the guy who has be promoting this idea, first as a gravity bow wave, and then later as a circular, shield shaped wave created by a dark matter compression sphere, yet I still managed overlook the effects of the following wave completely.
Once again, kudos to you, sir.
All right then-he had a good idea, and so did I, but he beat me to the punch, which meant that before I could go to press, I’d have to take it a little further. So, after some additional contemplation, here’s what I came up with.
As strange and otherworldly as dark matter seems to be, still, it has certain rules which it follows. In space the behavior of dark matter is almost akin to that of a liquid, and I think that this is how we should view that medium when we think about using it for interstellar travel.
Now we know that once we learned to fly, we had to constantly change the shape of the craft to fly faster, just as we had to change the shapes of ships and submarines to increase their speed. So, when it comes to traveling in space, over time I believe we’re going to find that certain shapes move through the void more efficiently than others. But, simply streamlining the shape may not be the answer. In fact, it may turn out that what we might otherwise consider to be a non-Euclidean shape could be the most conducive to interstellar journeys. The composition of the spacecraft (what it’s made of) may also be critically important. Just as a specific shape and special materials can stealth a plane enough to fool radar, we may, by using some as yet undetermined construction materials, be able to “fool” dark matter, as well.
Mathematics may solve this, or it may be accomplished through trial and error. (First we have to get out there, of course.)
However, there is another element we have thus far ignored, and it is central to this whole discussion. And that element is time. You see, if we travel faster than light, then the whole Einstein paradox thing kicks in. Travel faster than light and, according to the most reliable estimates, you go back in time. The higher your rate of speed, the more pronounced your dislocation in time. Now, I don’t agree with the previous statement at all, and here is why. The main way which most humans perceive our world is through photons of light, and so our lives are ordered around that time frame. To go faster than light is to exceed our rate of apprehension, which seems impossible to us. Go faster than light, leave the frame of our perception, and you must be going back in time. But I don’t think you are. It is my belief that if you travel faster than the speed of light, you’re really just going very, very fast.
But what if that isn’t the case? What if Einstein was right?
One of the principal obstacles to traveling faster than light (other than the fact that we don’t have a suitable power source) is that the closer you get to the speed of light, the more time seems to slow. So that by the time you have attained the speed of light, time almost seems to stop. But this is only for a passenger onboard the spacecraft. Outside, in the Universe that exists beyond their slowed bubble of reality, time is still passing at its normal rate. This is why a trip to the quad Alpha Centauri system, our nearest interstellar neighbor, would take slightly over four and one half years traveling at or near the speed of light to get there, and it would require the same amount of time to return. At least, as far as the passengers on our spacecraft were concerned. Meanwhile, back here on Earth, decades would have passed during the intervening period. The family and friends which our erstwhile astronauts left behind would either be ancient by the time they returned, or dead and buried. Which means that anyone who chose to embark upon such a journey would quite literally be giving up everything, just to make the trip.
Maybe not.
If it is indeed possible to travel faster than light, then your journey simply becomes of matter of pacing out your speed so that you travel back in time while on the way to your destination, then slow down to just below the speed of light so that you can travel forward in time before you arrive. All we need to do is to balance out the difference between faster than light and near the speed of light travel, and you can still take that trip to Alpha Centauri, and the same amount of time will pass for you on your spacecraft, as passes here on Earth. So, as far as you and your family and friends are concerned, you will have been apart for the same amount of time. Four and one half years to get there, a year to explore the system, and four and one half years to get back-with no time dilation or dislocation. It’s all simply a matter of working out how fast you need to go, and how slow you need to go, so that everything balances out. Then, both our astronauts, and the near and dear ones they left behind, would believe that they had been apart for the same amount of time (which, technically, they would have been).
Breaking the speed of light barrier (the SLB) would also be a boon to the communications industry. Right now the delay between here and the Moon is roughly the same as it is when talking to someone on the other side of our planet. We’ve all seen this during a news broadcast. Whenever people on one side of the Earth talk to people on the other side of the Earth, we all wait patiently, and usually a bit uncomfortably, for the response. Now, if there is such a noticeable delay between talking to someone on the far side of the Earth (or on the Moon), then you can imagine what it would be like trying to talk to a person on Mars, which is still over thirty-four million miles away even when it passes closest to Earth. Think about the lag time on that, and then remember that that is when Mars is close to us. But, if we accelerate our messages to faster than the speed of light, and the person on Mars does the same, then they can speak in what both of them would perceive as “real time.” There would be no perceptible delay (unless somebody failed to time out their communications properly).
Not only would the ability to communicate faster than light be of great help when making contact over long distances, but it would also allow us to use robotic systems in real time, even if they were located in the outermost reaches of our solar system. The operator could give the machine instructions, and then immediately seen the results of their actions, without having to wait minutes, hours, or even days to see what happened. With faster than light communications, it would be possible to hold a conversation with someone on the far side of the galaxy with no noticeable lag.
Sounds kinda kewl, right? But, before we can do any of this we have to get past the greatest scientific barrier of all to faster than light travel-the entrenched scientific community which says that such a thing is impossible. While privately any astrophysicist worth their salt will tell you, “when the money is there, we’ll figure out how to travel at, or faster, than the speed of light,” in public they all toe the line. They tell us that the speed of light is the limiting factor for all matter in the Universe, and that humankind will never be able to travel at or even near the speed of light, much less go any faster. Ultimately, this comes down more to politics than to science. Many scientists (but not all) suspect that the SLB can be reached, and possibly even broken. But, for a variety of reasons (which I will not detail here) they refuse to go on record with any statements that will contradict the party line. Nor will they pursue lines of investigation that could lead to faster than light travel. (It is my personal opinion that this kind of pandering seems to be more appropriate to the sly machinations of snake oil salesmen than to the efforts of earnest, hard-working scientists.)
So, we can go to the stars, and maybe, just maybe, we can even get there very, very fast. But, before we can start making plans for such a journey, there are a few problems we have to deal with here, first. And they may be some of the most insurmountable problems of all, because, when it comes to traveling to the stars, our greatest obstacle is not the Universe, but ourselves.
Cure for the Disease

Recently, as I perused the interactions of matter with dark matter, a curious and very unsettling notion occurred to me. In fact, of all the things that I tell you here (and all the things I don’t) this one troubles me the most. So, if you choose to read on, then remember, you were warned.
Astrophysicists appear to be at least partially right about the whole big bang thing-originally, there was an expansion of the Universe, and when this initially took place, matter was thrown willy-nilly. But, the near infinite (by our standards, at least) cloud of dark matter that surrounds our Universe immediately begin to collapse in upon this expanding matter, and then started to compress it into pockets, which led to the formation of galactic clusters. Essentially, what this means is that, while there technically was an expansion of matter just after the big bang, and that matter did spread out over a vast amount of space in a very, very short amount of time, the mere act of its expansion triggered an opposing response, the contraction and compression of said matter by dark matter, which not only interrupted but reversed that expansion, almost as soon as it began. And that led to the formation of the galaxies, and us.
Now, here’s the part that bothers me. Dark matter reacts to matter in almost the same way that anti-bodies react to disease in the body. Like dark ‘white’ blood cells, dark matter clusters around matter and makes it smaller and smaller, so that, like an infection, it slowly fades away. Our reality of light and love and laughter must truly be an anathema to the darkness, for it seems that dark matter is determined to erase us, and all the rest of the Universe, from existence. To what purpose, it is impossible to say. And, at the moment, dark matter is doing a great job in its self-appointed task. Even more surprisingly, this is actually a good thing, because our very existence depends on this continuing interaction of matter and the dark forces. Their combined efforts not only shape the entire Universe, but they also hold everything together. Therefore, we have no choice but to revel in our destruction, for without the contraction of matter by dark matter, we, and all that is, was, or ever will be, would simply not exist. Which means that we live because of the cure, even as it destroys us.
Remember, I warned you.
Another Round of Applause for the Big Guy

Albert Einstein. Think of all the images which just the mention of that name conjures in your mind. That he was one of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century (or any other century, for that matter) is one of the most widely acknowledged “truths” that we, as Humankind, adhere too. Einstein, through his equations, gave us a tantalizing glimpse into the innermost workings of the Universe. (A very privileged glimpse, as Einstein saw it, into the actual mind of God.) And we honor him for all he accomplished in bringing us this revelation, as well as the many new lines of scientific investigation which he opened to all Humankind.
That said, I’m going to do something here that I rarely ever do. I’m going to issue a partial retraction to an earlier statement made in a previous issue regarding this particular gentleman. In a previous issue I stated that Einstein had been saddled with the phantom force of gravity (not his fault, since nobody knew about the dark forces then), and, because of this, then his great theory must be seriously flawed. That statement was partially incorrect, as further mental gymnastics have shown me.
Here’s how brilliant Einstein was, kids. Einstein, without even knowing about the existence of the dark forces, managed to describe the interactions between matter and dark matter and dark energy. He even had a name for the invisible, unseen force he had discovered, which was space/time, and he called this stuff the fabric of the Universe. Although he ultimately decided on using an expanding Universe as his model, rather than the disconcerting reality of a contracting Universe with which we are actually faced, still, this choice was a matter of personal outlook (and a hopeful one at that) more than anything else. It’s easy to see why, of course. The thought that we, as well as all other matter in the Universe, are being constantly compacted by dark matter at slightly more than half the speed of light, and that time is simultaneously accelerating at a speed commensurate with the rate of that contraction-well, the whole concept does seems rather bizarre and intimidating, doesn’t it? (And if Einstein had chosen to lay down that particular slice of reality down on the world, then it’s possible that we might not remember him with the fondness that most of us do.) But, as has already been noted, since Einstein knew nothing about the true nature of the dark forces that his equations had uncovered, much less the sheer volume of said dark forces (a volume so great that it dwarfs the known Universe), then the possibility (and the promise) of an expanding Universe must have been not only more appealing to him personally, but he must have also understood that such a concept would also be a heckuva lot easier to sell to the world at large. (Which, as reality has shown us, it quite obviously was.)
No matter how you choose to look at it, the fact remains that this esteemed professor was able to describe, through mathematics alone, a substance (actually substances) of which he knew absolutely nothing at all. And in doing so he fired the imagination of an entire planet. This, more than anything else, is a testament to the man’s true brilliance. As we uncover more and more new data over the next few decades, I think that we are going to come to a better appreciation of just how great an intellect Einstein possessed, just how deeply he could see into ‘the mind of God.’ So, in consideration of this, how’s about another round of applause for the big guy!
Dark Worlds

After studying those tangled, galactic cluster sized cords of dark matter, the ones which seem to stretch across the Universe, and then seeing the clusters of galaxies that had formed within some of them, a rather disturbing thought suddenly occurred to me. Since dark matter does behave like Matter, at least in some instances, then that meant that, just as galactic clusters could form in the very midst of a monstrous stream of dark matter, then it follows that not only dark planets, but entire dark planetary systems could form in the stems that connect the globes of dust to their parent nebulas.
What this means is, that in a truly massive globe of dust, such as the one that our nearby neighbor star, Sirius, may have formed in, entire solar systems of rocky planets, and/or gas giant planets, complete with dark moons to orbit them, may have been created in much the same fashion. The difference between these smaller, planetary systems is that they have no sun, no central star. The central body in such systems is a large planet, most likely a gas giant of some size. So they are dark systems, with a gas giant, surrounded by smaller gas giants (or rocky worlds) with only the light of the distant stars to create slightly darker shadows on their surface. Such systems (or single worlds) would be difficult to pick up telescopically, even if you knew exactly where to look. With so little light falling upon them, they would be very faint, perhaps even dimmer than the glow of the most distant galaxies, making them very hard to see. The best chance of catching them (at the moment) is probably when these worlds occult stars. Of course, you’d have to be looking for them, and know what you were seeing, to interpret them properly. Otherwise, such an occultation would be simply be classified as a passing asteroid, or some much closer dark world, such as one of those beyond the orbit of Pluto, in the outer reaches of the solar system.
A dark world, or a dark system, would form in much the same way as what we consider to be the main part of our own solar system, but with one glaring difference-no globe of dust. Without the globe of dust much of the chemicals manufactured by it would be absent. Which would mean no central star, only a dark gas giant, in many ways quite similar to Jupiter or Saturn, or even a dark rocky world that could be even larger than say, Earth and Venus combined. Just as our own planets formed around the gas giant sun, other planets would be spun into existence around this central object, and if they grew large enough, then they would spin up one or more companions of their own.
So how, exactly, does this affect us? Well, it’s possible that such a situation as the one described above could have catastrophic consequences for our solar system, as well as for all life on Earth. How, you may ask?
Allow me to explain.
We know that since its birth, our planet has suffered repeated cataclysms and mass extinctions. They occur on such a regular basis that these events can be fairly accurately mapped. Roughly every thirty million years or so, the Earth undergoes a major cataclysm and/or a mass extinction. It happens like clockwork, right? And there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, except to hope we have time to prepare. (Keep in mind, the very fact that we are here shows that we, or our ancestors, have survived every previous cataclysm and mass extinction that has taken place. So we should be okay for the next one, too.)
As those of you playing along on the home version will already know, I’ve speculated on the cause of this phenomenon in a previous issue. It was noted that the one big thing we have in our sky that runs more or less like clockwork is our Sun, and I postulated that the sun was responsible for said periodic extinctions. I still stand by that hypothesis. However, after due consideration, I am now willing to put forward another potential world killing culprit. And this one is the most sinister of all, because it is almost impossible to catch it in the act.
Over time there has been some speculation that our Sun might have a darker companion. The belief is that a small brown dwarf star may orbit far away from our own star, and that it only passes close to our solar system every thirty million years or so. And this object is what sets the outermost parts of the solar system in motion, eventually leading to the calamities we’re subjected to here. Like the dark worlds and systems we’ve been discussing, a small and very dim brown dwarf would be difficult to detect. And, so far, no such object has been detected.
What if it’s not a brown dwarf that’s causing all the commotion? What if it’s something even harder to detect? Like a massive dark gas giant, with attendant moons, that formed in the tendril of dust and gas that connected our globe of dust to its parent nebula? Such a massive planet (think of Jupiter, and then throw in Saturn for good measure), on a long and highly elliptical orbit, could exert profound influences on our solar system, and we would never be aware of its existence. Why? Because it lies “below” what we consider to be the plane of the solar system, which is the one place nobody would be looking for it!
The orbit of such and object is what concerns me most. Every time I run this simulation in my head, here is what I see: the tendril of dust and gas which connects our globe of dust to the parent nebula collapses after the Sun ignites. Part of that material is still drawn sunward, into what will be our solar system. The rest falls back, down towards the dark planet that has been forming a light year or more below us. The dark planet accepts as much material as it can gather, and spins some of it up into moons. But it is not nearly as massive as the globe of dust, and so cannot continue to draw a constant flow from the nebula. Which means the tendril of dust continues to collapse, and as it does, the material closest to the dark world is added to that system, while the rest of the column falls back into the nebula.
All right, seems pretty clear cut so far, but here’s where the whole thing starts to get tricky. No matter how many times I run this simulation in my head what happens is that as the tendril continues to fall back into the nebula, at first it actually pulls the dark world (or system) along with it. Keep in mind, while the mass of the tendril was nowhere near that of our solar system, it’s circumference was probably still larger than what we tend to think of as the planetary part of our solar system (in other words, from the center of the Sun to as far out as Pluto), which would mean that the column of dust and gas would have had a great deal of volume, and an appreciable amount of mass. This is why the dark world follows it at first, because all that mass so close by actually exerts more influence than our solar system. So the dark world follows it, but does so only slowly, very slowly. As the tendril continues to fall down and away, it gets further and further from the dark world, and its pull upon said world begins to lessen. At this point the draw of our own solar system becomes stronger, and the dark world is pulled back towards us. And here is the problem. Every time I run the simulation, the dark world falls back into our solar system. But it obviously has not (although this may explain the existence of some objects in the outermost parts of our solar system). Instead, what appears to be happening is that there is another object out there that we can’t see that is influencing the dark planet. Perhaps it is another dark world or system, or maybe even a dwarf star. But, whatever the reason behind this phenomenon, this object keeps the dark world from falling into our system and looping around the Sun. That is the only explanation I can come up with to keep it from bulldozing its way right into the heart of our solar system.
There are two more “logical” scenarios, of course. The first is that the dark world moves on a horizontal plane identical to that which all the planets in our solar system moves on, except that it is far below our solar system. In this scenario, the dark planet goes out very, very far, then comes back and loops around the lower portion of the dark matter compression sphere which surrounds our solar system. While this does work, I have a lot of trouble maneuvering the dark world’s orbit into that configuration. It doesn’t want to occur naturally, but when I place the dark world there and then start the simulation with it in that position, it plays out just fine. In the second scenario (the only one most astrophysicists would take seriously) the dark world goes far down and away from the solar system, then loops back and passes relatively close (astronomically speaking) over the top of our solar system, and then starts back on its downward path again. It would be during this rather extended period, while it was passing over the top of our solar system, that it could play havoc with the outermost parts of the solar system, which would lead to not just one, but perhaps multiple disasters in the main portion of our system.
So, are such dark systems possible? When one considers the volume and the mass of the dust and gas filled tendrils that connect globes of dust to their parent nebulas, I think the answer is a resounding yes. Could there be such a dark world, or system, somewhere near our own which periodically interacts with us? I think that once again, the answer is yes. Is it the sole cause for all the mass extinctions this planet has gone through during the last four and one half billion years? Probably not. I still think the Sun has an important role to play in this drama. However, a rogue dark world with moons, or an entire dark system, which had a very distant orbit of as long as thirty million years, could indeed bear some responsibility for the calamities and mass extinctions that have occurred periodically throughout the geological history of the world. While not a major player (like the Sun could be), such a dark world or worlds could still wreak havoc on all of us, just from passing by.
Which reminds me-astronomically, as well as geologically, speaking, it’s just about time for another of those catastrophes. Guess I’d better go close the shutters.
That’s it for this issue! Join us again, just before the turning of the year! Until then!!!

Episode 12: Visual Scan

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Title: Caprica

Appearing: The Syfy Channel

When: Friday nights 1st run, reruns various times during the week, seasonal

    Caprica is the Syfy Channel’s latest installment in the BSG saga. In this chapter of the Human/Cylon War (and also, apparently, of the coming of the One God) we are given a glimpse of life in the twelve colonies at a time just prior to the birth of the Cylon race. It’s not a pretty picture. There is prejudice here, and decadence, and elitism. There are old feuds, and sins that cannot be forgotten. There is lust and greed run rampant. In all, it is a very dark place (yep, that’s BSG!). Although they live in what should be a time of hope and prosperity, the Capricans seem to be shackled to ethnic (errr, planetary) values that drag them down and steal their broader sense of self. Because they are so strongly tied to these traditional value systems, they seem unable to set aside their individual differences long enough so that they might work together for a better tomorrow. Thus, they live in a world dominated by greed and corruption, without hope, without direction, without a future. This terrifying vista is the everyday world of Caprica.

    Religion plays a central role in the new storyline. Although the citizens of the BSG universe seem faithful to their various beliefs, they also appear to be almost mechanical in their observances. It’s as though their religious practices have become more a way of life than a belief system (in other words, they’re just going through the motions). Despite this, religion is deeply embedded in Caprican culture. It plays an important role their day to day lives, as well as giving shape to their broader world view. In this incarnation, religion is a positive influence; it is the very fabric that binds together Caprican existence. But, there is (of course) a darker side. There are also many cases in which religion is used to justify crimes or violence. It can even become a verbal tool when used by characters during arguments, or attempts at persuasion. And yet, no matter where religion surfaces, it always seems to be practiced by rote, always by the book. It’s almost as if their culture had no true anchor, nor soul. Perhaps that’s why the futuristic Capricans suddenly find themselves so vulnerable to the teachings of the mysterious and secretive Soldiers of the One. This new (and much feared) movement is still underground, but gradually gaining strength. In the STO Capricans seem to find some sense of purpose, of right and wrong, of a better way (even if it’s to get religion and go boom?). Ultimately, of course, we know how this all turns out, but it’s still fun watching the producers and writers set the stage.

    So, let’s recap. We have a (pre?) Apocalyptic society, teetering on the brink of cultural anarchy, without any sense of purpose or direction; and now, we’ll add the Cylons to the mix. Oh, there’s only one, so far (there is another), but that really doesn’t mean anything. Cylons tend to breed like cockroaches, and they are much, much harder to kill. The truly fascinating thing is though, that this one cybernetic lifeform embodies all that the Cylons are, or (within the scope of what is already cannon) all that the Cylons will ever be. Here is the anger, the indignation, the self-righteousness, the callous disregard for human pain and suffering-but here also can be found empathy, the need to love and be loved, even a desire to save humanity. This is the deepest glimpse viewers have been given into the Cylon psyche, and it is most revealing.

    As to the effects-they are top notch, as usual, but in this latest effort, subtlety is the key. While there is still the occasional splashy effects scene, for the most part the CGI and mechanical effects are definitely understated. The idea here seems to be to blend the effects so carefully into the scene that they are not noticed at all; so that they simply become part of the background. (It is a credit to the Caprica effects team that they are able to accomplish this with such apparent ease.) Undoubtedly, there will be more to come, but, for now at least, we’ll just have to settle for a futuristic, three dimensional world, that is seamlessly executed. (Works for me!)

    Will this show prove a worthy successor to BSG? Right now it’s still too early to say. But there is one thing we can be certain of, even at this juncture. Like its parent, Caprica is quality science fiction, of a kind rarely seen on television, and, as such, it is well worth the hour. Check it out and see if you agree.

    (Viewers take note: Caprica is an adult show that deals with adult concepts. Unless you intend to set aside a block of time both during and after the show to answer some potentially uncomfortable questions, you may want to put the little ones to bed first before watching.)

Episode 11: Visual Scan

Saturday, November 1st, 2008


Subject:


Star Trek: New Voyages-
World Enough And Time

Available:

Internet download at www.newvoyages.com.

Episode 10: Visual Scan

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008


Subject:


The Shining

Available:

At your favorite Video Outlet, or check your TV listings

Episode 9: Visual Scan

Saturday, June 28th, 2008


Subject:


X-Men III: The Last Stand

Available:

At your favorite Video Outlet, or check your TV listings

Episode 8: Visual Scan

Saturday, May 5th, 2007

Subject: Battlestar Galactica

Type: Television Series

Airing: Friday nights at 10 pm on the Sci-Fi Channel

First and foremost, it should be said that Battlestar Galactica is an adult show which deals with adult issues in a mature fashion. So put the kids to bed before you tune in, or you may find yourself having to answer some very interesting (and also uncomfortable) questions.

That being said-Battlestar Galactica consistently delivers in every facet of production and presentation. The writing is top notch, the acting is superb, and the visuals are well conceived and executed.

As was noted in the original Scifi Horizons review, the strength of this series resides mainly in the three dimensional nature of its characters. Battlestar Galactica