Originally posted by Devino
Originally posted by Threadfall
reply to post by Phage
You know, I hesitate to even say this because I think this Nibiru zeitgest is bulls@$t, but how can one be sure that they object labeled Mars is
actually Mars and not something anomalous that someone simply labeled Mars? This is a sincere question; not an attempt to support the planet X myth.
Sincerely, can someone elucidate this for me...or point me in the right direction if this has already been addressed.
This is a question I have asked myself. The only real answer is to not trust anyone else and seek your own answers. This can be difficult because we
must all rely on outside information at some point to verify our findings and point us in the right direction.
...
May I add to this a little? I've been an astronomy nut for over forty years. From the days when planetary 'ephemeris' (that's the data that
tells you where things are) was only easily available from tables in magazines, things have changed a bit.... Back then, you could of course make the
observations yourself (with a decent telescope you can distinguish Mars appearance), and of course over time you could build up an expectation of
where it should be. Or you could even do your own ephemeris calculations - hard work, but the information is all public domain.
Back when computers first appeared, astronomy programs appeared shortly after. I can fondly recall the first one that really impressed me - a thing
called Skyglobe (for DOS). Tell it your lat/lon, and the time and date, and it would pop up an accurate (moving!) picture of the sky above you...
Nowadays, not only are there HUNDREDS of amazing programs like that out there, many of them (eg Stellarium) are open source and FREE - that means you
can check all the ephemeris calculations yourself. Some astronomers are that keen... But then there are also Goto telescopes, where you again tell
it where you live and the date/time, and the dang thing will pan around to point exactly at any sky object you tell it to, via it's controller.
Get along to your nearest astronomy club and take a look at this stuff in action. It will knock your socks off...
Anyway, all this information is openly available, and at every second of every day, hundreds (nay
thousands) of telescopes around the world are
using this data. If any of it was wrong, the outcry would be ENORMOUS.
PLEASE, PLEASE, if you have any interest in astronomy - GET STELLARIUM and look for yourself. Set it up (it's EASY) and then be gobsmacked by the
beautiful way it portrays the night sky (use your mouse to roll around, zoom in/out..), speed the time up to watch the rotation of the stars... Then
get it back into realtime mode, and go outside on a clear night and you can then sit and identify everything you can see.
DO IT!
I find it rather sad that so few people care about their night skies any more, and wouldn't have a clue about what is up there..
ADDED:
Here's where you get Stellarium. FREE. Linux, Windows or Mac... ~46Mb download:
www.stellarium.org...
So what's your excuse for not knowing your night sky?
[edit on 26-5-2010 by CHRLZ]