The Dark Star: The Planet X Evidence (18 page)

We always assume that our average boring old sun is the blueprint for other star systems that might harbour the conditions for life.
Perhaps this assumption is correct, and the search for ExtraTerrestrial
Intelligence should remain targeted at similar stars to our own sun. But, if
Earth's acquisition of abundant water is truly an anomaly given the local heat
generated by our sun upon its formation, then perhaps we should be looking for
life on star systems whose primordial fires aren't so hot. After all, the
spectrum of stellar characteristics does not begin with our own sun.

Red, or dare I say, even brown dwarfs would have formed without
the same water-purging enthusiasm as our own yellow star. In fact, brown dwarfs
themselves contain large quantities of water within their fiery atmospheres.
They also have been seen to have their own planetary systems, even the smallest
of the brown dwarfs.
¹⁷

Perhaps that means that we should direct our attention to the less
bright members of the celestial family; even those who remain hidden entirely.
These relatively cool stars might have allowed watery worlds to form more
readily around them, but bombard them with less harmful radiation than our own
overenthusiastic sun.

Ironically, SETI may have been searching in the wrong place all
this time.

The concept of 'migration' of planets has becoming increasingly
acceptable of late. It was not so long ago that Tom van Flandern heavily
criticized Zecharia Sitchin's "12th Planet Theory" on the basis that
Earth could not have migrated into the inner solar system from the asteroid
belt. Van Flandern argued that Earth's orbit should still be highly elliptical
if that was the case, and that the orbit should still cross through the
asteroid belt. These arguments were partly sufficient to swing the author Alan
Alford away from the idea of the existence of a substantial Planet X body.
¹⁸

But science has moved on in recent years, and is now generally
more open to new possibilities about undiscovered planets in our solar system.
¹⁹
This is not only partly due to discoveries about our own outer solar system,
but also because of the data which has accumulated about extrasolar planets.

Many of these "exoplanets" have anomalous orbits. Some
of them are orbiting their stars at very small distances, and are known as
"Hot Jupiters". These bizarre giant planets are too close to their
stars to have formed where they currently lie (according to existing
theoretical models of planet formation), so the concept of 'migration' is
increasingly mooted to help planetary scientists sleep at night. If such a
model can be widely applied elsewhere, then surely it could have happened in
our solar system too?

The science writer Andrew Pike once described a possible new class
of planets that sound remarkably similar to the large, watery primordial Earth
we have been thinking about here. This class of planets, called the "Water
Worlds", is still theoretical. The idea was suggested by Alain Leger of
the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, France.

He wondered whether worlds twice as large as the Earth might exist
with a super-abundance of water. This aqueous environment would take the form
of a planet-wide ocean many kilometers deep, along with a gaseous atmosphere.
He envisioned them beginning life as the extrasolar equivalents of Uranus or
Neptune, but then migrating inwards.
²⁰

Again, the notion of planetary migration is being used to explain
distant anomalies. Other examples of proposed migratory patterns of planets
have also been seen in the scientific press lately.
^21,22
It does not
take much imagination to apply the same principles here in our own solar
system.

There is so much that we don't understand about the formation of
planetary systems. This can be only one of a myriad of possibilities, but its
early introduction to scientific speculation would indicate its potential. If
such Water Worlds are found to exist, then they would provide a huge lift for
the ideas presented here. Our own planet may once have been like this.

Scientists are now actively discussing how life might emerge on
planets orbiting brown dwarfs, or Dark Stars, I have described how an ecosystem
might have arisen on a moon orbiting a small brown dwarf, whose light emission
is minimal. It can be easily argued that the conditions on that moon would be
warm enough for liquid water. But, some commentators have offered a
counter-argument that there still would be insufficient light for photosynthesis
to take place in the outer solar system. After all, it takes more than just
liquid water to create life; light itself is often a useful ally.

Such light as there is would have to come from the Dark Star, a
rather old sub-brown dwarf, which belongs to a new class of failed stars about
which we have little actual knowledge.

Astronomers
argue about whether such bodies can even emit light, but there does seem to be
a good possibility that they do - through chemical reactions in the outer
layers of atmosphere, driven by extreme magnetic fields and surface gravity.
These effects result in 'flaring', but is this enough of a light source to
allow photosynthesis to take place on nearby terrestrial worlds?

Uranus
exhibits an inexplicable internal lighting effect known as "electron
glow". This effect is in addition to Uranus' magnetic aurora. It is
thought that the luminous effect, seen on such a 'dead' world, is due to
electrons exciting hydrogen in the upper atmosphere, although it is not at all
clear where those electrons originate from.
²³
Perhaps such an effect
is possible on a sub-brown dwarf, to a greater extent, supplementing the other
light-sources from this failed star that we have already discussed.

So,
there are several means by which the Dark Star could be classified as a
"light-emitting" planet. Indeed, it could be a highly excitable
combination of them all. This is rather like arguing for light-emitting fish in
the Deep Sea oceans.

Before
their discovery, no one would have expected 'Angler Fish' at the bottom of our
oceans. Is the Dark Star the planetary equivalent of a neon red Angler Fish? Is
its moon system lit by this little oasis of red light in the deep abyss of the
outer solar system? I suspect so.

So,
would this be sufficient for photosynthesis to take place out there? We can
look to events on our own planet to answer that question, particularly under
the Antarctic ice. The scientist Chris McKay has studied ecosystems that
depend upon the dimmest of light emerging through the ice to trigger
photosynthesis, and has concluded that photosynthesis can be easily supported
by just 2 percent of the sun's available light. He argues that there are plants
here on Earth that are able to photosynthesize in luminous environments
equivalent to 100 Astronomical Units from the sun, which is twice as far as the
most distant body in the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt yet discovered.
¹⁴

Arguments
about photosynthesis are thus rather redundant. I would argue that a Dark Star
can supply not just direct and indirect warmth, through gravitational tidal
action - but sufficient light as well, to allow photosynthesis to take place on
one of its moons.

Life Among The Comets?

Even
so, to establish whether life could exist among the comets around an object as
exotic as a sub-brown dwarf, we must first establish its presence there. In the
next chapter or so, we shall look at recent scientific studies that imply the
previous presence of a substantial planet. These anomalous findings in the
outer solar system have become central to our hunt for the Dark Star, because
they offer indirect evidence for its existence.

Currently,
astronomers are considering things they once would never have countenanced. The
reason is their new appreciation for how strange the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt is.

Beyond
the orbit of Neptune is a swarm of bodies orbiting the sun, whose individual
sizes, and great distances, have prevented their detection until relatively
recently. The first Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt Object (EKBO) was discovered in
1992, and since then there have been many more, some of which exhibit very
strange orbital properties. One such object, known as 2000 CR105, has an orbit
of 3300 years, and behaves in a very odd way, leading some astronomers to
suggest that its orbit is being affected by an external influence, such as
another planet beyond Pluto.
²⁴

This
piece of evidence is of some importance to us. The astrophysicists studying the
Kuiper Belt Object 2000 CR105 have speculated quite openly about how it could
have come to have such a large orbit, one that seems to have developed beyond
the scope of Neptune's influence. A massive Perturber causing anomalies in the
Kuiper Belt is now considered a very real possibility by many astronomers.
Other minor planets, also showing unexpectedly eccentric orbits, are being
discovered, including one known to be greater in size than the planet Pluto.

In
the next chapter we will begin our crucial exploration of the Edgeworth-Kuiper
Belt.

As
this book goes to press, findings are emerging about comets which may vindicate
some of the ideas we have discussed in this chapter. NASA created the biggest
Independence Day firework in the history of, well, America, on 4th July 2005.
This awesome display was the result of the careful steering of a washing
machine-sized projectile into the path of the comet Tempel 1. At the time,
concerned citizens of the Earth wondered whether this 'Deep Impact', as NASA
called it, might cause the comet to fracture, sending fragments hurtling
towards our unprotected world. Scientists reassured us that the experiment
posed no more danger to the comet's integrity than a gnat would to the
windscreen of a car.

The
impact was sensational. Though not, perhaps, as sensational as the scientific
analysis of the impact might turn out to be. That's because there was more to
this colossal firework than just American patriotism. The Deep Impact
spacecraft was joined by several other telescopes, each carefully studying the
materials that were forcefully expelled from the interior of the Tempel 1 comet.
Such studies should give scientists the first real idea of what comets comprise
of.

Such
information could establish an intrinsic link between the composition of comets
and the Earth.

The
results of the studies have not been released to the public yet. This is
frustrating, but somewhat understandable. It takes time to calibrate the
spectra, work through all of the data and write up the scientific papers.
However, one of the scientists involved has given some good insights into what
we might expect when the complete picture of the composition of Tempel 1 is
eventually released.
²⁵

The
comet is composed mostly of ice: the Deep Impact event releasing large
quantities of hot water into space. This much was expected. However, the
geology of the comet is complex, with a cratered landscape suggesting a
multi-faceted life. What's more unusual is the composition of the rocks in the
comet, which include limestone. This material can form in the presence of
water, but it seems unlikely that such a mechanism could take place in the
frigidly cold conditions of the outer solar system. It doesn't seem possible
that limestone rock ended up as part of a comet. Yet the tell-tale sign of
carbonates clearly show up on the spectra.

The
comet seems to have all the elements associated with Earth rocks present, but
lacks iron. This is also providing scientists with a headache. Iron tends to
concentrate in the cores of planets, but in smaller bodies with lesser internal
forces at work, iron should be present throughout the comet. So where is it?

These
provisional findings suggest to me that the comet is a chunk of watery rock
knocked off the surface of a planet whose iron had already sunk into the
planetary core. I think that the comet didn't form independently way out in the
outer solar system, but was once part of a watery planet. Such a scenario is
consistent with the presence of limestone.

Yet Tempel 1 seems to be a regular short range comet. It is not an
unusual body. All of this suggests that short range comets may be connected with
previous catastrophic events in the solar system. It is very tempting at this
early stage to wonder whether Zecharia Sitchin is correct; that the collision
between Nibiru and Tiamat not only left a battered Earth spinning into a new
orbit closer to the sun, but also spawned a celestial ocean of comets. Those
comets should then have a composition broadly in line with that of the Earth.

It's a pity that more detailed data is unavailable at this time,
particularly regarding the isotopic ratios of the water of Tempel 1. Rational
reasons for delay aside, one might be forgiven for wondering whether the
scientists charged with probing the secrets of Tempel 1 are struggling to come
up with an explanation as to why this comet seems to be a piece of a familiar
world. Namely, the Earth! Such a link would be an extraordinary revelation, and
would have far-reaching repercussions. We can only wait and see what news the
coming months bring.