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november2009_june_july_2009.qxd 23/11/2009 4:37 PM Page 15 15 Ask An Astrobiologist 15 Ask An Astrobiologist Nibiru and Doomsday the existence of Uranus, Neptune or Pluto. They but it was not built by NASA and not used to There is a telescope at the South Pole, Nibiru and Doomsday also had no understanding that the planets 2012: Questions and orbited the Sun, an idea that first developed in study Nibiru. The South Pole Telescope was 2012: Questions and Answers ancient Greece two millennia after the end of supported by the National Science Foundation, Answers Sumer. Claims that Sumerians had a and it is a radio telescope, not an optical sophisticated astronomy, or that they even had a instrument. It cannot take images or photos. You From N A S A god named Nibiru, are the product of Sitchin’s can look it up on Wikipedia. The Antarctic is a From N A S A imagination. great place for astronomical infrared and short- wave-radio observations, and it also has the Stories about the fictional planet Nibiru and predictions of doomsday in December 2012 3. How can you deny the existence of Nibiru advantage that objects can be observed when NASA discovered it in 1983 and the continuously without the interference of the have blossomed on the Internet. There are now (June 2009) more than 175 books listed on story appeared in leading newspapers? At day-night cycle. that time you called it Planet X, and later it I should add that it is impossible to Amazon.com dealing with the 2012 doomsday. As this hoax spreads, many more disaster was named Xena or Eris. imagine a geometry in which an object can be IRAS (the NASA Infrared Astronomy scenarios are being suggested. “Ask an Satellite, which carried out a sky survey for 10 seen only from the South Pole. Even if it were due south of the Earth, it could be seen from the Astrobiologist” has received nearly a thousand questions about Nibiru and 2012, with more months in 1983) discovered many infrared entire southern hemisphere. sources, but none of them was Nibiru or Planet than 200 answers posted. Many new questions are similar to those already answered. X or any other objects in the outer solar system. 6. There are many photos and videos of Following is a list of the most popular “Twenty There is a good discussion from Caltech to be Nibiru on the Internet. Isn’t that proof that it at exists? found Questions” organized in a logical succession and answered in some detail. (spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/tchester/iras/no_te The great majority of the photos and nth_planet_yet.html). Briefly, IRAS cataloged videos on the Internet are of some feature near 350,000 infrared sources, and initially many of the Sun (apparently supporting the claim that 1. What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in December 2012? these sources were unidentified (which was the Nibiru has been hiding behind the Sun for the past several years.) These are actually false point, of course, of making such a survey). All The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the of these observations have been followed up by images of the Sun caused by internal reflections in the lens, often called lens flare. You can subsequent studies with more powerful Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. Zecharia Sitchin, who writes fiction about the ancient instruments both on the ground and in space. identify them easily by the fact that they appear Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer, claimed in The rumor about a “tenth planet” erupted in diametrically opposite the real solar image, as if 1984 after a scientific paper was published in reflected across the center of the image. This is several books (e.g., The Twelfth Planet, published in 1976) that he has found and Astrophysical Journal Letters titled especially obvious in videos, where as the camera moves, the false image dances about “Unidentified point sources in the IRAS translated Sumerian documents that identify the planet Nibiru, orbiting the Sun every 3600 minisurvey”, which discussed several infrared always exactly opposite the real image. Similar years. These Sumerian fables include stories of sources with “no counterparts”. But these lens flare is a source of many UFO photos taken at night with strong light sources such as “mystery objects” were subsequently found to “ancient astronauts” visiting Earth from a civilization of aliens called the Anunnaki. Then be distant galaxies (except one, which was a streetlights in the frame. I am surprised that wisp of “infrared cirrus”), as published in 1987. people don’t recognize this common photo Nancy Lieder, a self-declared psychic who claims she is channeling aliens, wrote on her No IRAS source has ever turned out to be a artifact. I am also amazed that these photos website Zetatalk that the inhabitants of a planet. A good discussion of this whole issue is showing something nearly as large and bright as the Sun (a “second sun”) are accepted together to be found on Phil Plait’s website fictional planet around the star Zeta Reticuli warned her that the Earth was in danger from (www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planetx/sci with claims made on some of the same websites ence.html#iras). The bottom line is that Nibiru that Nibiru is too faint to be seen or Planet X or Nibiru. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when is a myth, with no basis in fact. To an photographed except with large telescopes. One widely reported telescopic photo nothing happened the doomsday date was astronomer, persistent claims about a planet that (www.greatdreams.com/nibiru-possible.jpg) is “nearby” but “invisible” are just plain silly. moved forward to December 2012. Only recently have these two fables been linked to the 4. Maybe we should be asking about Planet X shows two views of an expanding gas cloud far beyond the solar system, which is not moving; end of the Mayan long-count at the winter solstice in 2012 – hence the predicted doomsday or Eris, not Nibiru. Why does NASA keep you can see this from the fact that the stars are date of December 21, 2012. secret the orbit of Eris? the same in both pictures. A sharp-eyed reader “Planet X” is an oxymoron when of this website identified these photos as a gas applied to a real object. The term has been used shell around the star V838 Mon. Wikipedia has 2. The Sumerians were the first great by astronomers over the past century for a a nice write-up and a beautiful photo of it from civilization, and they made many accurate astronomical predictions, including the possible or suspected object. Once the object is Hubble. Another high school student was existence of the planets Uranus, Neptune and found, it is given a real name, as was done with initially impressed by posted images of a red blob that were said to be of Nibiru. Then he Pluto and Eris, both of which were at some time Pluto. So why should we not believe their predictions about Nibiru? referred to as Planet X. If a new object turns out worked out in his Photoshop class how to make to be not real, or not a planet, then you won’t just such pictures starting from scratch. Nibiru is a name in Babylonian astrology sometimes associated with the god hear about it again. If it is real, it is not called One video posted in summer 2008 on Youtube Marduk. Nibiru appears as a minor character in Planet X. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKtkWIx00A) Eris is one of several dwarf planets shows a guy standing in his kitchen claiming the Babylonian creation poem Enuma Elish as recorded in the library of Assurbanipal, King of recently found by astronomers in the outer solar that one of the objects discovered by a NASA x- system, all of them on normal orbits that will ray telescope is Nibiru. What is his evidence? Assyria (668-627 BCE). Sumer flourished much earlier, from about the 23rd century to the never bring them near Earth. Like Pluto, Eris is That since this false-color x-ray image released 17th century BCE. The claims that Nibiru is a smaller than our Moon. It is very far away, and by NASA is blue, this must really be a nearby its orbit never brings it closer than about 4 planet with an ocean. This would be hilarious if planet and was known to the Sumerians are contradicted by scholars who (unlike Zecharia billion miles. There is no secret about Eris and it were not used to frighten people. its orbit, as you can easily verify by googling it Sitchin) study and translate the written records of ancient Mesopotamia. Sumer was indeed a or looking it up in Wikipedia. (Continued on Page 16) great civilization, important for the 5. Do you deny that NASA built a South Pole development of agriculture, water management, w w w.xzon exmas lis t.com urban life, and especially writing. However, Telescope (SPT) to track Nibiru? Why else w w w.xzon exmas lis t.com would they build a telescope at the South they left very few records dealing with w w w.xzon exmas lis t.com astronomy. Certainly they did not know about Pole?