Article: <5eq0mk$jti@sjx-ixn2.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy )
Subject: Re: Hale-Bopp THEN and NOW
Date: 23 Feb 1997 18:01:56 GMT
In article <5eo88a$i90@news.ccit.arizona.edu> Jim Scotti
writes:
>> (Begin ZetaTalk[TM])
>> And please don't say they are following the form of an
ellipse.
>> Comets are not constructed by CAD programs nor do they
>> have a track in the sky that they are following.
>
> Have you ever heard of Johannes Kepler? He showed more
> than 300 years ago that objects in orbit around a central
body
> move in elliptical orbits. ... There are many faint
asteroids
> and comets which pass beyond our view yet faithfully return
> when predicted. Even though comet Halley passed out of our
> view several times since it was found to be on a periodic
> highly elliptical orbit, it returned as it was predicted to.
> jscotti@LPL.Arizona.EDU (Jim Scotti)
(Begin ZetaTalk[TM])
Kepler and your other gods which you are loath to stop
worshipping DESCRIBED what they saw in the math language. As we
have repeatedly mentioned, they played with the math until it was
an accurate description, playing backwards and forwards. This is
no different than a newspaper reporter wanting to develop an
handy-dandy method of predicting when the Speaker of the House
would make another personal appearance before the press - X days
after another ethics charge had been released. If it works in the
main, its relied upon. When it doesn't work, then some
unexplained perturbation or unseen outgassing interfered with the
anticipated orbit.
Regarding your math "proof", they work on those
objects you CONTINUOUSLY SEE, such as the planets and large
asteroids, BECAUSE THEY WERE DESIGNED TO DESCRIBE those objects.
As for your ability to predict when Halley's would reappear, this
only occurred because a REPEATING PATTERN was available as a
major clue. Until the comet reappeared as Halley predicted, it
was still a hypothesis. In this case it still falls into the
category of being continuously seen. For instance, you state that
you can continuously see the other planets, but in truth only see
them when they are not blocked from your view by the Sun.
(End ZetaTalk[TM])