Re: Planet X/12th Planet Cover-Up

Article: <[email protected]> 
Subject: Re: Planet X/12th Planet Cover-Up
Date: 27 May 1998 03:22:38 GMT

In article <[email protected]> Joshua Hewitt writes:
>> Anyway, what do you mean by "the government?"  There 
>> *ISN'T ANY* government agency charged with keeping 
>> astronomical discoveries secret, or any legal authority to 
>> do so.
>
> Many people from the US seem to forget that there are other 
> governments in the world, and that other agencies than NASA
> have access to telescopes. I think RGO has one or two ;-)

NASA, which is a powerful enough non-government agency (funded by the
taxpayers, as are government agencies) to bring "astronomers whose work
is funded by NASA" into line.  Read below.  And below that, the alarm
bell that went off in THINKING men's heads.

......

NASA Wants Delay in Notification of Asteroid Discoveries
May 19, 1998

LOS ANGLES (AP)- If professional stargazers catch sight of an asteriod
that might be on a collision course with Earth, the goverment wants
them quit about it- for at least 72 hours. The new procedures aim to to
avoid panic from mistaken reports of doomsday, like the flurry of worry
in March when astronomers reported asteriod 1997XF11 could collode with
Earth in 2028. That was soon found to be erroneous. Astronomers whose
work is funded by NASA have agreed for now to keep asteroid and comet
discoveries to them - selves for 48 hours while more detailed
calculations are made. The findings would then go to NASA, which would
wait an additional 24 hours before going public.

The new interim procedures are not an attempt to hide anything but to
make sure the information is accurate, said scientist Donald Yeomans of
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose calculations helped dispel the
fear asteroid 1997XF11 was headed straight for Earth. "It is an attempt
for the small scientific community that tracks these objects to build a
consensus, to determine if an asteroid is a threat," he said. Some
scientists question the new push from NASA, saying quick action from
astronomers is needed to determine if an asteroid's danger. "I don't
think one should be secret about these things," said Brian G. Marsden,
the director of the Internatoinal Astronomical Unoin who made the
announcement about 1997XF11's clos pass to Earth. "I think the public
would be unhappy."

NASA officials were "very upset" that they first heard of the 1997XF11
threat from reporters. "Almost all of us found out by press release,"
Yeomans said. "Clearly that is not the way it should work." The first
reports estimated it would pass within 30,000 miles of the Earth's
center and could possibly collide. That distance was later recalculated
at safe distances of 600,000 miles.

.......

From: Benny J Peiser <[email protected]
To: [email protected] <[email protected]
Date: 18. maj 1998 12:14
Subject: CCNet DIGEST 18/05/98

The Secrets of Asteroid Peril - British Media Smells a Rat
From Benny J Peiser <[email protected]

In Deep Impact, the world is kept in the dark about an approaching
comet for almost a year by the American and Russian administrations -
and the scientific community. Nobody in the DreamWorks movie seems to
be bothered about this year-long cover up. One only wonders why the
news is broken in the first place (other than for dramaturgical
reasons) before the Messiah mission lifts off. Yet in the real world of
NEO politics, journalists aren't as restrained and understanding as in
the movies (thank goodness). A report in London's Daily Mail on Friday
openly accuses the astronomical community in the US of trying to cover
up important scientific data on NEO research - at least until NASA has
the final word (and who is to say that 'earth-shattering' information
would not be kept secret for more than two or three days if the US
administration were to follow the Deep Impactscript).

Despite many inaccuracies in the Daily Mail's news story, I have
attached the article below. It shows that NASA's hasty and
ill-considered attempt to politically control scientific research and
the way NEO related data is allowed to be reported by NASA-funded
astronomers (i.e. all American NEO researchers) can easily backfire. It
would appear that NASA's failure to widely consult with the scientific
community has led to an own goal. Instead of protecting the integrity
and trustworthiness of scientific and astronomical research, the
interim procedures cast a dark shadow over the openess of science in
the US. It is essential, I believe, that NASA and the world's main
scientific institutions will come to an international agreement on
these matters in due course if further damage to the integrity and
openess of scientific research is to be avoided.

Delayed Impact, or the Secrets of Asteroid Peril
From the Daily Mail, 15 May 1998
Mail Foreign Service

If a giant asteroid is hurtling in the general direction of our planet,
we will be the last to know about it. For astronomers have decided that
the news would be too earth-shattering for ordinary mortals to handle -
and likely to cause widespread panic. In a week that sees the release
of the film Deep Impact - a fictional account of just such a
catastrophe - astronomers funded by the American space agency NASA have
now agreed to keep asteroid and comet discoveries to themselves for 48
hours while more detailed calculations are made. The findings would
then go to NASA, which would wait another 24 hours befor going public.
The new procedures aim to avoid causing a repeat of a doomsday alert in
March when astronomers reported that the asteroid 1997 XF11 could
collide with Earth in 2028. That apocalyptic prediction was soon found
to be a mistake and there was virtually no chance of any such impact. 

The new interim procedures are not an attempt to hide anything but to
make sure the information is accurate, claimed scientist Donald Yeomans
of the Jet Propulsion Laboratoy, whose calculations helped dispel the
fear that 1997XF11 was headed straight for Earth. 'It is an attempt for
the small scientific community that tracks these objects to build a
consensus, to determine if an asteroid is a threat,' he said. Some
scientists question the new push from NASA, saying quick action from
astronomers is needed to determine an asteroid's danger. 'I don't think
one should be secret about these things,' said Brian Marsden, the
director of the International Astronomical Union [sic], which made the
announcement about 1997XF11's projected collision with Earth. 'I think
the public would be unhappy,' he added. Some astronomers say releasing
their discoveries quickly and openly is critical. When a new asteroid
or comet is discovered, scientists need as many sightings as possible
in order to plot its orbit precisely and gauge how close it may pass to
Earth, they claim. Meanwhile, other leading scientists have recommended
that manned missions to asteroids approaching Earth should be
undertaken to discover more about their possible threat. ...