One of the reasons I was fired from a certain local talk radio station was for calling their resident astronomer an “asshole”. I’m proud of it, seeing as even Carl Sagan agreed with my perspective on the importance of looking at Cydonia on Mars and finding out what the anomalies there actually are. (And no, it’s been verified that the pictures released by Nasa of “The Face” were put through Photoshop filters to remove detail, flatten height and create what’s been called the “catbox” picture, so the truth is still waiting to emerge.)
The mass media, you’ll recall, wet themselves in a frenzy over Comet Shoemaker-Levy (while ignoring the suspicious subsequent death of Gene Shoemaker himself, on a lonely road in a desert, in a “head on collision” with another car). Shades of the killing of Karen Silkwood spring to mind..
Let me be the first in local media to tell you about a comet that is truly frighteningly big. It’s also in our section of the galaxy. Forget anything you might imagine about a cute little falling star — this is the size of a planet. Some estimates put it at 22 times the size of Earth. That’s not a typo. Twenty-two times the size of Earth. Other estimates say it’s at least twice the size of Pluto.
So it’s way beyond the little squib that smacked into Jupiter that the press went wild over. It’s official name is C/2002 V1 — but it’s referred to as Comet Neat. Here’s the “official” story.
Before we go any further, you might want to flush away the Hollywood idea that the world government will tell you if there’s a large-scale potential extinction event coming. Read this news report saying that any potential problem coming will be kept secret — and it’s by a science adviser to the United States government.
The comet flew by our sun a few weeks ago and pictures were taken by Soho (basically a high-tech sun-observer space-cam) as the sun reacted violently to it, sending out discharges millions of miles into space towards the comet. As to whether the comet split, or continued on its way, is not known, because — suspiciously — somebody turned the Soho cameras off, and they stayed off for the next seven hours. (This is despite the comet being the largest nearby roaming celestial body seen to date in our recorded history, interacting somehow with our sun.) Take a look at the sequence of pictures at Comet Neat.
You’ll notice on the above link there is clear evidence of image tampering by Nasa — a frankly bad cut-and-paste job that supposedly shows the comet moving normally on its way past the sun. Here’s an online Java applet showing the route of the comet. (It’s fiddly and three-dimensional, but take a look at all angles of the view of the route on November 28 2003, which seems to show the comet coming very close to Earth — but I could be wrong.)
Given the size of this object, the fears come from four possibilities. First, something as gigantic as this may well have debris behind it, in its wake. Secondly, it’s not known what effect this may have on the magnetic interaction between the Earth and the sun. Thirdly, we will be passing through the comets tail in around April/May/June. Lastly, the discharge from the sun may have split the comet, or sheared off pieces of it. Is it coincidence that the US homeland security issued their “buy duct tape” warnings days after the comet fly-by and the massive solar discharge? (“If you see large amounts of debris in the air, or if local authorities say the air is badly contaminated, you may want to ‘shelter-in-place’.”) What terrorist event causes “debris in the air”? Did someone jump the gun perhaps? If we see a similar warning again as we approach the comet’s tail in a month or two, then remember this column. Homeland security warning.
See a large quantity of genuine images of the comet, both from Earth and the Soho cam — along with a whole bunch of admittedly off-the-wall conjecture. (One of the things being laughed at by officialdom is the fact that an ”eye” shape appeared as the sun discharged at the comet — it’s actually true, the above link and this next one shows the image. Yes, it’s there, but as to whether it “means” anything is up for debate.) Go to Cyberspace Orbit.
You’ll recall, a few columns back, my mentioning of the growing Planet X curiosity online — roughly tying in with Sumerian historian and admitted minor nut Zachariah Zitchkin’s published work on a celestial body with a 3 800-year orbit heading for an Earth fly-by. (Is it just me who thinks its odd that the comet is estimated at having a 37/38 000-year orbit?) Given the Planet X mutterings online, combined with the biblical prophecy of some kind of large celestial body called Wormwood approaching Earth, there’s also good ol’ Nostradamus. Do yourself a favour and take a look through this next page, which goes into decidedly paranoid and eventually very creepy territory that makes one a little leery of ignoring the comet. Nostradamus, Planet X and the Comet.
Then also spend some time at the many articles and more Soho pictures of the comet and what happened during its sun fly-by, while taking some of what’s said with a grain of salt. The images and discussion are interesting and goosebump material — see Neat Fly-By.
You might wonder why — given the huge size of this object — there’s been little or no fuss or mention made to the average person by the popular media. No spiffy little animations, no widely coverage press conferences by Nasa, no bloated CNN experts trotted out to explain anything. Nothing — outside of the elitist astronomy periodicals, which few read over their evening TV dinners. Read Comet Truth Reaching Media.
Take a look through more information that isn’t being covered in between the adverts on TV, at Free Minds.
Then, if you’ve browsed through the above links and reached your own thoughts on the matter, take a look at this supercilious attempt to make anyone paying attention to the comet, and feel stupid. (The absence of news, despite the clear newsworthiness of the fly-by, in combo with the online methodical hacking of forums dedicated to comet-watching, after the Soho cameras were switched off at the peak of the comet-sun interaction, tells me something’s wrong.) Now read this ‘It’s all fine and just a conspiracy theory and astronomy amateurs being dumb” official line from Space.com.
What’s the truth? I don’t know. I do know that I don’t mind looking stupid in asking the ‘”wrong” questions. I’m also am aware that most governments and politicians are slime and swine, and can’t be trusted to babysit a child, let alone look after the interests of the individual citizen. So who knows? Time will tell, won’t it? I’d rather put this collection of panic-inducing material out in the public arena for others to consider and read, than keep my mouth shut for fear of ridicule. ‘Nuff said. In other news: the lead-up to the oil-grab and neutralisation of Israel’s enemies known as the coming Iraq war. The US intelligence services are listening in to United Nations telephone calls and monitoring their e-mails ahead of the vote on Iraq — so much for the UN being a free entity. Read this report that never made it to the US media. US snooping on UN.
The Pentagon has listed 24 crimes that allow for detention without trial, no access to lawyers, secret miltary tribunals and — if found guilty — secret executions. Sounds familar, doesn’t it? Once the US was a great shining example of democracy, but that’s gone now. Read Pentagon Tribunal List.
So which is the only nation state to have had five of its citizens arrested on 9/11 for suspicious behaviour (filming the burning World Trade Centre towers and laughing and cheering at the destruction), the only state to have had huge numbers of its spies arrested quietly and deported from the US, as well as being the only state that will benefit from its enemies being removed by the US in this current “war on terror? For a take on the real terrorists in the Middle East, read Israel and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
And finally — Fidel Castro called him “the idiot son of the Mafia friend of worms” and I have to say, Fidel didn’t go far enough. For a look at US President George W Bush’s public statements, followed by the reality of what then happened, go stare thoughtfully at Bush Says One Thing Then Does Another.
Until the next time, if government-financed astronomers dont get me.
Ian Fraser is a playwright, author, comedian, conspiracy nut, old-time radio collector and self-confessed data-junkie. Winner of numerous Vita and Amstel Awards, he’s been an Internet addict and games-fanatic since around 1995, when the Internet began to make much more sense than theatre.