How to Get Vitamin D Without the Sun

How to Get Vitamin D Without the Sun | GreenMedInfo | Blog Entry.
Thursday, June 13th 2013
Written By: Heidi Stevenson

Certainly, it’s best to get your Vitamin D from the sun. It’s the most natural approach. However, there are other ways if needed. Here’s a guide to those sources, and how to convert IUs to milligrams.

Sunflower in sunshineWhile it’s best to obtain your Vitamin D3 by sun exposure, nowadays it simply isn’t practical for most of us to spend that much time outside. There’s no need to worry, though. Two good options for getting the D3 you need are readily available. One is through suntanning booths and beds, and the other is via supplements.

First, though, let’s take a look at what foods provide D3. Although there’s a diet that can supply adequate D3, it isn’t one that’s readily available to most people, and frankly, unless you’ve grown up with it, the chances are you’ll find it less than appetizing. It’s virtually all meat and animal fat, and much is eaten raw. D3 and other vitamins are readily available in the flesh, organs, and blubber of far north animals, unlike those of lower latitudes. While this diet isn’t readily available to most people, or desirable, it does demonstrate that D3 can be obtained through diet.

It’s helpful to know where you can obtain D3 in your food. As might be expected from the Inuit diet, the best foods for D3 are cold water fish, with cod liver oil at the top of the list. Unfortunately, cod liver oil is very toxic from pollution and should be avoided—not a heartening start!

The current official recommended allowance of D3 is 400 IU. However, this figure is far too low to produce adequate levels in the body. An adequate figure has not yet been established, but 2,000 IU is likely a more reasonable figure. Assuming that, one tablespoon of cod liver oil would produce about 68% of what’s necessary for a typical person.

Update: While optimal intake of vitamin D is still not specified, the best sources of information are stating that 5,000 IUs is a good place for an adult to start. However, unless you know your blood level, you cannot know just how much to supplement.

The best food sources for D3 are:
Food     Quantity     Content (IUs)     Percent of 2,000 IUs
Cod Liver Oil     1 Tbl.     1,360     68.0
Atlantic Herring (pickled     100 gms.     680     34.0
Oysters (steamed)     100 gms.     500     25.0
Mackerel (canned & drained)     100 gms.     450     22.4
Salmon (baked)     100 gms.     360     18.0
Mackerel (fresh & cooked)     100 gms.     345     17.2
Lard (pork fat)     10 gms.     280     13.8/td>
Sardines (canned in oil, drained)     100 gms.     170     13.4
Eel (cooked)     100 gms.     200     10.0
Milk (whole/nonfat, D3 fortified)     1 cup     98     5.0
Beef liver (cooked)     100 gms.     30     1.6
Whole egg     1 Egg     26     1.2
Butter     10 gms.     5.6     0.3

Obviously with most modern diets, eating is not a realistic way to get Vitamin D3! That leaves either supplementation or using a tanning booth to obtain an adequate amount, if you can’t spend enough time in the sun.
Suntanning Booths

Suntanning booths have the extra advantage of giving you an attractive tan. The question is, are they healthy?  The two potential problems are burning and skin aging.

While it’s true that sun exposure has been associated with melanoma, a particularly virulent type of skin cancer, there is evidence that it may not be true:

    Most cases of melanoma do not occur on skin that’s often exposed to sunlight. About 75% of cases are found in unexposed locations, such as the bottom of the foot.
    Melanoma decreases with more sun exposure.
    Research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has shown that the use of sunscreens does not decrease the incidence of melanoma.

A history of sunburn does appear to be associated with melanoma, but there is little to suggest that moderate amounts of tanning are a factor, and much to indicate that it may be beneficial. Gaia Health discusses this in more depth in Suntans Have Nothing to Do with Cancer, But Most Sunscreens Do.

Judicious use of ultraviolet lamps can resolve concerns with the potential of burning. Start slowly, and be particularly careful if your skin is light. Remember that burns often don’t show until hours later.

If your skin is particularly sensitive, it might be a good idea to take a high-dose supplement of Vitamin D for a month before starting your sessions, as it can prevent burning. Of course, be sure to first have a blood test to determine that your systemic D3 level is low. Once assured that it’s low, then you can take 10,000 IUs a day for a month. Not only does UVB light create Vitamin D, the reverse is true: Vitamin D helps protect the skin from burning.

Full article:

How to Get Vitamin D Without the Sun | GreenMedInfo | Blog Entry.

The sun: NASA’s SDO satellite shows boiling sun in stunning detail

NASA’s SDO satellite shows boiling sun in stunning detail | Mail Online.

By Daily Mail Reporter

October 2011

It is a view of the sun like no other. These stunning images show the boiling inner workings of our star in a way no human eye could possibly hope to detect.

The mesmerising pictures, taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Satellite or SDO, show the energy thrown off by the sun in wavelengths invisible to the human eye such as X-rays and ultraviolet light. It has allowed us new understanding of how the star works.

Stunning: These x-ray and ultraviolet images help scientists understand how the sun works

Captured: The $855 million satellite has been producing stunning images soon after its launch in February last year

The clarity of the SDO images means that it will feed back to Nasa on Earth more comprehensive science data on the sun than any other spacecraft. Every day it sends out 1.5 terabytes of data, equal to 500,000 songs on an MP3 player.

Some of the images show never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots. Others show extreme close-ups of activity on the Sun’s surface. 

This image is taken in the extreme ultraviolet spectrum – light normally invisible to the human eye, but which causes sun tanning

Viewed in the extreme ultraviolet spectrum, the ‘lighter’ areas of the sun’s surface are areas of violent activity, capable of producing solar storms

The satellite was launched in February 2010 and chief scientist Dean Pesnell said it has already reshaped our theories of how the star works – as well as allowing an insight into the recent violent activity on the surface of the star. 

 

During its five-year mission, it will examine the Sun’s magnetic field and provide a better understanding of the role the Sun plays in Earth’s climate.

It will determine how the Sun’s magnetic field is generated  and converted into such violent solar events such as turbulent solar winds.

It is hoped the SDO will help scientists learn the damage solar flares can do to communication satellites and power supplies.

Success: It is hoped the SDO will help scientists learn the damage solar flares can do to communication satellites and power supplies

 

Show: NASA has begun releasing daily images and videos to illustrate the movements of the sun

 

Mission: During its five-year mission, the SDO will examine the Sun’s magnetic field and provide a better understanding of the role the Sun plays in Earth’s climate

Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida in February 2010.

It is on a five year mission which is expected to cost $855million.

The spacecraft, orbiting 22,000 miles above Earth, is 7.2ft by 14.8ft.

The solar panels are 21ft across and produce 1450W of power.

 

Combining three different wavelengths of light into one image – from X-Rays to ultraviolet – one can see ‘bright’ areas of strong magnetic activity on the surface

Black spots on the sun’s surface are sunspots moving across the boiling surface of the star

 

Instruments on board have additional shielding because this is in the outer reaches of the Earth’s radiation belt where levels can be quite high.

The spacecraft carries three instruments that take ultra-high resolution images of the Sun every minute.

It is also able to study solar pressure waves generated on its surface.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2044480/NASAs-SDO-satellite-shows-boiling-sun-stunning-detail.html#ixzz1ZjPsrSjB

Related articles

• Awesome X2-class solar flare caught by SDO (blogs.discovermagazine.com)
• Something new on the sun: SDO spots a late phase in solar flares (eurekalert.org)

Vast Solar Eruption Shocks NASA and Raises Doubts on Sun Theory

NASA reports an entire hemisphere of the sun has erupted. The U.S. space agency now admits the cataclysm puts existing solar theories in doubt.

We are forever being told that the sun is a vast gas ball of hydrogen and helium at the center of our solar system. But new evidence may help prove this isn’t the case after all, according to solar experts who say the sun has an iron core.

A stunned NASA admits, “Astronomers knew they had witnessed something big. It was so big, it may have shattered old ideas about solar activity.”

The vast global solar eruption covers ~10^9 km of the solar photosphere. The US space agency reports, “The whole solar hemisphere erupted simultaneously in an avalanche effect that had been triggered in the tiny solar core and propagated outwards” (NASA: Dec 13, 2010).

Scientists have confirmed that the explosion that occurred on August 1, 2010 is unprecedented in recorded history and caused filaments of magnetism to snap and explode creating enormous shock waves that raced across the stellar surface. This caused billion-ton clouds of hot gas to billow out into space.

This unprecedented event is claimed to give support to an alternative theory long held by Professor Oliver K. Manuel, a Postdoctoral Fellow of the University of California, Berkeley.

Event believed to be a Self Organized Criticality

In a never-seen-before occurrence, an entire hemisphere of the sun erupted simultaneously in an avalanche effect triggered from inside the compact solar core and propagated outwards; scientists are describing the astonishing happening as like the sand pile effect in Self Organised Criticality.

Self Organized Criticality (SOC) occurs in physics when a critical point is reached in a dynamic system in flux whereby the system radically alters its behavior or structure, for example, from being a solid to acting like a liquid.

SOC is one of a number of important discoveries made in statistical physics and related fields over the latter half of the 20th century, discoveries which relate particularly to the study of complexity in nature. Such new evidence, say Manuel, must now force solar scientists to think again.

Iron core sun theorists believe it’s possible that our sun may now, in fact, be more like an atom rather than a huge gas ball. With the atom, electrons occupy 99% of the volume and have less than 1% of the mass. In the Sun, the atmosphere and planets occupy 99% of the volume and may also have less than 1% of the mass.

Evidence Suggests Solar Theories May Need to be Re-written

Controversy about our understanding of the sun has been fomenting for years. In 1980, solar science researcher, Ralph E. Juergens lamented, “The modern astrophysical concept that ascribes the sun’s energy to thermonuclear reactions deep in the solar interior is contradicted by nearly every observable aspect of the sun.”

The astrophysics establishment has long shunned the idea of the sun having any such iron core. But this momentous event is consistent with the theory that there is a tiny dense neutron core the size of a city powered by neutron repulsion. Professor Manuel believes there is a super-conducting iron-rich shell the size of a moon or small planet surrounding the neutron core.

Backing the theory is astrophysicist Carl A. Rouse, who calculated a tiny iron-rich solar core from helioseismology data, but he has also been ignored up until now.

Manuel’s Theory Made more Credible by Solar Eruption

Manuel of the University of Missouri-Rolla claims the event has ‘Implications for Solar Eruptions and Climate’as documented in his seminal paper on the subject.

NASA’s discovery of global solar eruptions is set to encourage a fresh look by scientists at Manuel’s ideas that are further detailed in the Journal of Fusion Energy (2002).

The delighted University of Missouri-Rolla and ex-NASA man says that the event, contrary to modern theory, is new evidence for the Sun’s tiny (~10 km), dense neutron core being powered by neutron repulsion, and/or the super-conducting iron-rich shell (~10^3 km) surrounding the neutron core.

“The August 1st event really opened our eyes,” says Karel Schrijver of Lockheed Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Lab in Palo Alto, CA. “We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before.”

The four key points made by the iron core theorists are:

1. We do not “see” the Sun;
2. We see waste products emitting light when they reach the top of the Sun’s atmosphere (photosphere);
3. The “smoke” we see is (H and He) from a neutron star;
4. The global eruption was triggered by the tiny, energetic, dense neutron-rich core of the Sun or by the iron-rich mantle that surrounds it.

Time for ‘Truthing’ Says Solar Professor

This monumental solar eruption may finally challenge the accepted theories about how the key driver of Earth’s climate actually works. Manuel sagely observes, “Although NASA seems to be catching up, after decades of ‘group-think’ it will be very difficult for NASA scientists to comprehend the Sun.”

Indeed, this latest evidence is unsettling not just for accepted ideas about how our Sun works but it also impacts assumptions of how the Sun effects Earth’s climate. Oliver insists “ Science is a continuous process of ‘truthing’ without ever claiming that you have the ‘whole truth.’”

Reference:

Manuel, O., Ninham & Friberg, ‘Superfluidity in the Solar Interior: Implications for Solar Eruptions and Climate,’ Journal of Fusion Energy 21 (2002) [193-198]

Vast Solar Eruption Shocks NASA and Raises Doubts on Sun Theory | Suite101.com.

Read more at Suite101: Vast Solar Eruption Shocks NASA and Raises Doubts on Sun Theory | Suite101.com http://www.suite101.com/content/vast-solar-eruption-shocks-nasa-and-raises-doubts-on-sun-theory-a327330#ixzz1Om2xxkfo

Related articles

• Gargantuan Sun Explosion Rocks Astronomers (space.com)
• Solar flare threatens to disrupt Earth’s communications and power (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Burnt by the Sun: high proton density solar winds sear planet’s magnetosphere (theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com)

Bad News from NASA: Proof That Comet Elenin Is Affecting Earth

Dr. Mark Sircus, Contributing Writer

This is going to be the most extraordinary communication so fasten your seatbelts; we are in for a rough ride. I have known in my heart for months that I would have to make a communication like this but had no idea it would be this soon. Back in January, while investigating the underground city that is alleged to have been built under the new Denver Airport, reported on by the former governor Jesse Ventura, I put the puzzle together and came to the conclusion that a planetary event was in store for us in 2012.

Today I am presenting rock solid information; it does not get any better when NASA is your source. What you are about to read and see is happening. Last night, looking at a NASA mathematical model of comet Elenin, I found out that a large celestial body has already penetrated the solar system and is on course for a near and possibly horrific encounter with the earth in the fall of 2011. What we do not know is the size and mass of comet Elenin though I have no doubt that it is known by the authorities.

Elenin is presently being tracked as it goes through the asteroid belt on its way into the inner solar system. I am truly sorry to have to be the bearer of such grave and threatening news but the source, NASA, is impeccable. We have an incoming mass (what might possibly be a neutron star) coming in and it will do a hard turn around the sun like any comet would, crossing and coming in between Mercury and Venus before starting its journey back out. On its way out it will cross our bow, meaning it will pass very close to the earth and the earth will pass behind it, plowing into its tail.

In the video below you will see this explained graphically. What you will see with mathematical precision is that every time this celestial body comes into alignment with the earth and sun we have a huge earthquake. The last three alignments produced the Japanese 9.0 quake, the one in New Zealand and before that the one in Chile. On March 11th Elenin was much farther out. When the next alignment happens it will be devastatingly close. The main point to understand is that if Elenin was just a normal comet it would not have the mass to generate a gravity pull that would affect the earth when the earth swings around into alignment.

David Morrison, Astrobiology Senior Scientist at NASA, in an official communication on March 1st acknowledged no threat from Elenin. Ten days later Elenin came into alignment with the earth and the sun . . . and Japan was almost destroyed.

Morrison confirmed that Elenin’s perihelion (closest to the sun) is in early September 2011 at a distance from the sun of 40-45 million miles. He said it will be closest to the earth on about October 16, at a distance of about 21 million miles, but he believes there is no reason to think Elenin is any different from a normal comet. I wonder if he changed his mind after March 11th. He dismisses everything alarming as pure fiction.

This is the real deal though—that alignment did happen as we can clearly see from the NASA simulation. Now we have to live with increasing radiation spreading around the northern hemisphere. We know how easy it is for people in authority to cover up information and lie with a straight face. The Japanese government admitted it kept in secret at least 5000 radiation measurements and assessments after the nuclear event that struck the Fukushima Daiichi NPP in March. This was done in order to not induce panic in the population, a representative of the staff dealing with the nuclear emergency told ITAR-TASS.

We have to acknowledge and accept that there is a danger and a possibility that part of our civilization and the people in it will be lost. This is not a time to deny anything or a time to hold back the tears. I hope to God I am wrong but the evidence cannot be dismissed casually, though of course it will be. One picture is worth a thousand words and NASA has given us visible proof to suggest Elenin is playing a role in events down here on our planet even from a long distance. It is not a time for fear; rather it is a time for love and cooperation in the context of preparation on all levels for what is to come.

There is a history to Elenin that has been visible for years but now she is upon us and there is nothing we can do but prepare and pray—and love like we have never loved before. We have to acknowledge and accept that there is a danger and there is a possibility that part of our civilization and the people in it will be lost. The below video displays what has been known by NASA for decades.

The whole solar system seems to be heating up, the sun is becoming active and earth-changing events are becoming more frequent and intense with beyond-worst-case-scenario climate changes hitting around the globe. We have increasing geo-activity, volcanoes, earthquakes, rogue tides, sinking islands, magnetic pole migration, mass animal deaths, huge unexplained whirlpools in the Atlantic and so much more it would make anyone’s head spin.

We were tipped off to something unusual happening when Greenland experienced sunrise two days early, which was a strong sign that something was off with Earth’s orbit. On January 25th I said:

There is a lot of information (except in the mainstream press) about 2012 and the end of the Mayan Calendar that many are obsessing over but there is more than enough in 2011 to worry about and act on. Last week I was knocked off my chair with the report from the Arctic Circle in Greenland that the sun came back over the horizon two days early. That’s no small occurrence, is not something easy to make up, is not being reported as expected in the mainstream press, and only wild and stupid theories like global warming (since we really have rapid cooling) are being blamed for the event.

Next Few Months

August 3, 2011 marks the time that the earth passes through the brown dwarf perigee position, while the brown dwarf is crossing the earth orbit location. About two weeks pass and on August 18 the brown dwarf crosses the Venus orbit some 67 million miles from the sun. Then 24 days pass to when the brown dwarf reaches the nearest point to the sun at 44.73 million miles. September 25, 2011 marks the time that the earth passes through the second conjunction with the sun, brown dwarf, Mercury, Saturn and Uranus in line for another gravitational alignment.

This video from the top of a mountain in Japan seems to have caught Elenin on camera.

October 2 is the day that the brown dwarf crosses Venus’ orbit again to begin trekking in the direction of earth. Two weeks go by and the brown dwarf crosses the earth orbit line to pass directly in front of our planet at just 22.3 million miles away, which is the nearest point in our encounter. The brown dwarf crosses the Mars orbit line on November 14, 2011 on the way to the third conjunction on November 22 where the earth once again passes directly between the two like on March 15.

Conclusion

An approaching brown dwarf star answers a lot of questions about what is happening all around us that others simply cannot begin to answer. No one really knows what will happen in the fall of this year as this incoming celestial body gets between us and the sun and then rebounds out again and heading directly into earth’s neighborhood. One person has speculated that it could rip our moon loose. It could hit us if its flight plan is changed by hitting an asteroid in the next few days. That could be possible if it really were a comet, but if it is a neutron star with a large mass, nothing will deflect its ordained path.

If we are lucky, nothing will happen but humanity is not looking or feeling lucky these days.

What seems likely is what most of the ancient cultures and religions remember—huge floods that pass the world over. The only way the world can have a global flood is if there is some event like an asteroid impact, polar shift, or a very dense object passing close by earth that causes a massive tsunami tide. The gravitational pull would grab the water and pull it over the land on a massive scale, much like the moon does today on a smaller scale in the form of tides.

Safe Zones:

1.   Move 150+ miles from the coasts.
2.   Move 600 feet above sea level.
3.   Move away from volcanoes and super volcanoes like Yellowstone in northwestern USA.
4.   Move away from earthquake/seismic/avalanche/fault zones like the New Madrid Fault Zone in central USA.
5.   Move away from dams that will break.
6.   Move away from nuclear power plants that could become compromised.
7.   Move away from high elevations where radiation levels will be highest.
8.   Move away from large population areas where food riots will escalate into chaos and mayhem.
9.   Join into survival groups with people of like mind that have survival supplies, gear and guns to protect them.

There is no shortage of flood legends. The earliest extant flood legend is contained in the fragmentary Sumerian Eridu Genesis, datable by its script to the 17th century BCE. In the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh there are references to the Great Flood (tablet 11). The best-known version of the Jewish deluge legend is contained in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 6-9). God selects Noah, a man who “found favor in the eyes of the Lord” and commands him to build an ark to save Noah, his family, and the earth’s animals and birds. After Noah builds the ark, “All the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.”

There are many sources of flood legends in ancient Chinese literature. The Shujing, or “Book of History,” probably written around 500 BCE or earlier, states in the opening chapters that Emperor Yao is facing the problem of flood waters that “reach to the heavens.” According to the Australian aborigines the water covered the land. Only the highest mountain peaks were visible, like islands in the sea.

Dr. Mark Sircus is a natural health expert and self-sufficiency advocate.  He is the author of several must-read books including titles such as Survival Medicine For the 21st Century, Winning the War on Cancer, and Humane Pediatrics.  You can find all of Mark’s informative articles at his website IMVA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0Bv1rQxgMbA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TvPZep14Cn4

Activist Post: Bad News from NASA: Proof That Comet Elenin Is Affecting Earth.

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• Comet Elenin: Preview of a Coming Attraction (spacefellowship.com)
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Solar Activity Heats Up – NASA Science

Solar Activity Heats Up – NASA Science.

April 14, 2011: If you’ve ever stood in front of a hot stove, watching a pot of water and waiting impatiently for it to boil, you know what it feels like to be a solar physicist.

Back in 2008, the solar cycle plunged into the deepest minimum in nearly a century. Sunspots all but vanished, solar flares subsided, and the sun was eerily quiet.

“Ever since, we’ve been waiting for solar activity to pick up,” says Richard Fisher, head of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. “It’s been three long years.”

Quiet spells on the sun are nothing new. They come along every 11 years or so—it’s a natural part of the solar cycle. This particular solar minimum, however, was lasting longer than usual, prompting some researchers to wonder if it would ever end.

News flash: The pot is starting to boil. “Finally,” says Fisher, “we are beginning to see some action.”

As 2011 unfolds, sunspots have returned and they are crackling with activity. On February 15th and again on March 9th, Earth orbiting satellites detected a pair of “X-class” solar flares–the most powerful kind of x-ray flare. The last such eruption occurred back in December 2006.

Another eruption on March 7th hurled a billion-ton cloud of plasma away from the sun at five million mph (2200 km/s). The rapidly expanding cloud wasn’t aimed directly at Earth, but it did deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field. The off-center impact on March 10th was enough to send Northern Lights spilling over the Canadian border into US states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.

“That was the fastest coronal mass ejection in almost six years,” says Angelos Vourlidas of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. “It reminds me of a similar series of events back in Nov. 1997 that kicked off Solar Cycle 23, the solar cycle before this one.”

“To me,” says Vourlidas, “this marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 24.”

The slow build-up to this moment is more than just “the watched pot failing to boil,” says Ron Turner, a space weather analyst at Analytic Services, Inc. “It really has been historically slow.”

There have been 24 numbered solar cycles since researchers started keeping track of them in the mid-18th century. In an article just accepted for publication by the Space Weather Journal, Turner shows that, in all that time, only four cycles have started more slowly than this one. “Three of them were in the Dalton Minimum, a period of depressed solar activity in the early 19th century. The fourth was Cycle #1 itself, around 1755, also a relatively low solar cycle,” he says.

In his study, Turner used sunspots as the key metric of solar activity. Folding in the recent spate of sunspots does not substantially alter his conclusion: “Solar Cycle 24 is a slow starter,” he says.

Better late than never.

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

Comet Elenin is coming…to get you!

Sunday, March 27, 2011 12:01

NASA posted a video on their website Buzzroom, bringing attention to a recently discovered comet in our solar system. The comet was discovered by Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin in December last year. Comet Elenin, as it is called, is of particular interest to NASA because of the close proximity to Earth that its orbit will reach during its turn around the sun on its way back out through the solar system later this year.

Most orbits of planets are not circles; they are ellipses. The elongated ends of elliptical orbits are called aphelions and perihelions; the aphelion being the end farthest away from the stationary object being orbited, and perihelion being the end closest to the stationary object. In Elenin’s case, its trip around our sun represents the comet’s perihelion.

So little is known about this comet because of its relatively recent-discovery status, therefore, information regarding its size, mass, and orbit still vary widely or are missing altogether due to a lack of observational data. Still, astrophysicists have been plugging away at Elenin ever sine it was discovered last year.

NASA’s put a video up in their Buzzroom about Elenin, but it is not there anymore [it is on YouTube]. It was probably pulled down more due to its amateur nature rather than as part of any grand conspiracy theory, but the relative silence by NASA and the mainstream media regarding Elenin has the Armageddon chatrooms abuzz with theories of doom and gloom.
The fact, though, that conspiracy and end-of-the-world chatrooms are abuzz with tales of human annihilation does not discount the reality of this space object. It is real.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has an interactive diagram of Elenin’s orbit with the known information about the object plugged into variable positions. What is known is that Elenin is scheduled to make its perihelion turn around the sun in August of this year [2011]. Shortly after making its u-turn, Elenin will perform a fly-by of Earth, coming within 21,000,000 miles of Earth.  As a point of reference, the moon is roughly 240,000 miles from Earth.

Elliptical orbits with very long-periods, meaning the length of time it takes for them to complete their elliptical journey back to the starting point, are very difficult to calculate on moving bodies. Slight variations in measurements relating to the placement of the object over a given time can result in substantial differences in the measurement of the orbital period, meaning the length of time it takes the object to travel from perihelion to aphelion and back again.
In Elenin’s case, due to its recent discovery, not enough information has been taken to accurately define its period. In addition, measurements of Elenin’s path within our solar system have varied wildly since its discovery due to perturbation by the planets, meaning the gravity of larger objects in space can push and pull the comet, giving astrophysicists on Earth who are trying to measure its path difficulty in calculating its future position based upon its present trajectory.

While astrophysicists have identified the current path of Elenin with some degree of accuracy, the length of time it takes Elenin to complete its ellipse is not so well defined. Based upon one set of data, Elenin’s period could be 11,000 years; based upon another set of data, the period is 600,000 years. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but that is a large margin of possibilities.  Most likely, this is why NASA is mum on the object; no one likes to look dumb, and astrophysicists are particularly sensitive in this area. Me, I’m genuinely curious on this one, so I’ll take the risk.

Space distance is measured in astronomical units [a.u.], with 1 a.u. being the distance from the Earth to the sun. That being said, Elenin is currently estimated to pass within 0.24 a.u. of Earth after it makes its turn around the sun and begins heading back out into space. It should be clarified here that the exact position of Elenin as it passes by Earth is still unknown, so people who say it will hit Earth are just as inaccurate as those that are saying it will not.

There is a lot of space and a lot of objects in between where it is now and its approach to Earth that could affect its path, and the slightest push or pull could magnify dramatically over the course of 100 million miles. In addition, gravitational forcings of planets in the inner solar system as they align themselves during the comets incoming path could act as a forcing mechanism that either causes the 0.24 a.u. to either widen or shrink.

Elenin has recently entered the inner solar system and should pass through Mars orbit by the end of June sometime. There are several alignments that happen between then and its rendezvous with Earth that could alter its trajectory slightly.

The ecliptic is a horizontal field created by the planets and sun orbiting on a relatively flat plane. Many of these long-period objects do not travel along the ecliptic plane. They either come up from below the ecliptic, cross the ecliptic, and travel out above the ecliptic plane, or they do the opposite. In Elenin’s case, it will cross the ecliptic on September 11, 2011, and shortly thereafter line up with Mercury, the Sun, and the Earth. There is no telling how such an alignment on the ecliptic plane will affect the trajectory of Elenin.

From October 10-24, 2011 comet Elenin is forecast to be within 0.25 a.u. of Earth, according to NASA JPL diagram.
In the modern world that we are living in, Elenin is simply a comet, but since the beginning of time, space objects have fascinated mankind, inspiring stories that have been passed down for millenia. Even though technology has taken over our lives and the magic has been sucked out of the natural world, the stories still exist, and on a certain plane, long-period time, these stories ARE reality. We just happen to be living in a time when our short-sightedness is running headstrong into long-period time, and in some ways, our space knowledge through technology is just beginning to catch up to that held by the ancients.

There are two stories that describe human short-sightedness within long-period time I want to mention; the first is the story of the Blue Star and Red Star Kachinas in Hopi Prophecy.  According to these stories, the Blue Star Kachina acts as a warning, an alarm bell, that announces the imminent arrival of the Red Star Kachina. The story is about the cyclical nature of life; it is a story about humanity forgetting to remember its purpose; it is a story of destruction and purification; it is a story repeated a thousand times throughout history; and as always, it is ultimately a story of renewal.

The other story comes from the Sumerians. The Sumerians referred to an ancient planet called Nibiru, the 12th planet of our solar system. It was a rogue planet, causing havoc in our solar system as it passed through because its orbit was in the opposite direction of the planets. When it appeared, it did so in the shape of a red cross in the night sky before flipping the Earth’s poles.

Combining the two stories, this is the Red Star Kachina that sits in judgement as life on Earth is reset.

There is a lot of the information online regarding stories relating to near-earth misses from heavenly bodies, and it is all incredibly cryptic and mostly contradictory when compared together. The information provided here on the Hopi and Sumerian is done so as to give a sampling of the saner rambling explanations of an incredibly complex topic, that is, long-period time, a topic coming to light more so each day as the end of the Mayan calendar approaches 12.21.2012, a topic based upon such complex heavenly motions that NASA can’t even explain its meaning yet using modern world high-tech gadgetry. To dismiss these ancient stories is to dismiss the majesty and complexity of the planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe that we live within.Source

YouTube – Comet Elenin is coming (2011).

9/11 End Times Doom Comet To Be Visible

It doesn’t look like much now — just a tiny, 19th-magnitude smudge tucked away in southwestern Virgo — but a newly discovered comet could become something special 10 months from now.

Comet Elenin (C/2010 X1) made its debut on December 10th when Leonid Elenin, an observer in Lyubertsy, Russia, remotely acquired four 4-minute-long images using an 18-inch (45-cm) telescope at the ISON-NM observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. Follow-up images by Aleksei Sergeyev and Artyom Novichonok at Maidanak Observatory in Uzbekistan revealed more about the new find: it had a teardrop-shaped, very diffuse coma just 6 arcseconds across and a tiny tail.

What’s gotten hearts beating a little faster since the discovery is that Comet Elenin is still more than 4 astronomical units (375 million miles) from the Sun and headed inbound. It’s still early, and the calculated orbit is certain to change in the weeks ahead as more position measurements are made, but right now it appears that the comet’s perihelion will occur well inside Earth’s orbit, about 0.45 a.u. (42 million miles) from the Sun, next September 5th.

Right now, odds are that Comet Elenin will become an easy target for binoculars around mid-August and reach naked-eye visibility for a couple of weeks around perihelion. The comet’s elongation from the Sun shrinks to just 1° following perihelion, but soon thereafter the comet gets enough separate to position itself nicely for viewing in the predawn sky.

Moreover, it’s traveling very near the ecliptic plane, and as it sweeps close to the Sun its sky location won’t stray far from the ecliptic until mid-September, when the path arcs slowly northwestward through Leo. That’s a plus for skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere.

Finally, because Comet Elenin passes between the Sun and Earth, there’s a chance its dust tail might “light up” (via forward-scattered light) due to the large Sun-comet-Earth angle and put on a really good show. The last interloper to do this, Comet McNaught, dazzled southern skygazers in January 2007.

I’ll update this story once the calculated orbit settles down, so please check back for the latest details.

Posted by Kelly Beatty, December 24, 2010

SkyandTelescope.com – Observing Blog – Bright Prospects for Comet Elenin?.

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Search on for Tyche, believed to be largest planet in the solar system

Scientists believe they may have found a new planet in the far reaches of the solar system, up to four times the mass of Jupiter.

Its orbit would be thousands of times further from the Sun than the Earth’s – which could explain why it has so far remained undiscovered.

Data which could prove the existence of Tyche, a gas giant in the outer Oort Cloud, is set to be released later this year – although some believe proof has already been garnered by Nasa with its pace telescope, Wise, and is waiting to be pored over.

 

A new world? Astronomers believe a huge gas giant may be within the remote Oort Cloud region

Prof Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette believes the data may prove Tyche’s existence within two years.

He told the Independent: ‘If it does, [fellow astrophysicist Prof John Matese] and I will be doing cartwheels. And that’s not easy at our age.’

More…

• Radiation particles will sterilize any baby girl being conceived in deep space, say scientists

He added he believes it will mainly be made of hydrogen and helium, with an atmosphere like Jupiter’s, with spots and rings and clouds, adding: ‘You’d also expect it to have moons. All the outer planets have them.’

He believes the planet is so huge, it will ahve a raised temperature left from its formation that will make it far higher than others, such as Pluto, at -73C, as ‘it takes an object this size a long time to cool off’.

 

Isolated: The Oort Cloud, where Tyche is believed to be, is a sphere with a radius of one light year

He and Prof Matese first suggested Tyche existed because of the angle comets were arriving, with a fifth of the expected number since 1898 entering higher than expected.

However, Tyche – if it exists – should also dislodge comets closer to home, from the  inner Oort Cloud, but they have not been seen.

If confirmed, the status and name of the new planet – which would become the ninth and potentially the largest – would then have to be agreed by the International Astronomical Union.

Currently named Tyche, from the Greek goddess that governed the destiny of a city, its name may have to change, as it originated from a theory which has now been largely abandoned.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1356748/Search-Tyche-believed-largest-planet-solar-system.html#ixzz1Dz9ioaQf

Search on for Tyche, believed to be largest planet in the solar system | Mail Online.

Horoscopes: A sign of the times

Whether you’re a believer or a sceptic, the allure of horoscopes is hard to ignore. But new findings suggest there may be more to the zodiac than meets the eye. By Genevieve Roberts

 

 

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Are you going to meet a tall, dark, handsome stranger? Are you going to see change at home and at work? Are you going to have a visit from Lady Luck? Or are you just reading too many horoscopes?

January passes and, with it, reams of astrologers’ predictions for the year ahead: love stars, money, health, destiny, friendship, style – even hair advice influenced by the constellations (the treats loveyourhair.com has in store include skillful use of layers to help Geminis hair swing almost as much as their moods).

But why, in an age when we are unlikely to dance to encourage weather change and wouldn’t dream of throwing our neighbour in a river to see if she’s a witch, do we read our star signs? Does anyone really find it credible that everyone sharing the same twelfth of the zodiac is imbued with the same characteristics?

If you’re reading this and feeling smug, thinking that you play no part in the silliness of horoscopes, you’re either in the minority or deceiving yourself: some 75 per cent of the population read horoscopes in magazines and newspapers, while a quarter go so far as to believe them.

Last week, despite a swift and strong denial by astrologers, news the Earth’s “wobble” has shifted zodiac signs raced across the web like a shooting star. Minneapolis astronomer Parke Kunkle created an identity crisis as people struggled with the notion they’d slipped a star sign; modest Virgos, intuitive Cancers and passionate Scorpios were all left wondering about their true character as he confirmed a shift in the Earth’s relationship to the sun over the past 2,000 years. Those born in December had even more to contend with: they’d become Serpent Handlers, in the 13th sign of Ophiuchus. One email Kunkle received demanded: “Give me my sign back.”

Dr Chris French, professor of psychology at Goldsmiths University, who specialises in belief in the paranormal, is entirely sceptical about horoscopes – though he’ll flick to his star sign in newspapers. “I do it for the same reason that half the population do: for entertainment,” he explains. “Almost 25 per cent of people believe in astrology and a smaller percentage take it seriously enough to go for one-to-one readings.”

Those figures have stayed consistent for 80 years, since horoscopes were first printed in newspapers, starting with the Sunday Express printing a birth horoscope for Princess Margaret Rose on 24 August 1930. French says: “Historically, people turn to astrology at times of social upheaval.” He suggests it often appeals to people in, “careers where there is an inherent degree of uncertainty: sports people, actors, and, notoriously, gamblers”.

Robert Downey Jnr and Britney Spears are believers, while Nancy Reagan would seek to influence the President’s actions on astrologically auspicious days. In comparison, Cherie Blair’s belief in crystals seems inconsequential. French also believes there’s no correlation between education and belief in astrology, and classes it as a “New Age approach, maybe an alternative to organised religion”.

But horoscopes are the victory of hope over reason: neither a star sign in a newspaper or a personal astrological reading has any truth. French says: “If you look at hundreds of empirical tests of astrology, they’re very, very bad news for astrologers.” This doesn’t stop people persisting in believing their stars, nor from astrologers being adamant in their calling. For while horoscopes can’t tell your fortune, they generate one.

Jonathan Cainer writes horoscopes for the Daily Mail and has a reputation for being the best-rewarded writer on Fleet Street, in no small part because of the success of his phone lines. At least 12 million people read his horoscopes, and his worldwide businesses turn over £2m annually and employ 30 staff. He defends astrology as: “a belief system with very rigid dogma. Saturn means restriction and Jupiter expansion. It’s scientific in as much as we have to have accurate planetary positions. But it’s a form of divination; a glorious blending of occult and science.”

Dr French argues astrology is also about reassurance: “Take someone in an unhappy relationship: they know they should leave – but hearing they’ve got a difficult few months but will come through gives them courage.” Not only are people inclined to believe what they hear, predictions involve clever sleights of tongue. Astrologers use tricks favoured by con-artists, creating the illusion of being specific while leaving room for reinterpretation. The Barnum effect comes into play, as astrologers rely on statements that seem specific but are universally relevant, such as: “On the surface you seem quite together, but deep down you have some insecurities”.

French says: “I’m not saying most astrologers are deliberate con-artists, but they are subconsciously tapping into the techniques that make many successful.”

Professor Richard Dawkins goes further in his dismissal, having said that: “Astrology may be slightly damaging, but mostly it is just sad. So sad that people are ignorant of the true glories of the stars and of the stupendous distances and times that separate them, while they bother with the frivolous inventions of charlatans.” But then he would say that. He’s an Aries.

Horoscopes: A sign of the times – Science, News – The Independent.

Massive dark object ‘lurking on edge of solar system hurling comets at Earth’

A massive dark object may be lurking on the edge of our solar system, according to scientists.

 

Most comets that fly into the inner solar system seem to come from the outer region of the Oort cloud -  a region of icy dust and debris left over from the birth of the solar system.

The cloud starts from a point about 93 billion miles from the Sun and stretches for around three light years and contains billions of comets, most of them small and hidden.
A Nasa graphic which illustrates how the Oort Cloud surrounds our solar system.

A Nasa graphic which illustrates how the Oort Cloud surrounds our solar system. Scientists believe that an object with a huge mass may be pushing comets towards Earth from the cloud

Now new calculations suggest a large object that is up to four times as big as Jupiter could be responsible for sending them in our direction.

The scientists have analysed the comets in the Oort cloud and deduced that 25 per-cent of them would need a nudge by a body of at least Jupiter size before they changed orbit.

Astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire at the University of Louisiana came up with theory said that ‘something smaller than a Jovian mass would not be strong enough to perform the task’.They believe that our solar system has a hidden ‘companion’ that has so far remained undetected.

The scientists have been studying the cloud using WISE, Nasa’s infra-red space telescope that is capable of detecting dark objects.

Matese said: ‘I think this whole issue will be resolved in the next five to 10 years, because there’s surveys coming on line that will dwarf the comet sample we have today.

‘Whether these types of asymmetries in the directions that comets are coming from actually do exist or not will definitely be hammered out by those surveys,’ Matese added. ‘We anticipate that WISE is going to falsify or verify our conjecture.’

About 3,200 long-period comets are known, one of the most famous being Hale-Bopp which was visible to even the naked eye during 1996 and 1997.

Halley’s Comet, which reappears about every 75 years, is a ‘short-period’ comet from a different part of the Solar System called the Kuiper Belt.
A large planet that is in orbit outside the solar system may be pushing comets towards our solar system

A large planet that is in orbit outside the solar system may be pushing comets towards Earth

If it exists the new planet is so freezing cold it is difficult to spot, researchers said.

It could be found up to 30,000 astronomical units from the sun. One AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun, about 93 million miles.

Scientists have already proposed that a hidden star, which they call ‘Nemesis,’ might exist a light-year or so away from our sun.

They suggest that during its orbit it would regularly enter the Oort cloud, jostling the orbits of many comets there and causing some to fall toward Earth.

These occasional comet showers could be why the mass extinctions on Earth are so regular, some scientists believe.

The research appeared in the online edition of the journal Icarus.

‘Most planetary scientists would not be surprised if the largest undiscovered companion was Neptune-sized or smaller, but a Jupiter-mass object would be a surprise,’ Matese told SPACE.com

‘If the conjecture is indeed true, the important implications would relate to how it got there — touching on the early solar environment — and how it might have affected the subsequent distributions of comets and, to a lesser extent, the known planets.’

Massive dark object ‘lurking on edge of solar system hurling comets at Earth’ | Mail Online.