"Reporting their findings in the journal Nature on Wednesday, an international team said that they detected “a lot” of molecular oxygen in the cloud of gas, or coma, surrounding the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.  While molecular oxygen has been found in Jupiter and Saturn, it’s never been found on a comet. The neutral gas comas of most comets are composed largely of water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide." (1)

"A further consequence would be that these icy grains have been incorporated into the comet mostly unaltered, a process that is much debated, but which has recently been proposed again and that would be in accordance with the measured high D/H ratio in 67P (5)" (6)

References:

"Providing an insider’s look into the decades of research behind Zecharia Sitchin’s complete works as well as an in-depth overview of his theories, this collection includes carefully selected chapters from the Earth Chronicles series as well as never-before-published letters, articles, and lectures. We learn about the genesis of The 12th Planet in “The Book as a Story,” the Sumerians and their Anunnaki influences in “The Sudden Civilization,” the orbit of Nibiru in “UFOs, Pyramids, and the 12th Planet,” the prehistory of the Americas in “Cities Lost and Found,” the extraterrestrial origins of modern man in “The Cosmic Connection--DNA,” and much more. We get to read never-before-published lectures, culled from Sitchin’s decades of presentations, as well as the article that spurred the writing of There Were Giants Upon the Earth.

Each piece includes an introduction by Sitchin’s niece, offering context and insight into Sitchin’s passionate work. These introductions reveal the man behind the theories, a world traveler known for his scholarship, dry humor, and precisely chosen words. If his theories are true, as Sitchin wholeheartedly believed, then this collection presents some of the most important knowledge we have of our origins and future."  (1)

I haven't yet read the book, so can offer no guidance as to how much of the book will be new to regular Sitchin readers.  But it's certainly good to see a new, posthumous release of his writings lovingly curated by his niece.

Written by Andy Lloyd, 5th October 2015

The ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the world's oldest written tales, telling the story of the eponymous King of Uruk's doomed quest for immortality.  The cultured, urbane king takes on a travelling companion by the name of Enkidu, formerly a 'wild-man' who is tamed and cultivated by Gilgamesh.  During their adventures together, they encounter the monstrous Humbaba in the Cedar Forests (likely in current-day Lebanon) who acts as an ogre-like guardian on behalf of the god Enlil. 

Photo Credit: Osama S.M. Amin

Excitingly for Gilgamesh fans, a previously missing passage from the epic has been found, imprinted upon a Babylonian tablet, written in cuneiform script, and authenticated by experts studying it at the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Iraq (1).  It has now been translated by Assyriologists from the original cuneiform (2).

The excerpt from the Epic inscribed upon the tiny tablet fills out the Cedar Forest encounter, and in particular subtly alters what we know about Humbaba, who appears to have had some history with the wild-man Enkidu before Gilgamesh came along:

"The most interesting piece of information provided by this new source is the continuation of the description of the Cedar Forest:

Gilgamesh and Enkidu saw ‘monkeys’ as part of the exotic and noisy fauna of the Cedar Forest; this was not mentioned in other versions of the Epic.

Humbaba emerges, not as a barbarian ogre, and but as a foreign ruler entertained with exotic music at court in the manner of Babylonian kings. The chatter of monkeys, chorus of cicada, and squawking of many kinds of birds formed a symphony (or cacophony) that daily entertained the forest’s guardian, Humbaba.

The aftermath of Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s slaying of Humbaba is now better preserved.

The passages are consistent with other versions and confirm what was already known. For example, Enkidu had spent some time with Humbaba in his youth." (3)

Almost 100 years ago, it was suggested that the Epic of Gilgamesh was the re-working of an earlier epic centred around Enkidu - that the latter version effectively inserted the King of Uruk into the story to glorify him (4).  Which begs the question, what was so great about the wild-man Enkidu and, by extension, the equally tough forester Humbaba?  There's been plenty of speculation in the past that the wild-man was some kind of hominid.  Suggestions include a Bigfoot, a Neanderthal, a Denisovan and, in Humbaba's case, possibly even a Gigantopithecus (5).  It's interesting that Enkidu is effectively tamed and civilised by a temple prostitute sent by Gilgamesh to seduce the feral troublemaker.  Perhaps this very ancient tale describes the end of the Neanderthals as a separate human species long before:

"Interbreeding with ancient humans has civilized the Neanderthals, but also weakened and deracinated them, estranging them from nature.  Indeed, [in The Epic of Gilgamesh] the process is cast as a seduction and wisdom a degenerative corruption perpetrated by a whore (the whore of civilization, who will later reappear as the Biblical whore of Babylon, and their "six days and seven nights" of fornication will echo in the creation story of Genesis. Likewise, Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit of knowledge proffered by Eve also finds a thematic foreshadowing." (5)

How can we interpret this in a Sitchinite context?  Might Enkidu represent the early Earth hominids which were genetically manipulated by the Anunnaki colonists, and enslaved?  Some of the threads in Sitchin's writings reflect these change in Enkidu's nature.  Indeed, he notes that the name 'Enkidu' means "by Enki created" (6), not unlike humanity presumably.  To Sitchin, the location of the guarded Cedar Forest in Lebanon was of central importance, as this was the landing place of the gods.  But might the whole narrative about Enkidu also be metaphorical for the transition from hominid to human?  It seems to be in keeping with other Mesopotamian myths about the origins of humanity which, if read literally, imply outside intervention.  In which case, I find it interesting that these new segments of the epic, which have emerged very recently, include a backdrop of musically-talented monkeys in the forest - one of which Gilgamesh and Enkidu 'meet' (3) - and a closer intertwining of Enkidu and Humbaba. 

Taken together, an entire faction of uncivilised, lower hominids emerges from the tale which Gilgamesh must refine and/or overcome to achieve his vainglorious goal of immortality.

By the way, did you know that the controversial scholar Robert Temple, author of 'The Sirius Mystery', has also produced a translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh which was performed in the Royal National Theatre in London in 1993 (7)?

Written by Andy Lloyd, 5th October 2015

References:

Two recent scientific findings, published in academic journals, have raised the prospect of finding habitable tidally-locked planets orbiting close to cool dwarf stars.  This is a significant boost to the Dark Star Theory, because it seems highly likely that for a planet in a sub-brown dwarf system to be habitable, it would have to be so close to the parent 'star' that it would be tidally locked (1).  By this, we mean that the orbiting planet is forced to attain a rotational period that is synchronous with its orbital period.  If you want to see that in action, simply look up into our sky most nights.  The Moon is tidally locked, due to its close proximity to Earth, which is why we only ever see one side of the Moon facing us. 

The problem with a tidally-locked world orbiting a star is that the side facing the star would be severely heated compared to the 'dark side' which would never see any light, and would be completely frozen.  Even if the planet was able to generate an atmosphere, it is very likely that the planet would experience two very extreme climates, making life very difficult everywhere except for the thin no-man's land joining the two extreme hemispheres.  That's not the only problem, either - until recently, it seemed likely that these star-hugging worlds would be devoid of protective magnetic fields.  But that problem appears to be receding (2).  Indeed, the close proximity of the planet to a dwarf star provides the additional benefit of heating the world through tidal heating:

"But in new research by University of Washington scientists published in the journal Astrobiology, a planet in a compact orbit around a red dwarf star could receive a gravitational boost that could act as a planetary immune system of sorts, potentially shielding the worst radiation from sterilizing nearby worlds. This mechanism would put red dwarfs back in the life-hunting arena.  It was generally thought that tidally-locked planets were devoid of planetary magnetic fields, like the magnetosphere that surround Earth. But this may not be the case. 

"While orbiting a red dwarf star, a potentially habitable planet will likely become locked, resigning one hemisphere to an eternity of perpetual light. The close proximity to the star will also result in tidal heating in the planet’s mantle — during its orbit, the star’s gravitational field will periodically squash the world, driving a dynamo of heating. Much like Jupiter’s hellish moon Io, where tidal heating from Jupiter’s tides drive the most violent examples of volcanoes in the solar system, these worlds would experience tidal heating, just on a less extreme scale.  "This tidal heating may not sound particularly life-friendly either, but it turns out that planets that undergo this form of heating are very good at dissipating heat from their cores. As the cores of these planets cool, the conditions may be ripe for the creation of global magnetic fields." (3)

This is, of course, the picture I have painted for a possible binary Dark Star in our outer solar system (4) where an Earth-like world might be warmed by its proximity to a rather old sub-brown dwarf.  Later, in one of my novels, I described how such a viable home-world might appear (5).  I assumed, at that time, that there would be a warm, viable light side, but also an extremely cold, inhospitable dark side to this home-world, providing us with an overall appearance for this world which I likened to the 'eye of Horus'. 

However, new research, published last month, suggests that certain jet-stream weather patterns on roughly Earth-sized, tidally-locked worlds in compact orbits around dwarf stars might provide a more moderate climate than first thought (6).

"For tidally locked exoplanets to be potentially habitable, they must have a functional planetary "air conditioning system" that balances surface temperatures across the light and dark sides. In one climate type uncovered by the [computer] simulations, this air conditioning system is overridden by an eastward wind jet (fast flowing air currents) that messes with circulation in the upper layers of the atmosphere along the equator and prevents heat transfer to the night side.

That only occurs on exoplanets with rotation periods under 12 days, however. The simulations showed that the rest have either two westward jets at high latitudes or a longitudinal "smearing" of the upper atmosphere hotspot across the substellar point (the point at which the star is in zenith, or directly overhead). Both of these other climate types leave the air conditioning system unaffected and thus make the surface potentially habitable." (7)

This analysis also provides us with a maximum rotational period for such a viable home-world - of just 12 days!  If this was a planet orbiting around the Sun, then this proximity would mean that the world would be utterly frazzled.  But orbiting around a sub-brown dwarf, such a short rotational period is highly reasonable.  The Galilean moon Europa, which orbits Jupiter in about 3.5 Earth days, has a global sub-surface ocean, warmed by tidal heating.  So, an Earth-like world at a similar distance around a sub-brown dwarf in the outer solar system would be even warmer, potentially have its own protective magnetic field, and possibly a viable atmosphere whose 'air-conditioning system' might make surface conditions moderate on a global scale. 

Written by Andy Lloyd, 11th October 2015

References:

2)  Peter Kelley "Earth-like planets around small stars likely have protective magnetic fields, aiding chance for life" 29 September 2015, with thanks to Lee

phys.org news

"University College London paleoanthropologist María Martinón-Torres said our species made it to southern China tens of thousands of years before colonizing Europe perhaps because of the entrenched presence of our hardy cousins, the Neanderthals, in Europe and the harsh, cold European climate.  "This finding suggests that Homo sapiens is present in Asia much earlier than the classic, recent 'Out of Africa' hypothesis was suggesting: 50,000 years ago," Martinón-Torres said.

"[Paleoanthropologist Wu] Liu [of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology] said the teeth are about twice as old as the earliest evidence for modern humans in Europe. "We hope our Daoxian human fossil discovery will make people understand that East Asia is one of the key areas for the study of the origin and evolution of modern humans," Liu said.

"Martinón-Torres said some migrations out of Africa have been labelled "failed dispersals."  Fossils from Israeli caves indicate modern humans about 90,000 years ago reached "the gates of Europe," Martinón-Torres said, but "never managed to enter.  It may have been hard to take over land Neanderthals had occupied for hundreds of thousands of years.  In addition, it is logical to think that dispersals toward the east were likely environmentally easier than moving toward the north, given the cold winters of Europe" Martinón-Torres said." (3)

Written by Andy Lloyd, 22nd October 2015

References:

1)  Robin McKie "Neanderthals 'Kept Our Early Ancestors at Europe's Edge'" The Observer, 18 October 2015, p22

As was discussed in the above article, it is generally accepted that an apocalyptic bombardment ripped the inner solar system apart about 3.9 billion years ago.  This 'late, heavy bombardment' took place well after the solar system had stabilised into an orderly state, and occurred over perhaps hundreds of million years in duration (1).  It's effects were sensational - the chunks of rock that hammered the inner solar system were of immense size.  Even the smaller impactors could have led to the extinction of all life on Earth, let alone the big beasts that pummelled us, and the Moon.  It is the Moon's surface itself that provides the most startling visual record of the bombardment, as well as the rock samples which have enabled planetary scientists to date the events to this period (2).  By contrast, tectonic movements and geological activity during the intervening 4 billion years or so have disrupted the cratering which was also doubtlessly visited upon the Earth at the same time.

The cratering patterns on the Moon have also changed over time, with much more information useful to scientists now buried beneath the surface.  The bombardment cracked the lunar surface and made the lunar crust much more porous.   New studies are starting to reveal these hidden secrets buried within the deeper layers of the lunar crust, courtesy of NASA's GRAIL mission (3).  This mission used twin spacecraft to map gravitational anomalies within the Moon, picking up concentrations of mass below the planetary surface which scientists call 'mascons'.  A pattern has emerged regarding the nature of these lunar mascons, suggestive of filled-in craters below the lunar surface:

""GRAIL data confirm that lunar mascons were generated when large asteroids or comets impacted the ancient moon, when its interior was much hotter than it is now," said Jay Melosh, a GRAIL co-investigator at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.. "We believe the data from GRAIL show how the moon's light crust and dense mantle combined with the shock of a large impact to create the distinctive pattern of density anomalies that we recognize as mascons."

"The origin of lunar mascons has been a mystery in planetary science since their discovery in 1968 by a team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Researchers generally agree mascons resulted from ancient impacts billions of years ago. It was not clear until now how much of the unseen excess mass resulted from lava filling the crater or iron-rich mantle upwelling to the crust.  On a map of the moon's gravity field, a mascon appears in a target pattern. The bulls-eye has a gravity surplus. It is surrounded by a ring with a gravity deficit. A ring with a gravity surplus surrounds the bulls-eye and the inner ring. This pattern arises as a natural consequence of crater excavation, collapse and cooling following an impact. The increase in density and gravitational pull at a mascon's bulls-eye is caused by lunar material melted from the heat of a long-ago asteroid impact." (4)

So, even though the lunar surface that we can see appears pretty bashed about, even more impact craters lie hidden below the surface, some of them massive.  One of these impacts might even have tipped the Moon onto its side (5).   It is now hoped that further studies of these hidden craters can provide a clearer picture of the nature of the late, heavy bombardment including, perhaps, an insight into its origin (which remains something of a mystery):

The Followers of Horusolor="#333399">"Although the upper layers of the moon's crust are too fractured to retain much of a record of the collisions from the Late Heavy Bombardment, Soderblom and his colleagues suggest that the deeper layers might provide an idea of how many large impacts the moon and other bodies in the inner solar system suffered during this ancient onslaught.  This research could even help scientists track the origins of the rocks that hurled around during the Late Heavy Bombardment. 

""What we really hope to do is to figure out the number of impacts in the range of 100 kilometers (60 miles) in diameter, and from that, we can extrapolate to the smaller craters, assuming different populations of impactors, and those different assumptions will tell us where the impactors came from," Soderblom said in a statement. "This will help [us] to understand the origin of the Late Heavy Bombardment, and whether it was disrupted material from the asteroid belt or if it was further out."" (6)

There are many hypotheses about what caused the bombardment.  Migration of the gas giants is a current favourite, an hypothesis known as the Nice model (7).  The idea goes that their collective migration caused Neptune to graze the Kuiper Belt, sending swarms of asteroids and comets into the inner solar system. 

I don't think this degree of complexity is required.  I suspect that an outside entity was to blame, crashing through the stabilised solar system accompanied by world-shattering debris (8).  My bet is that this object would have been a sub-brown dwarf companion of the Sun, perturbed from its wide, elliptical orbit into the path of the planets.

Perhaps these on-going investigations into the hidden cratering of the Moon will reveal new insights into the source of the bombardment, and solve this mystery once and for all.

The oddest part of the movie for me were the two rockets sat upright on the Martian surface.  The first, which was parked alongside the colony, was carefully monitored, and prepared for immediate readiness in case a dust storm flared up.  In the event that one did, the tilt of the rocket became literally the tipping point towards potential disaster.  The precarious nature of the operation was well understood by the astronauts, to the extent that they had to make a tough choice, or all end up stranded.

Compare and contrast to the second rocket, left some way off for what I guess was intended to be a future mission.  Firstly, how had that rocket actually got there, without a crew, standing perfectly upright like Thunderbird 1?  [Having seen Space X rockets doing synchronised vertical landings in 2018, I can now see how plausible this now is! AL]  Secondly, if the global dust storms were such a known risk, then how come this rocket was knowingly left like that, exposed to the risk of getting knocked over - presumably for years?  Uh huh. 

Such an awesome movie

Written by Andy Lloyd, 22nd October 2015

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