Asteroid or glitch? Google Sky user spots strange, undiscovered glowing rock in our solar system

It's Nibiru, better run for cover! Nothing can save us...

Why change it? It is not the object that is strange but the bizarre huge rectangle that appeared over the area where I had seen the object.

The images are not all decades old at all. This is a strange story which has been doing the rounds. Do amateur astronomers have better telescopes than Hubble?

"plan public images from 2007, as well as color images of all of the archived data from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Newly released Hubble pictures will be added to the Sky in Google Earth program as soon as they are issued, Conti said.

To add even more interest and adventure, Conti and Christian hope to help other observatories, such as the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and other NASA missions, add their images to Sky in Google Earth."

www.nasa.gov...

The object is not as strange as the effort to cover it up in such an obvious way. The glitch could have been subtly removed but instead we have the - Look at this black rectangle!

This is either an amusing joke on the public or a way to desensitize us from the threat of objects from space. There is some evidence for this. If every year we have a couple of space scares very soon it is normal and when (not if) something does genuinely pose a threat we will so used to it and confused about whether it is a hoax, we will just plod on shopping and being obedient.

reply to post by rolfharriss

The question one has to ask is: what's the point of blocking something in Google Sky when all other sources on the Internet have no such blocking?

P.S. please stop seeing the black blocks as the intent to cover something up, or to scare the population. This is ridiculous. The astronomical community are trying their best to _not_ get the public scared over close approaches of asteroids or comets. That's the media's job.

I'm not an astronomer myself, but as someone interested in astronomy and knowing a thing or two, it saddens me to see a reaction like yours. There's nothing to be agitated about, no need to point fingers and incriminate the astronomers.

There are some mineral combinations that glow when exposed to light. It is possible to have a big asteroid with these combinations in orbit around the sun. It may even have elements that aren't found here on earth. I guess we won't know unless a scientific organization acknowledges it's possible existence. Not many will believe anything exists anymore unless it is verified. Just because it is not verified doesn't mean it doesn't exist though.

Originally posted by rolfharriss
Do amateur astronomers have better telescopes than Hubble?

No, but many of their telescopes are good enough to see objects fainter than Pluto. A lot of new asteroid discoveries are made by the amateurs.

I agree, I am a sceptic but when I had looked at the object a few days ago an then checked last night to show a colleague, there was this huge rectangle it did not make sense.

It is deliberately drawing attention to it whilst appearing to be a 'cover-up'

If this was a genuine asteroid I have no doubt it could be easily erased and explained away, but the rectangle is drawing attention to it to create more interest and attention. I can't figure out why.

Completely forget about whether or not it is an asteroid, why cover up a glitch in such a clumsy way?

I do not believe it is an asteroid but for some unknown reason it has been created to make us think it is. Systematic desensitisation.

Originally posted by wildespace
reply to post by rolfharriss

 

The question one has to ask is: what's the point of blocking something in Google Sky when all other sources on the Internet have no such blocking?

P.S. please stop seeing the black blocks as the intent to cover something up, or to scare the population. This is ridiculous. The astronomical community are trying their best to _not_ get the public scared over close approaches of asteroids or comets. That's the media's job.

I'm not an astronomer myself, but as someone interested in astronomy and knowing a thing or two, it saddens me to see a reaction like yours. There's nothing to be agitated about, no need to point fingers and incriminate the astronomers.

edit on 8-10-2012 by wildespace because: (no reason given)

Originally posted by rolfharriss
Completely forget about whether or not it is an asteroid, why cover up a glitch in such a clumsy way?

How many times do I have to say it? Google sky is NOT a primary source of ANY sky survey data. Who cares how many glitches google sky has? Who cares?! They're not astronomers, it's just a stupid free web program and all of the same data is available at much higher quality elsewhere! That said, the "asteroid" glitch is still there, there is no rectangle there on google sky when I checked it just now.

For the record, the coordinates of the "asteroid" glitch are RA: 5h11m34s Dec: -12d50'34"
The coordinates of the image you posted are approximately RA: 5h11m38s Dec: +12d13m, nowhere near the "asteroid" defect.

The browser version of google sky does have a "rectangle" there where there is no SDSS sky coverage. The desktop version of google sky/earth uses DSS data instead and has no gap there at all.

reply to post by ngchunter


Its gone !

Someone nicked the square too.

I took a screenshot of it yesterday

Originally posted by rolfharriss
reply to post by ngchunter

 

Its gone !

Someone nicked the square too.

I took a screenshot of it yesterday

No, it's not. You're lying about the coordinates of the image. I performed astrometry of a section of your image (the section just above the gap) which shows it's nowhere near where you claimed it was.
nova.astrometry.net...
Center (RA, Dec): (77.908, 12.418)
=
5h 11m 37.92s
12d 25' 4.8"
You're busted. At first I gave you the benefit of a doubt that it was an honest mistake. No more. Anyone can go to these coordinates in google sky (the web browser version) and see for themselves. There's simply a coverage gap there, Sloan Digital Sky Survey images do not provide complete coverage of the sky (that survey only covered about 35% of the sky). My desktop version of google earth in sky mode uses Digitized Sky Survey (scans of the Palomar Sky Survey and its southern counterparts) images for that region, a completely different source which does provide total coverage.

reply to post by UberL33t


What software did you use, I tried clearing it up and all I got was.......

But seriously, I think it's just a glitch, a large asteroid would have to be very very close to be that detailed.