Original Post December 9, 2011 Throughout human history the planet Mars has held mankind’s rapt attention. When telescopes were sufficiently advanced by the late nineteenth century, the red planet seasonally fogged over with dust storms. After such storms it appeared to darken in spots with what was thought to be…
Original Post December 5, 2011 A bright star without companions challenges popular theories. Electricity comes to the rescue. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released this image of a “superstar,” named VFTS682. It appears reddish, but the color is attributed to the absorption of higher wavelengths by surrounding dust. The…
Original Post December 2, 2011 Gamma-rays are said to be particles with no mass, yet possessed of extreme momentum. According to a recent press release, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected several unidentified sources of intense gamma-ray emissions that are not seen in any other frequencies. NASA launched the…
Original Post November 30, 2011 Did pieces of stone really carve these holes? Rockwood Provincial Park lies alongside the Grand River in the Niagara Escarpment region of Canada. Numerous geological features are located in the park and all are attributed to glacial action as the sole creation mechanism. The two…
Original Post November 28, 2011 Consensus opinions state that a star in the latter stages of its life will undergo violent upheavals as its supply of hydrogen fuel diminishes and the “ash” of heavier elements accumulates in its core. Before stars reach the final white dwarf stage in their evolution,…
Cracks in Theory by Andrew Hall Every butte has a crack, but not all cracks are beautiful. Though some are magnificent, ruler-straight, and parallel, some can be ugly, chaotic mangles. But there is a quixotic pattern to ugly cracks, so we must not discriminate. Whether they make lovely geometric shapes…
Original Post November 16, 2011 The key to modern knowledge is the exclusion of disproof and other possibilities. From the press release (emphasis added): Data from [five instruments] were combined to create the most complete spectrum of an asteroid ever assembled. This spectrum of Lutetia was then compared with that…
Original Post November 15, 2011 MESSENGER has completed 100 orbits around the planet Mercury. In the image at the top of the page, all the characteristics of an electric discharge leaping from Mercury’s surface to space can be seen. The crater walls are terraced, there is a peculiar spiral-shaped crater…
Original Post November 10, 2011 Victory for one theory should mean defeat for its rival. An ESO (European Southern Observatory) press release boasts, “Pulsating Star Mystery Solved.” Cepheid variables are stars whose rates of pulsation vary with their luminosities: the brighter the star the longer it takes to complete a…
Original Post November 8, 2011 Ev Cochrane’s recent book, “Fossil Gods and Forgotten Worlds”, again presents the challenge to explain an undeniable intelligibility in a large and coherent body of data. Petroglyphs, myths, and rituals around the world are composed of the same motifs: the ladder to heaven, the…
