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Article: <5grlva$785@sjx-ixn5.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy )
Subject: Re: Comet H-B question!
Date: 20 Mar 1997 15:43:38 GMT
In article <1997Mar18.100248.64188@ucl.ac.uk> Michael Dworetsky writes:
>> The ESO said it was a nova, in so many words. Their
>> authoritative study, done in 1995, found NO comet
>> emissions. Read below.
>> saquo@ix.netcom.com
>
> What ESO said was that the spectrum of the comet in 1995
> was essentially a spectrum of reflected sunlight from dust
> and that there were no detected molecular emission lines.
> You obviously have never looked at the spectrum of a nova,
> which has enormous broad emission lines flanked by narrow
> absorptions with large doppler shifts, and which could not
> possibly be mistaken for sunlight.
> mmd@zuaxp0.star.ucl.ac.uk (Michael Dworetsky)
(Begin ZetaTalk[TM])
The ESO was not LOOKING for evidence that it was a nova! They KNEW what it was,
and resented being involved in a fraud to such an extent that they did everything possible
within the orders that were imposed upon them to inform the public. As astronomers
working at one of the half dozen or so major observatories around the world, they were
obliged AS A CONDITION OF THEIR JOBS to adhere to emergency edicts. The
observatory could be taken over during emergency, and observations deemed leading to
public panic certainly fall into this realm. This is why all talk about Planet X ceased the
moment it was discovered.
They were told NOT to contradict or challenge the Hale-Bopp story put forth by NASA.
They could NOT say it was a nova, and they could NOT directly say it wasn't a comet, but
they COULD do an authoritative comet emission study, which is just what they did!
Violently outgassing out there with NONE of the comet volatiles present! What does that
SAY to any but the Sheep of sci.astro? Anyone willing to think could reach the right
conclusion. The ESO wasn't speaking to those being led about, mindlessly following their
Shepherds, on their knees in front of NASA and JPL and looking at the ground.
(End ZetaTalk[TM])
I'd like to add that a NASA flight engineer told me that the original story on Hale-Bopp, to hit the press, was littered with code words that mean "do not challenge this story".
........
European Southern Observatory
http://www.eso.org/
A Spectrum of Comet Hale-Bopp
11 September 1995
Observations have shown that this coma consists of dust particles of different sizes that have been ejected from the comet's nucleus. ... But what is causing this outflow of the dust? Most comet specialists believe that a particular gas must act as the "agent". ... Although we may not see the gaseous molecules that quickly diffuse into the surrounding space, we do observe the reflection of the sunlight from the much larger, slower moving dust particles. ... Astronomers would like to know which gas is responsible for the great amount of dust, now observed around the nucleus of Comet Hale-Bopp. ... As can be seen, there is no sign of CN and CO+ emission lines at the indicated wavelengths in this spectrum. ... However, no emission from CO was seen to the sensitivity limit of these observations, thus placing important constraints on the proposed mechanism. ... Normally, CN is one of the first gaseous molecules to be detected in the coma of comets approaching the Sun. ... At the present distance of the comet from the Sun, the temperature is too low for water ice (the major component of cometary nuclei) to evaporate efficiently, and with the non-detection of CO and CN, the driving gas that has produced the well visible dust cloud around the nucleus of Comet Hale-Bopp is still unknown.