The Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Bad Astronomy Newsletter #16

Contents:

0. Newsletter news
1. Review and news: My "Coast-to-Coast A.M." appearance
2. New Bad News Item
3. Good book news
4. Subscribe/Unsubscribe info

0) Newsletter news

I'm giving this the number (0) because it isn't really Bad Astronomy news, but I wanted everyone to know that this newsletter just got its 2000^th subscriber! It is one of the biggest astronomy newsletters on YahooGroups. Thanks to everyone for tuning in.

1) Review and news: My "Coast-to-Coast A.M. " appearance

Last Sunday, I was on "Coast-to-Coast A.M.", usually Art Bell's show, but on the weekends hosted by George Noory. It was interesting. For those not familiar with the format, the guests are usually people with an extremely tenuous grasp of things like physics, astronomy and critical thinking. The weekend show, though, tends to have more scientists on.

We talked about all manners of Bad Astronomy, from the Moon Illusion to (of course) the Moon Hoax. We also talked about Planet X, which is a point of extreme interest to me.

Some people are claiming that a rogue planet on a 3600 year orbit will sweep by the Earth next year, killing almost everyone. I find it odd that a planet a year away is both invisible to view and to gravity; it should be one of the brightest objects in the night sky, and its gravity should be affecting other planets. Neither of these is seen.

Did I mention that the biggest proponent of the Planet X idea is a woman who claims her knowledge of it comes from channeling aliens? No? I am not even sure where to start on such an idea. Let's just say I find her testimony extraordinarily doubtful.

The problem is, a lot of people are taking her seriously. I have received more than one serious email asking me if it's true, and should people move to safe ground by next year.

I plan on writing a page on all this nonsense sometime soon. I better hurry: two days after I was on the show, Art Bell had the aforementioned woman on the show (and I got flooded with emails again). Tomorrow night, Friday, he is having a free-for-all call-in show about it.

I am hoping to go on again in July and debunk all this. It's all completely wrong, and it's scaring people.

Until then, check out this website about Planet X. Some of the material is a bit out of date, but is still accurate.

You can check out Art Bell's site here: http://www.artbell.com. I'll send out a newsletter when I find out when I'll be on again. Check my calendar too.

2) New Bad News Item

Yahoo!News reported about a planet recently discovered around a nearby star. However, in their report, it's not a planet, nor is it nearby. Read the Bad News report here.

3) Good book news

I received some amazing news from my book editor: Wiley and Sons, my book's publisher, has scheduled a third printing of "Bad Astronomy"! Sometime in August, 4000 more copies will hit the streets. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy. More thanks to everyone who bought more than one copy. And if you don't have yours yet, try here and read about the book here.

4) Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information

If, for some weird reason, you want to unsubscribe to this newsletter, just send email to badastronomy-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com with no body text. Make sure you send it from the address to which the newsletter is sent! Alternatively, you can unsubscribe from the Yahoo!Groups website. Go to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/groups-32.html for more info.

Remember, the newsletters will be archived on the website at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/badastronomy so even if you unsubscribe you can still read them there. I suggest staying subscribed so you get them as soon as I send them.

Also, I do not sell your email addresses and neither does Yahoo! Take a gander at the Yahoo!Groups privacy message if it makes you feel better: http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/ Note that the email addresses are visible to me, but I have no prurient use for them. If that makes you nervous for whatever reason, feel free to unsubscribe and simply read the archived newsletters at the website listed above.

Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
badastro@badastronomy.com
http://www.badastronomy.com