Re: 12th Planet - any photos ?

Article: <5eq03m$58a@sjx-ixn6.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy )
Subject: Re: 12th Planet - any photos ?
Date: 23 Feb 1997 17:51:50 GMT

Article: <5eo7bu$gon$2@mark.ucdavis.edu>
>> last gasp of a dying star, a faint, blurry, reddish glow. Your
>> eye would pass over it if attuned to the pin points that are
>> the stars.
>> (End ZetaTalk[TM])
>
> What is the object's RA/dec coordinates, and apparent
> diameter in arcseconds or whatever is convenient. Or its
> actual diameter in kilometers, and distance in kilometers,
> or any convenient units. Even when Mars is at 2nd
> magnitude, it's just as easy to spot as a 2nd magnitude star.
> ez049941@boris.ucdavis.edu (Jedidiah Whitten)

Jed, as I've mentioned before, you can get the RA and Dec from the Troubled Times web site graphic which shows the view from Earth against a SkyMap diagram of Orion, Taurus, and Aries. This graphic is at:

http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword03h.htm

(Begin ZetaTalk[TM])
Your nearby planets are throwing back at you a familiar light, reflected sunlight, and thus your eyes RECOGNIZE them for what they are. Just as some insects camouflage themselves from those who would prey on them by adopting the coloration of the surrounding area, just so the 12th Planet, TO YOU, is camouflaged against the night sky. Its appearance DOES NOT look like the familiar objects you set out to identify when you scan the sky - pin points with intense centers that are stars or the scattered brilliance of an exploding star or the distinctive elongated fantail of a passing comet. Where its size, at present is akin to a star, and the diffuse light across its surface would indeed have the spread and consistency that your reflecting planets do, there are significant differences that cause you to pass over it rather than explore it in depth.

1. the composition is not the composition of reflecting sunlight, but is almost exclusively in the spectrum you would call red light. Thus you will do best if you filter FOR red light, and by this we mean filtering OUT all but red light.
2. though a large planet, 4 times as large as Earth and thus larger than those planets you mention, it is at this time at a much greater distance and thus its SIZE is not equivalent to Mars or Pluto.
3. it is constantly moving, such that any RA and Dec we give would be misleading rather than helpful, and the message board would soon be cluttered with out of date coordinates that would be terribly confusing. Giving you a chart of its likely course, as we have done with the help of our emissary, Nancy, will allow you to EXPLORE the area where it would likely BE.

Regarding its distance at present, we decline to give this to you or others on this message board at this time. Its distance, in fact, is UNNECESSARY for the purposes of locating this in the skies from Earth, especially as it is coming straight at its gravity focus, the Sun. In fact, discussion of distance would alarm, and distract the populace of amateur astronomers from searching for it. Once it has been located, we will get more specific.
(End ZetaTalk[TM])