Chapter 20: The 811000-year Mega Cycle

20.1 Introduction

Our Solar System appears to have a very long cycle of 811000 years (or just about 32 X 25344y), at both ends of which all of its components (i.e. the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the Earth and the Moon) will return to the same locations in ‘absolute space’. In any case, this is what the Tychosium simulator ‘tells us’: if we start the simulator, for instance, at 2000-06-21 and then add 811000 years to that date, all the bodies of our Solar System will return to the same celestial positions. I made this remarkable discovery almost by pure chance as I tested the Tychosium over multiples of 25344 years (i.e. the duration of a Tychos Great Year). The chances for this to be a mere coincidence (given the different orbital speeds and eccentric orbits of all our system’s bodies) are—as you may agree—beyond any rational consideration.

20.2 Agreement between simulators**

Before we proceed any further, I would like to address a question I am sure many readers have on their minds: when it comes to very long periods and cycles, does the Tychosium 3D simulator agree with the other simulators ‘on the market’? It is not a simple question to answer. The geoheliocentric layout of the TYCHOS model naturally sets the Tychosium 3D simulator apart from heliocentric simulators but, truth be said, the latter all disagree with one another to some extent. However, one particular simulator—the JS Orrery—is of special interest to the TYCHOS model because of its somewhat similar graphic construct and layout. The man credited with providing the exacting algorithms and ephemeride tables for the JS Orrery happens to be Paul Schlyter, a veteran Swedish astronomer and staunch heliocentrist with whom Patrik Holmqvist (the developer of the Tychosium 3D simulator) and I have had an extensive e-mail exchange. According to Schlyter, the Tychosium will never attain to the level of accuracy of the JS Orrery; it is, in fact, doomed to fail.

To put that dire prediction to the test, let us compare the two simulators for accuracy over a long period. Unfortunately, the JS Orrery does not allow to enter dates as remote as 811000 years, so we shall restrict our test to a time span of some twenty thousand years. The below screenshots from the two respective simulators compare the relative positions of the Sun, Mars, Earth, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter on two dates 23429 years apart:

Fig. 20.1 The Tychosium (left) and the JS Orrery (right) showing the positions of our planets on 21 June 1915.

Fig. 20.2 The Tychosium (left) and the JS Orrery (right) showing the positions of our planets on 21 June 25344.

As you can see, the two simulators are in excellent agreement over a period of more than 23000 years. Patrik Holmqvist and I are now satisfied that the Tychosium 3D simulator is at least as reliable at predicting secular planetary positions as any of the most popular heliocentric Solar System simulators. And, more importantly, the Tychosium can do so while fully respecting the optical perspective of the observed conjunctions between our planets and the stars, unlike any existing heliocentric simulator—including the JS Orrery.

20.3 The 811000-year cycle of our Solar System and the Sirius system

In Chapter 6, I speculated about the possibility that the Sirius System may be the ‘double-double’ binary companion of our own Solar System. Incidentally, it is probably no fluke that the Sun reaches its apogee in the first days of July, as it aligns longitudinally with Sirius, as seen from Earth. As the 811000-year cycle gradually came to light, I decided to test the hypothesis by using Sirius’ currently known observational data and predicted celestial motions. Sirius is reckoned to be approaching our Solar System and, according to the famed mathematical astronomer Jean Meeus, expected to become our south pole star roughly 60000 years from now. The problem with this prediction is that, if―as officially claimed―Sirius were truly 8.6 light years away and were moving towards us at a radial velocity of 5.5 km/s, it would employ a minimum of 469300 years to reach the ‘X vector’ perpendicular to our system’s ecliptic (thus plausibly becoming our south pole star). Clearly, the officially estimated distance to Sirius is in stark conflict with Jean Meeus’ predictions and something else must be going on. For the purpose of my research however, I chose to use the ~60000-year prediction of Sirius as our next south pole star.

Now, if the Sirius system were to be our Solar System’s ‘double-double’ binary companion, we might expect it to have a binary orbit of similar size as ours. Hence, for my geometric experiment, I chose to draw two equally-sized ‘wheels’ (intersecting in classic binary fashion) representing the binary orbits of Sirius and our Solar System. Assuming their 'full secular cycle' to be 811000 years, I animated their motions in 16 steps of 50688 years. As you may recall from Chapter 16, 50688 years (i.e. 2 X 25344) is the “Great Year of Mars”.

The outcome of this experiment―however speculative it may be―makes for an interesting hypothesis: our Solar System and the Sirius System would complete what we may call a ‘mega cycle’ and return to the same relative positions in about 811000 years. Moreover, as predicted by Jean Meeus, Sirius would indeed become our southern pole star roughly 60000 years from now (or somewhat earlier).

Fig. 20.3 The 811000-year Sirius/Sun Mega Cycle.

To view the full, animated 811000-year 'dance' of our Solar System around the Sirius System, go to: The 81100-year cycle sequence (opens in a new tab). The animation shows their relative positions over a full 811000-year period divided into 16 intervals of 50688 years.

0> today / 1> 50688 / 2> 101376 / 3> 152064 / 4> 202752 / 5> 253440 / 6> 304128 / 7> 354816 / 8> 405504 / 9> 456192 / 10> 506880 / 11> 557568 / 12> 608256 / 13> 658944 / 14> 709632 / 15> 760320 / 16> 811008

The many independent researchers who have proposed that Sirius is the binary companion of the Sun may well have been correct all along. Note also how this may go to elucidate the existence of the mysterious 405- kyr cycle already discussed in Chapter 16. It bears reminding that this peculiar long period (405000 ± 500 years) has been identified by scores of multidisciplinary scientists as a significant ‘metronome’ regulating a number of cyclical events in the realms of geology, geodynamics, dendrochronology, climatology and paleomagnetism. As we may read in the Wikipedia, the major component of the variations of the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit occurs, interestingly enough, with a period of 405000 years. Figure 20.4 shows how the Sirius system and our own system will ‘swap sides’ (at 180°) over a 405500-year period, suggesting that some sort of long-term magnetic reversal might be at play.

Fig. 20.4 The 405500-year interval of the ‘double-double’ Sirius/Sun binary pair.

In Chapter 16, we saw that, over a 405500-year period :

• Mercury and Venus will return to the almost exact same celestial positions

• Our Moon will end up (at 180°) on the opposite side of its orbit around the Earth

Over a full 811000-year period (2 X 405500) however, our entire Solar System will completely ‘reset itself’. That’s right: as can be verified in the Tychosium 3D simulator, at both ends of an 811000-year period, our Earth, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (and even asteroid Eros) will indeed all return to the near-exact same celestial positions! As for Halley’s comet (which will be extensively analyzed in Chapter 30), it will do so at both ends of a (2 X 811000) 1 622 000-year period.
It is hard to fathom the scope and significance of all this; yet it certainly suggests that cosmologists and astrophysicists need to undertake a major rethink of the workings of our Solar System, what with its remarkable Mega Cycle of 811000 years (or 32 X 25344 years). Add to this the fact that―as we saw in Chapter 13―our Moon acts as the ‘central driveshaft’ of our entire system. The TYCHOS model is therefore set to revolutionize our current understanding of our cosmos while providing demonstrable proof of its non-chaotic and multi-resonant nature.

20.4 The TYCHOS and the magnetic pole reversals of the Sun and Earth

The so-called magnetic pole reversals of the Sun and the Earth are a subject of much debate and popular fascination. Yet, no firm explanation has been proposed to this day as to the causality of these magnetic reversals, let alone the vastly diverse rates at which they occur. The TYCHOS model, short of explaining exactly why these reversals take place, nonetheless provides a compelling proposition which would account, quantitatively, for the enormously different periods of magnetic reversals of the Sun (~11.5 years) and the Earth (~800000 years).

Fig. 20.5 A classic illustration of the magnetic pole reversal concept.

Let us first take a brief look at the Sun’s magnetic field reversal period, as of the official reckoning:

"During what is known as the solar cycle, the magnetic field of the Sun has reversed every 11 years over the past centuries. This flip, where the south magnetic pole switches to north and vice versa, occurs during the peak of each solar cycle and originates from a process called a “dynamo”. Magnetic fields are generated by a dynamo, which involves the rotation of the star as well as convection and the rising and falling of hot gas in the star’s interior." "3D simulations reveals why the Sun flips its magnetic field every 11 years" - Smithsonian (opens in a new tab)

So the Sun’s magnetic field, we are told, reverses at very short intervals of 11 years. However, this is not an exact value since the period can vary from 9 to 14 years:

“Most people think of the solar cycle as having a fixed length of 11 years. This is not strictly true as cycles vary considerably in length from as little as 9 years to almost 14 years.” "The Length of the Solar Cycle" (opens in a new tab)

One could perhaps more correctly say that this solar cycle lasts on average about 11.5 years (9+14 = 23/2 = 11.5). But do scientists have any clue as to why this solar cycle exists? Well, no:

“If you’re confused about the sun’s impending magnetic field flip, don’t feel bad — scientists don’t fully understand it, either. The sun’s magnetic field will reverse its polarity three or four months from now, researchers say, just as it does every 11 years at the peak of the solar activity cycle. While solar physicists know enough about this strange phenomenon to predict when it will occur, its ultimate causes remain mysterious.” "What Causes the Sun’s Magnetic Field Flip?" (opens in a new tab)

In Chapter 16, we saw that the most recent geomagnetic reversal of the Earth’s poles occurred roughly 800000 years ago. More precisely, what is known as the ‘Brunhes-Matuyama reversal’ is reckoned to have occurred 781000 years ago.

In the TYCHOS model, the Earth’s orbital speed (1.601169 km/h) is a mere 0.00149326% of the Sun’s orbital speed (107226 km/h). So let’s see how this pans out mathematically with regard to the respective magnetic reversal periods of the Sun and the Earth:

0.00149326% of 781000 years amounts to ≈ 11.6624 years

In other words, it would appear that the magnetic reversals of the Sun and the Earth are regulated by and commensurate to their respective orbital speeds. Another way of expressing this astonishing relationship would be:

• Earth's orbital speed is 66967.3 X slower than the Sun's orbital speed (107226 / 1.601169 ≈ 66967.3)
• Earth's magnetic reversals occur 66967.3 X less frequently than the Sun's (781000 y / 11.6624 y ≈ 66967.3)

Of course, this remarkable harmony only becomes visible when viewed through the lens of the TYCHOS model. To be sure, no heliocentric astronomer has ever attempted to account for the vastly different recurrence rates of the Earth’s and the Sun’s magnetic pole reversals. In the absence of any official explanation for their respective periodicities, one may say that the TYCHOS model ‘wins by default’, much like when a basketball team fails to show up at a tournament. In the next chapter we shall take a further look at the motions of the Earth and the Sun and the optical implications of the same, as viewed from an earthly frame of reference.