Thursday, May 23, 2013

Nibiru Mystery Heavenly Body Discovered

The research to find an outer solar system body took a turn nearly 30 years ago with the launch of IRAS by NASA. Planet X was a common name among astronomers although few ventured to talk about it openly. Writers of the "new age" did discuss it and even gave it a name, Nibiru. Following the 1983 announcement on the press of the discovery of a massive body, the Agency began to put a cap on anything related to Planet X. They said researchers had proven Planet X did not exist. But has anyone stopped to look at what the researchers said they did find.  










Nibiru comes from the Sumerian mythology and it is the name for the abode of the main god, Anu.

The story of Nibiru was reinterpreted as fact by Zecharia Sitching [+] in his 1976 book "The Twelfth Planet".

At that time, astronomers sought to stay apart from alternative views by referring to a new possible find as Planet X.  Few astronomers such as Robert S. Harrington [+] talked openly about it.  At some later time, Sitchin and Harrington met to discuss their findings.



Mystery Heavenly Body


The press started to spread the news of the search for Planet X. Soon, the U.S.space agency, NASA, would put a cap on it all.


1982 Science Digest

With the launch of the IRAS infrared satellite by the agency, the press announced Planet X had been found.



1983 The Washington Post



1983 The Washington Post


The Washington Post had received a heads-up of a research paper soon to be published that talked about 9 unknown objects detected by IRAS and the Palomar Observatory. Thomas O'Toole was the author of the article and he was referring to the research by Gerry Neugebauer, J. R. Houck, and others on IRAS unidentified objects. 

By 1987, the Agency completely dismissed it all and a cap was put on anything remotely related to Planet X.  Nevermind other astronomers' work.


Was the Mystery Solved?



NASA and some website are pointing to the researchers papers to say that they prove no planet or sub-stellar body was found. Thus denying what the press had announced.

Let's take a look at the authors and the research paper itself.

Gerry Neugebauer is a highly honored and awarded American astronomer born in Germany. He's retired and lives in Arizona.  Important for us here is that he's a pioneer in infrared astronomy and that he was the director of the Palomar Observatory from 1980 to 1994, the whole period during which the findings of IRAS were altogether solved [dismissed].  Gerry came from a military background with the U.S. Army and worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, in California.  Good fella --military-pioneer-astronomer-- one would think.  [We have a take a leap of faith in what NASA said and accept that a highly awarded fella like this wasn't able, at first, to take a planetary body from a galaxy. Would the reader take that leap?]


Gerry Neugebauer

Now let's look at the other researcher.

J.R. Houck, an engineer, is also a pioneer in infrared astronomy. He designed instrumentation for the IRAS, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Palomar Observatory. He's won the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1984 and 2005 for his work on IRAS and Spitzer Telescopes. In sum, he's the tech guy behind IRAS and the PalomarObservatory. He works for Cornell University in New York.  [Again. we have a take a leap of faith in what NASA said and accept that a skilled designer of space telescopes like this wasn't able, at first, to take a planetary body from a galaxy. Would the reader take that leap?]



James R. Houck



Let's focus on their findings...  from IRAS.



The Astrophysical Journal 1984

In this paper, Houck and Neugebauer presented 9 unidentified points detected with IRAS and the Palomar Observatory. The objects were there, no doubt about that, and in their conclusions the researchers said the objects could either be near solar system objects, galactic objects, or extra-galactic objects.  Further observations would lead them to publish another paper in 1985 in which all but one object were identified.The 9 objects were shown from POSS: Palomar Observatory plates and not from IRAS. [weird, watch the video to see what the nine point looked like].



These are the original 9 point sources mentioned in the paper:

IRAS 0358+223 RA 03:58:02.8 Dec +22:18:00

IRAS 0404+101 RA 04:04:44.7 Dec +10:11:52


IRAS 0412+085 RA 04:12:32.3 Dec +08:31:13

IRAS 0413+122 RA 04:13:47.3 Dec +12:17:36

IRAS 0422+009 RA 04:22:54.0 Dec +00:56:06

IRAS 0425-012 RA 04:25:12.1 Dec -01:14:50

IRAS 1703+049 RA 17:03:01.4 Dec +04:57:50

IRAS 1712+100 RA 17:12:57.8 Dec +10:04:08

IRAS 1732+239 RA 17:32:51.4 Dec +23:56:36




Houck and Neugebauer, 1984


We have to ask, why were the IRAS images not included in the 1984 paper? Later in 1985, Houck and Neugebauer presented the other paper where additional observations were made. In this case, they presented 6 IRAS plates.  Partly based on Olszewski's observations, all but one object were found to be galaxies, not planets, not even objects in our Milky Way galaxy. [Watch the video to look at the IRAS plates of 6 of the 9 sources]

The galaxies were to be referred to as Ultrahigh Luminosity Galaxies and represented a new kind of galaxy.  Houck and Neugebauer made an extraordinary discovery. [?]


Houck and Neugebauer, 1985


The Vanishing Galaxies


The conclusions drawn by Houck and Neugebauer were guided by Olszewski and Aaronson's redshift observaions of CCD images in the near-infrared. Aaronson and Olszweski (1984) made the point again that the objects could be "nearby 'Jupiter-like' bodies", stars within dustshells, heavily obscured young stars, high redshift galaxies, or a new type of object. The researchers opted for considering the objetcs as galaxies. Olszweski's made additional observations with radio wave telescopes. 


Aaronson and Olszewski, 1984


With his later 1985 and 1986 papers, the Agency would finally put a cap on Planet X research.    


  
Antonucci and Olszewski, 1985


What led the astronomers to quickly dismiss the other options in favor of "Ultrahigh-Luminosity Galaxies"? Infrared to optical luminosity?....  These objects were "seen" with infrared, optical, radio wave, and VLA array imagery.

Houck and Neugebauer identified 6 of the 9 objects by comparing IRAS and Palomar Observatory plates:  0358 + 223, 0404 + 101, 0413 + 122, 1703 + 049, 1712 + 100, 
1732 + 239.


Houck and Neugebauer concluded that the other two sources 0422 + 009 and 0425 - 012 were galaxies. Olszewski (1985) later varied somewhat from Houck but also described all sources to be galaxies by way of strong radio emissions.  Houck did not consider 0412 + 085, thought to be a dust cloud. In the end, either Houck or Olszewski and their co-authors said the 9 nine points to be galaxies.... and the mystery was resolved, wasn't it?

Space Is Alive looked at each one of them and compared them to more recent surveys. We thought we would be able to find them.  [Watch the video to see this]


Only two of the point sources showed galaxies. Images other that stars were not available on sky surveys.

We therefore think It is inconclusive to say that all the nine unidentified points in the original IRAS survey are galaxies.  In only two of the points, a galaxy and a cluster of galaxies can be found.Ultrahigh-Luminosity Galaxies represented a big discovery. However, they should be easily found in other infrared sources.   That is not the case.

It can be argued that the 9 original IRAS points are not shown in surveys included in the World Wide Telescope, and that, would raise a series of new questions.

Were they galaxies at all? or did the researchers find "something" else?  Also, the 1983 article mentions in Orion, none of these sources are in Orion.

The announcement of the discovery of Planet X in 1983 was dismissed following the research discussed here but if this was a huge discovery for Neugebauer and Houck, why aren't these objects found on sky surveys? There aren't images of them either. [Google the IRAS numbers and see information about these "galaxies" is not available.]


The supposed galaxies are hardly evident in more recent surveys.  If one of the 9 error boxes could have shown a body 3 - 4 times the size of Earth or even a Jupiter-like body, it would have been gone from the search area (error boxes). So much so that later surveys in infrared, near-infrared, optical, array or any other would not show any planet [in the error boxes], simply because it would have moved.  


The research [and search] for finding a large body in the outer solar system continues despite the effort of some Agency employees who say it doesn't exist.  Furthermore, some NASA researchers are waiting for WISE and other surveys.


Spectre Web will wait for their results.

This research will continue.

Space Is Alive

Spectre Web
Space Is Alive Lead Editors

May 2013