Chapter 28: The Barnard's star confirms the TYCHOS
28.1 Stellar zig-zagging explained
Barnard’s star is the fastest-moving star in our skies. Viewed from Earth’s northern hemisphere, it is observed to briskly ‘ascend’ by as much as 10.36 arcseconds every year. It is also the second-closest star to Earth after the Alpha Centauri binary system. Due to its speed and proximity, it is of particular interest to the study of the so-called ‘proper motion’ (visual displacement) of the stars. As recently as November 2018, Barnard’s star was discovered to have a companion and so is very likely part of a binary system. On the summer solstice it may be seen at midnight ‘due south’ (17h47m of RA) and fairly close to the equatorial ecliptic (04°41′ of Declination). We shall now see how the observed motion of Barnard’s star provides further support for the TYCHOS model’s tenets, especially the concept of trochoidal loops (see Chapter 21).
Fig. 28.1 Motion (visual displacement) of Barnard’s star between 1985 and 2005.
An experienced amateur astronomer, Dennis Di Cicco (opens in a new tab), (a hat tip to him), carefullly monitored and photographed Barnard’s star’s motions for at least 16 months between 1994 and 1996, making it possible to plot the diagram shown in Figure 28.2.
Fig. 28.2 Dennis di Cicco’s observations of Barnard’s star’s motions, with colour highlights added.
Di Cicco’s diagram shows how Barnard’s star is observed to swiftly rise in our skies, from south to north, at a slight east-west angle, tracing an asymmetric zig-zag pattern with a distinct 4-month/8-month frequency (highlighted in pink and blue in Figure 28.2). So what could possibly cause this peculiar oscillation? Certainly, no one will claim Barnard’s star is actually zig-zagging in space, but does the Copernican model have any rational explanation for the asymmetric east-west oscillating motion of Barnard’s star? No, it does not. Does the TYCHOS model? Yes, indeed.
In Chapter 21, we saw how ‘a man’s yearly path’ along a trochoidal loop affects our observations of the Sun and the Moon at a lateral displacement ratio of 3:1. In this case, however, since Barnard’s star does not circle around us like the Sun and displays a 4-month/8-month frequency, we will have to consider a 2:1 ratio. In fact, an earthly observer revolving around his annual trochoidal path and patiently monitoring for a full year a star located close to the equatorial ecliptic (such as Barnard’s star) will see it oscillating east and west at a 2:1 ratio. This can be a rather tricky matter to conceive and visualize, but the diagram in Figure 28.3 should help clarify the spatial perspectives at play.
Fig. 28.3 Why Barnard’s star is observed to zig-zag.
If the visual behavior of Barnard’s star, as expertly recorded by Di Cicco, is not entirely clear in the reader’s mind at this point, Figure 28.4 should do the trick:
Fig. 28.4 As the observer’s meridian oscillates at a 2:1 ratio throughout the year, so will the star’s apparent celestial longitude.
28.2 A philosophical note
Of course, the observed zig-zagging motion of Barnard’s star is the natural consequence of our constantly fluctuating terrestrial frame of reference. As we have seen on several occasions in this book, ‘a man’s yearly path’ goes to explain a great many of the ‘irregularities’ and ‘aberrations’ endlessly debated by astronomers, cosmologists and astrophysicists throughout the centuries. For example, we saw in Chapter 17 that Jupiter was once thought to be on a collision course with the Sun, while Saturn was believed to be floating away into the depths of space. All the apocalyptic scenarios prognosticated by renowned astronomers in the early 20th century turned out to be entirely spurious. As shown by the TYCHOS model, they were simply misconceptions arising from the errors inherent in the heliocentric paradigm, combined with an alarmist mindset.
It seems to be a hallmark of modern intellectuals to view Mother Nature and the universe as a whole in an ominous and self-destructive light. This ideological gloominess may well have its eschatological underpinnings, but it is not particularly helpful to the advancement of objective scientific inquiry and human peace of mind. Hopefully, the serene regularity and perfect ‘celestial mechanics’ unveiled by the TYCHOS model will contribute towards a closer and less paranoid relationship with our cosmic environment. Scientists should spend less time conjecturing about assorted ‘chaotic states’ and ‘planetary collisions’ and start appreciating the wondrous harmony and stability of our world. We really don’t need to worry about our resplendent geoheliocentric binary system exploding into a pyroclastic supernova or dissolving into a nebula anytime within the next few billion years.
28.3 ‘Dying stars’ are observed to be binary systems
Having shooed away a pack of academic Doomsday prophets, there is nothing wrong with peeking out into the universe and observing the stages stars apparently go through in their eonic evolution. As we just saw, a companion was discovered for Barnard’s star as recently as November 2018, a fact that would certainly go to support the notion that all stars, without exception, are locked in binary or multiple systems. In Chapter 3, we reproduced new evidence from science journals to the effect that “all stars are born in pairs”. It turns out that, according to a study from 2022, stars also die in pairs!
The following three extracts are from an article published on the BBC website covering recent research projects (2020-2021), which basically conclude that the ‘exploding stars' we see in our skies (sometimes referred to as ‘supernovas’ or ‘planetary nebulas’) invariably have binary companions. This has become known as the ‘binary hypothesis’.
"What happens when a star dies? At the end of their lives, sunlike stars metamorphose into glowing shells of gas – perhaps shaped by unseen companions. The galaxy is studded with thousands of these jewel-like memorials, known as planetary nebulae. They are the normal end stage for stars that range from half the Sun's mass up to eight times its mass. (More massive stars have a much more violent end, an explosion called a supernova.) Planetary nebulae come in a stunning variety of shapes, as suggested by names like the Southern Crab, the Cat's Eye and the Butterfly. But as beautiful as they are, they have also been a riddle to astronomers. How does a cosmic butterfly emerge from the seemingly featureless, round cocoon of a red giant star?"
"Observations and computer models are now pointing to an explanation that would have seemed outlandish 30 years ago: most red giants have a much smaller companion star hiding in their gravitational embrace. This second star shapes the transformation into a planetary nebula, much as a potter shapes a vessel on a potter's wheel."
"The binary hypothesis accounts very well for the first stage of metamorphosis of a dying star. As the companion pulls dust and gases away from the primary star, they do not immediately get sucked into the companion, but form a swirling disk of material known as an accretion disk in the orbital plane of the companion. That accretion disk is the potter's wheel". (...) "New and innovative telescopes have revealed that some red giants are surrounded by spiral structures and accretion disks before they turn into planetary nebulae – just as expected if there were a second star pulling material off the red giant. In a couple of cases, astronomers may have even spotted the companion star itself." Source: "What Happens When a Star Dies?" (opens in a new tab) by Dana Mackenzie (September 2022)
Note that the article credits this most recent discovery to “new and innovative telescopes”, without mentioning any of the much vaunted, multimillion-dollar ‘orbiting space telescopes’; instead, it is specified that the research team behind this remarkable new finding “especially relied upon the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (Alma) in Chile, which came online in 2011”. Alma consists of 66 radio telescopes that work together to produce images of astronomical objects.
Fig. 28.5 BBC’s own caption for the above image reads: “A mid-infrared image easily distinguishes the dying star at the nebula’s centre (red) from its companion star (blue)”. Yet, the embedded caption for the same image says: “NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope has revealed extraordinary details in the Southern Ring Nebula (Credit: Nasa / ESA / CSA / STSCI)”. Regardless of whether the image reproduced in Figure 28.5 was captured from a ‘space telescope’ or from a large ground-based observatory, it corroborates the contention that all stars are part of binary or multiple systems.
In the next chapter, we shall take a good look at Eros, the first near-earth asteroid to be discovered, and appreciate the curious coincidence between its name and its ‘orbital dance’, as viewed in the Tychosium 3D simulator. An old and famous pop song springs to mind: “love is in the air...”