Sun Dog

I had mentioned in my previous post about Sun Dog, which is a type of an ice halo. Click Here to read my post on Halo.

A Sun Dog is a particular type of ice halo. It is a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22 (or more) degrees distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun. It is the most commonly or second most commonly seen of the ice halos. Sun Dogs can be seen anywhere in the world during any season. They are best seen and at their most conspicuous when the sun is low. They are not rainbows.

These Sun Dogs are commonly mistaken for the Planet Nibiru.

Here are some of the pictures of the Sun Dog.

Planet Nibiru and 2012

This post is dedicated to my friend Shiyamili who once asked me to write a post about the Planet Nibiru and the destruction of Earth in 2012.

First of all, what is Planet Nibiru? There is a conspiracy thoery stating that a rogue planet will destroy Earth on December 12, 2012. It is said that this threatening planet on a 3600-year orbit was discovered by the ancient Mesopotamians, who named it Nibiru, and it was known also to the Mayans, who associated it with the end of their calendar "long count" in December 2012.

It is rumored that the planet will be visible to our naked eye by 2009 in the southern hemisphere. It is also rumored that NASA is keeping an eye on the planet.

"In spite of my frustrations, I can always hope that Nibiru will turn into a teaching moment. Its proponents are convinced that it will be visible to the unaided eye this coming spring, and its effects on the rotation and orbit of the Earth will be obvious by summer. When none of this happens, I hope they'll realize that they need better tools to distinguish fact from fiction.", says David Morrison, a space scientist at NASA.

The existence of Nibiru is based on Sumerian mythology. At that time there was no telescope and hence there was no way the Sumerians would have seen a planet beyond the range of Pluto. Moreover, every object discovered beyond the range of Pluto are smaller than Pluto itself. Such large planet doesn't seem to exist. If the theory is true, the planet must have been visible to our naked eye by now. The only way to confirm is, by waiting, as David Morrison said.

But there are news of Planet Nibiru, which can be seen in our naked eye. Here's the picture proof.


That's an interesting one. If Planet Nibiru was so bright, why aren't everyone able to see it? Anyways, you want to know what that bright spot is? It's called as the 'Sun Dog'. A Sun Dog is a particular type of a Ice Halo. Some amateur astronomers and photographers are confusing it with the Planet Nibiru. Click Here to know about Sun Dogs.

Well, all I can say is that there is no such thing as the Planet Nibiru or destruction of Earth in 2012. If it is true, you MUST be able to see the planet in the next few months. Or, it's just fake and nothing else.

Click Here to know how the rumor of Nibiru began.

Solar Eclipse - July 22, 2009

A Total Solar Eclipse occurs on July 22, 2009. The eclipse will be visible on northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean. This is also the first Solar Eclipse of the year [January eclipse was an annular].

The below picture shows the umbra and penumbra of the eclipse. The regions under the dot experiences a total solar eclipse and the regions under the shadow circle experiences a partial eclipse. [NOTE: It is an animated image]


Chennai City experiences a partial eclipse. The eclipse begins right at sunrise 5:28 am and ends at 10:42 am when the moon leaves the sunset point at the pacific. The next solar eclipse in India will be on January 5, 2010, which will be an annular eclipse with umbra passing near Chennai.

Earthquake and Tsunami Prediction:

There has been an earthquake prediction by a software developer who specializes in Computer Game Physics and has posted a theory on a blog post. According to the theory, the long total eclipse will cause a tectonic plate shift in south of Japan resulting a major Tsunami. However, the author claims that this is only a theory and acknowledges that he is not qualified to make a formal prediction. The news is swiftly gaining attention worldwide as an electronic chain letter. Mainstream scientists and media have already rejected this hypothesis stating that there is no credible evidence to prove any relationship between solar eclipses and earthquakes.

Picture Of The Month - June 2009

The above picture shows the Trio stars of the Orion's Belt along with The Great Orion Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula and the Flame Nebula. The three bright stars along the diagonal are the three stars of the Orion Belt.

The reddish cloud below the left most star is the Flame Nebula. The Flame Nebula includes the Horsehead Nebula (the darkest portion on the leftmost of the flame nebula is in the shape of the head of a horse). The bright cloud on top of the left most star is the Great Orion Nebula.

The three Nebulea together is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.

My Theory

*~*Disclaimer: The following theory is put forward all by myself. The contents may or may not be true. *~*

I hope you would have read my previous topic, ‘How Old is Everything’. There I explained how the age of the Universe was estimated to be between 11 to 18 billion years. In this topic I’m not going to tell you that the Universe has a limit or that there is a perfect boundary for the Universe but I’m going prove that one cannot see anything in the Universe beyond a particular range which could form an invisible boundary.

Before explaining my theory let me start with the basics. I hope you all would have heard of the term ‘Light Year’. It is the distance traveled by light in one year. Now imagine you see a star which is 10 LY (Light Year) away. The light from the star that you actually see was produced from the star 10 years ago. It has taken 10 years for the light to travel from that star all the way to Earth. Based on this there are three possibilities on whether you can see a particular star.

1. Now let us imagine a star which is 10 million LY away. If the star was alive 10 million years ago then we will be able to see the star at present as the light produced from the star 10 million years ago would reach the Earth at the present time. I hope there is no doubt about that.

2. Now let us assume that the star (10 million LY away) was not present 10 million years ago. Let the age of the star be 1 million years old. Though the star does exist at present we would not be able to see it from Earth because the light of the star will take 9 million more years to reach Earth.

3. Now let us imagine that a star (10 million LY away) did exist 10 million years ago but it does not exist at present. Let us assume that the star died about 5 million years ago. Yet we would be able to see the star. Only after 5 million years we would be able to see the star die from Earth.

My theory is based on these three points. Once you understand these three points, you would be able to understand my theory.

Coming to the point, let us assume that the Universe is 1 billion years old and there was no source of light before that. Let us assume that there is a star 1 billion LY away and that it was present right from the beginning of the Universe. Then we can surely see that source from Earth. Now let us assume that there is a star which is 2 billion LY away. We would not be able to see it because the star was not present 2 billion years ago. Since that was before the birth of Universe, there was nothing in the universe at that time. Hence we can see nothing beyond the range of 1 billion LY since there was no source of light at that time. Thus our range of sight is only up to 1 billion LY is all direction.

Therefore I conclude that though Universe does not have a definite boundary, it certainly has a limit beyond which nothing can be seen, whether or not something is present. And this limit is given by the age of the Universe. Hence every second, the limit is further extended by 1 light second (3x10^8 meters). Hence every year, the limit is extended by 1 LY. Is this what the scientists say that the Universe is expanding??? Or is it just a coincidence???

The object within the white circle is the farthest object ever discovered. Abell 2218 is a tiny galaxy at a distance of roughly 13 billion LY from Earth

Here is another point I have discovered. Using the above theory one can say that the limit of the universe is approximately the age of the universe itself. And one cannot see anything beyond this range from Earth. By theory of relativity, it can also be said that the Earth is in the center of this boundary or relatively Earth is at the center of the Universe.