Hot on the heels of my post last month about a new extrasolar planet that had been photographed at an extraordinary 330 AU from its parent star, Space.com posted a new story that purports to explain why such planets are so hot. The article discusses the phenomenon of so-called “hot Jupiters,” gas giant planets that are generally found very close to their parent stars. Since this condition is a de-facto repudiation of the accretion model of planetary formation, scientists are becoming desperate to explain how the most massive planet’s can form so close to their parent stars and why they are so hot.

In the new model, proposed by Adam Showman of the University of Arizona, these Hot Jupiters are somehow tidally locked close to their parent stars, and heat from the star is transferred to the cool backside of planet through a complex series of winds and weather patterns, giving the planet a basically uniform temperature.

This idea is all well and good, but it is not based on actual observational evidence. Instead, this is simply an attempt to explain a contradictory observation within the established model, by building a computer simulation to demonstrate the idea. Obviously, if you build enough bias into the inputs, you can make the outcome anything you want.

Mainstream scientists and debunkers are fond of citing Occam’s Razor, the idea that all things being equal, the simplest explanation is the most likely one. Of course, rarely in the examples they cite are “all things equal,” and this is another case in point. One idea, the fission model which we discussed in the previous post, matches all observational phenomena relating to extra-solar planets. The other idea, the planetary accretion model, does not and requires multiple square pegs to be jammed into multiple round holes to even begin to reasonably reflect the observations. What is more likely under Occam’s Razor then, that these giant Hot Jupiters randomly formed so close to their parent stars and rely on a complex and highly unlikely chain of unproven assumptions to maintain their uniform (and uniformly hot) temperatures, or that the accretion model is simply wrong? Obviously, the simpler explanation is that these Hot Jupiters are fissioned off of their parent stars, just as the fission model suggests and are in the process of receding from them as we speak. Their hot temperatures are explained by the fact that they are made up of ejected stellar material, which would take many millions of years (most likely) to cool.

Not to mention, Occam’s Razor isn’t a scientific axiom anyway, it’s a T-shirt slogan.

Mars Express Close Encounter With Phobos

Hot on the heels of the Enterprise Mission’s publication of a new article addressing the probable artificial origin of asteroid 2867 Steins, the European Space Agency has released startling new images of Phobos, one of Mars’ two “moons.” While the characterization of Phobos as “moon” at all (it’s obviously simply an asteroid somehow captured or held by Mars’ gravitational field) is problematic, it’s not nearly as problematic as characterizing it as a natural object. Phobos is generally considered similar to the carbonaceous C-Class asteroids because of its surface albedo characteristics, but a new analysis of Phobos’ composition revealed something of a surprise; Phobos is basically hollow.

By simply measuring the gravitational influence of Phobos on the Mars Express spacecraft itself (which is a function of Phobos’ shape and density), ESA was able to determine that Phobos is incredibly light, about 1 billionth the mass of Earth, and has a much lower density (1.85 grams per cubic centimeter) than Martian surface rocks (.7-3.3 grams per cubic centimeter). Theoretically, this places Phobos more correctly in the D-Class category of asteroids, which are believed to be highly fractured and cavernous. One explanation for this is that Phobos (and perhaps its sister moon, Deimos) might be a “rubble pile,” essentially a bunch of big chunks that crashed into each other that are held together by gravity. According to this idea, Phobos was formed from material somehow ejected from Mars itself eons ago that somehow assembled themselves into a coherent body. However, there is no suitable explanation for how such a “rubble pile” could manage to find itself in a near perfect equatorial orbit around Mars, a condition that is highly unlikely to have occurred just by chance, to say the least. Given that its composition and density is so different from Mars’ own, it seems more likely that Phobos came from somewhere else, perhaps somewhere in the nearby asteroid field that lies between Mars and Jupiter. The only issue that remains is the question of whether this placement is a natural condition – again, highly unlikely – or whether it was placed there in the distant past by some unseen and unknown force.

Fortunately, Mars Express carries an on board radar called MARSIS which took measurements of the moon’s interior. That data should probably settle the issue of whether Phobos is a natural object or not, or at least whether it has been modified internally by an artificial force of some kind. Sadly, the ESA article does not say when the MARSIS data might be released.

There is however one last scenario under which Phobos might turn out to be a natural object, albeit one that resides in an impossibly perfect equatorial orbit. According to Dr. Tom van Flandern’s exploded planet hypothesis, all the remnant chunks of an exploded planet (like his theorized Planet V in the orbit between Mars and Jupiter) would be expected to have orbiting companions for at least a significant portion of their lifetimes. True to form, Phobos in close up shows the tell tale-signs of just such a post explosion condition; it is criss-crossed with dozens of race track signatures which indicate orbiting companions which have spiraled into the mother body (Phobos). As van Flandern has pointed out, these types of race track patterns are a sure sign of orbiting companions.

So the question at hand now is just what is Phobos? A remnant of the protoplanetary disk that formed the Solar System (not likely)? A captured Jupiter Trojan that somehow drifted into a perfectly equatorial orbit over Mars (even less likely)? Or, is it neither of those, but instead a shattered survivor of the cataclysm that devastated Mars, towed into this bizarrely non-random orbit by the survivors of the Martian Apocalypse and then mined by them, or simply drilled out to make an orbiting, artificial habitat? The MARSIS data should tell us that, if only we get the real stuff. Time will tell if we do.

David Icke at the Million Dollar Theater in LA

I posted a blog about this event over on my MySpace page. I thought you guys might like to read it.

--Mike

Space.com Story on Saturn's Hyperdimensional Hexagon

Well, the Space.com folks have posted a new story on the polar storms on Saturn, showing new Cassini images of the planet. They once again mention - as they should - the bizarre hexagonal cloud pattern that encloses the storms in the north polar region. It's important to keep in mind that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in conventional planetary physics or fluid mechanics which can account for this phenomenon. It is however an inherent and specific prediction of the Hoagland\Torun Hyperdimensional physics model.

Once again, HDP stands alone as the only predictive and coherent model which can explain a specific physical observation. It will be interesting if the main streamers try to come up with an explanation for this one. In all the years since Voyager, no one has attempted it yet, but it may be time soon. After all, you can only ignore the elephant in the living room for so long.

Dark Mission Gets a Mention in the Indian Press

Here's the Link.

No Blogging 'till Tuesday

Hey everyone, I'm off to Seattle tomorrow for my high school reunion. I'll back with some new stuff hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday. Have a great weekend!

Mike

Spectacular New Images of Mercury From the Messenger Spacecraft

NASA's Messenger spacecraft yesterday returned stunning new images of the planet Mercury, really showing parts of the Sun's nearest neighbor in close-up for the first time. The views show a rocky terrestrial satellite that bears a strong resemblance to our own Moon. In fact, I'm struck just how much it looks like the Moon's far side, minus the occasional Maria blotch.

Still, as Jim Oberg pointed out earlier, there are some interesting things to see on the images. I'm always fascinated by the fact that some craters look so bright in these images. What are they, glass craters?

I also love the radial spoke pattern in some of the images. I can't help but have a sense of awe and mystery when I look at another world for the first time. I wonder what mysteries we'd uncover if we went there ourselves?

More pics at the Messenger web site.