59 replies to this topic

[kingsbishop]

I had one guy who was a Planet X conspiracy theorist saying that Planet X didn’t exist as the edge of the solar system but very close to the sun and there was also a red dwarf in our solar system.

Anyway he says to me that you cannot see Planet X with your naked eye but you can in photographs so he shows me a picture he took on his phone of the sun and points to a lens artifact and says that’s Planet X

He also said that nasa doesn’t want people to know about it because Planet X will destroy the world in a few years time and they don’t want people panicking.

Then which I found the funniest is he says that when it is sunset when the clouds are red that that is due to the red dwarf and not the earths atmosphere making it red

So I ask him what about when the landscape is red and then he says no that not because of the red dwarf only when the clouds are red it’s due to the red dwarf.

So then we ask him “the earth is flat isn’t it” to see what he would say and then he says “no the earth is round” but idk if he said that just so we would take him more seriously when he talked about Planet X

Anyway so that was my experience. Have you met any astronomy conspiracy theorists if so what are your stories?

[barbarosa]

No, not a one. Sorry, no good anecdotes about silly people to whom we can feel superior or take pity on for their ignorance. No harmless lunatics talking nonsense. Everyone I've meet at any sort of public astronomy event, formal or casual, have been ordinary people, just like almost everyone we meet in other circumstances. 

[Astrojensen]

I've met many, who had some rather extreme misconceptions about astronomical subjects, but I don't think any of them were deliberately conspiratorial. Apart from the usual flat-Earthers, of which I know a couple, unfortunately. 

 

A funny one, I heard once, was when a guy pointed at the waxing gibbous Moon in the sky and asked me if that was the Moon's shadow on the Earth's atmosphere... Rather perplexed, I told him it was the Moon, to which he argued that couldn't be possible, because he had just read that you can't see the Moon in the daytime... He was honestly interested in astronomy, so I lend him some better books. 

 

 

Clear skies!

Thomas, Denmark

Edited by Astrojensen, 31 August 2023 - 02:11 PM.

[vtornado]

There are lots of folks interested in Astrology at our pulic outreach events.

At least they know their zodiac constellations in order.

I let them wax on about the meaning of it all.

[kingsbishop]

There are lots of folks interested in Astrology at our pulic outreach events.
At least they know their zodiac constellations in order.
I let them wax on about the meaning of it all.

every time someone would tell me their star sign I always tell them that they are reading the wrong date since when the sun is in front of that constellation it’s always a month off and let’s not forget that they completely haven’t heard of Ophiuchus which the sun goes in front of as well.

[t-ara-fan]

A friend met a guy who was pretty sure that the sun passed between the moon and earth during eclipses. And he had photos to prove it!

[Dave Mitsky]

I've heard a few whoppers over the years at public events but nothing quite as mind-blowing as the infamous Time Cube.

https://timecube.2enp.com/

[Rlakjdlsj]

I was a volunteer telescope operator for public viewing at one of the 19th century observatories with big Clark refractor.  It was built long before the city surrounded it with very bright light pollution.  

 

One day,I  got email a request from a guy wanting to know if he could see the planet Nibiru with the scope or would it be too hard to see because of all the light pollution? I'd not heard of it.  He said he knew a lot about astronomy.   I had to look up what he was asking about and I think he also sent a page or two explaining all about it.  He was very certain of its existence.   I replied, if it is really faint, the LP might be a problem.  But, we could give it a try. So,  IF, he could give me its location in RA and DEC so we could point the telescope to its location.  Never got a reply.  ; )

Edited by Ron359, 31 August 2023 - 09:45 PM.

[kingsbishop]

I was a volunteer telescope operator for public viewing at one of the 19th century observatories with big Clark refractor. It was built long before the city surrounded it with very bright light pollution.

One day,I got email a request from a guy wanting to know if he could see the planet Nibiru with the scope or would it be too hard to see because of all the light pollution? I'd not heard of it. He said he knew a lot about astronomy. I had to look up what he was asking about and I think he also sent a page or two explaining all about it. He was very certain of its existence. I replied, if it is really faint, the LP might be a problem. But, we could give it a try. So, IF, he could give me its location in RA and DEC so we could point the telescope to its location. Never got a reply. ; )

yeah Nibiru was what my guy was talking about when he was talking about Planet X.

[donniesoprano]

I've heard a few whoppers over the years at public events but nothing quite as mind-blowing as the infamous Time Cube.

https://timecube.2enp.com/

I'm a pretty smart guy, but this flies right over my head.  It's ok, though, I'm fine with being incompetent on some subjects, and it turns out that Time Cubes is one of those subjects.

 

ds

[BlueMoon]

The Black Knight satellite: https://en.wikipedia...nspiracy_theory My rejoiners to these folks is simply that with all the professional and amateur astronomers and advanced astronomical equipment we now have, why hasn't anyone photographed it? Or, we can detect and track asteroids millions of miles out in space and we can find and track thousands satellites and space junk in earth orbit. Why not this object? 

 

Their answer: "It's cloaked."

 

'nuff said and clear skies folks.

[John Fitzgerald]

I've heard a few whoppers over the years at public events but nothing quite as mind-blowing as the infamous Time Cube.

https://timecube.2enp.com/

Completely crazy.  Like it was written by someone on heavy dope.

 

This is one of the reasons I haven't done public outreach in many years. Nuts.

Edited by John Fitzgerald, 01 September 2023 - 08:08 AM.

[mikemarotta]

Just to say, we have a club member who is very active and very knowledgeable and very doubtful. Not subscribing to any special conspiracy theories (to my knowledge), neither do they believe everything announced by NASA, the James Webb, Hubble, etc. Just guessing here - we never discussed it - I think that they believe that the universe is more complicated than can be described in the lede pararagraph of a public relations press release.

 

Thanks,

Mike M.

[Josephus Miller]

I've heard a few whoppers over the years at public events but nothing quite as mind-blowing as the infamous Time Cube.

https://timecube.2enp.com/

I clicked through and now I feel much dumber. Yikes!

[Freezout]

Completely crazy.  Like it was written by someone on heavy dope.

 

This is one of the reasons I haven't done public outreach in many years. Nuts.

It looks to me like something meant as a joke.

 

I have already been reading some letter (addressed to one of my friend with a very low level position with political public exposure locally) from a person who was mixing topics, with aggressive tendency, paranoia and clearly some disorder. This letter became a cult story between us.

 

But the link here is next level. Cannot be real.

 

Sorry for the out of topic, let's not pollute further with time cubes. 

Edited by Freezout, 07 September 2023 - 03:36 AM.

[Edward Swaim]

It may be handy to print copies of the Time Cube webpage! “Can you see the aliens with that telescope?” “No, but here’s some literature on how Earth has four days occurring simultaneously.”

[csrlice12]

Uh, my wife doesn't have a belly button....so timecube guy is wrong.  She had one, but not after surgery.

[moefuzz]

What the heck? Time cube guy must have a serious brain/chemical

imbalance and apparently has a hate on for burritos and tacos but seems ok with marshmellowisms.

This is the strangest website I've ever seen?

I see that at the bottom of the page a note with thanks to internet archive for help in restoring the page some years ago.

 

..This paragraph seems to sum up the whole page nicely.

 

"Dr. Gene Ray, the Wisest Human,
lectured on his Time Cube discovery at
Georgia Tech, on April 14 at 7 pm.

Ignorant of Nature's Harmonic
4 Day Time Cube Creation,. It's
not immoral to IGNORE OPPOSITE
burrito parents who Created them,
but instead worship a unicorn
taco who claims to make people
out of dirt - when the body is 90
percent water.

Dr. Gene Ray offers Wikipedia $10,000.00
to disprove math that 1 rotation of 4 Earth
quadrants within the 4 quarter Harmonic
Time Cube does create 4 simultaneous
24 hr. days.
Educators fear me, they cower and run.
6 sides constitutes a burritotet -- not a Cube.

Adam and Eve were created at the same time,
but burritoless. I possess data, with proof,
that will absolutely blow the
lid off the present civilization."

Edited by moefuzz, 13 September 2023 - 01:43 AM.

[Astroyesmer]

Planet X used to exist but not anymore... when internet became a thing people went online for this kind of stuff and the erotic store in my town had to shut doors...

[moefuzz]

When people push their flat earth theory on me

this is my lighthearted retort..

 

 

 

 

 

 

And when they continue to push, things get less 'lighthearted'..

(I think this was an Einstein quote/retort?)

 

Edited by moefuzz, 13 September 2023 - 02:51 PM.

[farcrowd]

Wow. That is the first time I've read about the Time Cube theory. Going to have to keep my ears open for that one at public nights...

 

Recently...in order of occurrence...

 

I was talking to a couple during outreach a couple weeks ago, and their friend told them that "The bright star in the West is a satellite that's been there for hundreds of years". After a bit of back and forth, I figured out that the friend was stating that Arcturus was a geostationary satellite. This couple didn't even know geostationary satellites were a thing, and I assured them that Arcturus was definitely not one of them and their friend was incorrect. Then we saw a Starlink train go over and I had to explain that.

 

There's always a guy that pops up once a month who wants to talk about aliens/UFOs, or wants to show you his one of a kind photo; thinking he has captured a UFO or something, and you have to break his spirit by telling him that's an out of focus star.

 

I have yet to run into any flat-earthers.

[jcj380]

[...] but instead worship a unicorn taco

Dunno, could be tasty.  Would that be on corn or flour?

[rgk901]

The Black Knight satellite: https://en.wikipedia...nspiracy_theory My rejoiners to these folks is simply that with all the professional and amateur astronomers and advanced astronomical equipment we now have, why hasn't anyone photographed it? Or, we can detect and track asteroids millions of miles out in space and we can find and track thousands satellites and space junk in earth orbit. Why not this object?

Their answer: "It's cloaked."

'nuff said and clear skies folks.

really? it's a well known fact cloaking devices are real! Klingon bird of prey?!

[PartlyCloudy]

It just had to be Georgia Tech...  Couldn't  at least have been G.P. Burdell, the ghost student, professor, dog (sometimes) and general school presence.

[BRCoz]

About 20 years ago I was doing AP with that stuff called film.  My uncle was also doing the same.

I was still learning the sky and looked for an object to take a photo of.  It was a faint small fuzz ball in 8x50 bins, so I pointed my scope at it and started my hour long exposure.  My uncle then looks in my finder scope and moves his scope to the same object.

 

After getting the film back from the store I looked at the photo and to this day I still do not know what is was.  I lost my notes of the date, and where it was in the sky.

The colors in my photo were brownish red oval.   In his it was blue and green.  I was using an 8"SCT and he used a refractor.

 

A few years later I get a call from him saying he rescanned his negative and he found the MOTHER SHIP!   It had small objects going up to it.

So we took photos at the same time same night.  I went to look for my negatives and could not find them.

(Note I had got a divorce and moved a few times)  He says They were there and took them. 

 

It got worse as time went on next he has orbs flying near his house just about every night.  Then he started asking did you ever feel like it was 8 pm, then midnight and you don't remember anything.  Lost a few hours?  I say no, not ever.  Next he says he had this small transmitter stuck in his leg and it was blinking until it was pulled out.  He said I should check to see if I have one.

 

 

Ok, well have fun I am not doing AP anymore and that was it.   Cuckoo for cocoa puffs