Lasco C3

Lasco C3

RickardM 15 Jun 2010 00:03

Guess that this doesn't exactlly have anything to do with 2012, other than the occasional "Nibiru" sighting on there. The thing I was woundering about is if anyone know who did the debunking on digital artifacts in Lasco C2/C3? I seem to recall that it was Plait, but I haven't been able to find that specific article. Furthermore, do any of you guys know why there's so many "Nibiru" claims associated with those images? Is it because ordinary planets frequentlly appear in those images, and those could easilly be claimed to be "Nibiru"?

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Facts are stubborn things.
- Ronald Reagan

Re: Lasco C3

3WMElliott 15 Jun 2010 00:41

Phil Plait has done an article on it, yes, right about here, and many others have explained it too.

As to why there's so many claims, it's mostly because of the artifacts, notably blooming (check Phils analogy out in the link). People forget that the instruments on SOHO (and Stereo, and the SDO, they've all had Nibiru claims associated with them), aren't designed to show pretty little round planets, they're designed to study the sun. The planets swing by, light up the sensors giving the appearance of "wings", and lo and behold, there's a new planet that NASA are hiding or whatever.

Whats sad is that the sites where people get the imagery from also explain the artifacts, and even label imagery and offer maps and transit calendars and so on. Do people ever check those pages before saying there are aliens? No, that'd be too much effort…

Re: Lasco C3

RickardM 15 Jun 2010 01:09

Thank you very much, that's exactly the article I was looking for. As for the artifacts, most of the times the claims made are so hilarious that it's hard to know wheter they actually are serious or not. I've seen quite a few "Nibiru evidences" that in fact are Jupiter, Venus and so on. But, do you know if they shut down some electronics when solar flares are headed towards the satelite? I've seen many Youtube videos that claim to be recording cover-ups by NASA, when an hour or so is missing from the video. Can this be because the satelite simply shut down or is it constantly active?

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Facts are stubborn things.
- Ronald Reagan

Re: Lasco C3

3WMElliott 15 Jun 2010 01:56

This page discusses keyholes and CCD bake-outs, pretty important things to remember about the SOHO satellite, but these can be interruptions of weeks, not hours. It's all about when the satellite can take images, when it can transmit them back to earth and so on.

So we've got to find out what timescales are involved with SOHO - I was in this exact position but for the Stereo satellites, when and how do they transmit their data? I went straight to the guys who work with the data, so anything you find out on this site can be of great help to you - for example, the first question of the FAQ: "Why is there a 16 hour gap in the real time movie?"

That and the Sungrazer site are very useful, the Sungrazer side of things bringing the Stereo satellites into play too - often claims will say 'UFO seen in SOHO', with imagery from one of the Stereo satellites, which are in a completely different orbit with different instruments. That's how much research some people do with their claims…

If you come across an email on those sites, shoot them a question, I got a quick response to mine back when I needed to find some things out.

Re: Lasco C3

RickardM 17 Jun 2010 02:17

Thank you very much for those links, I'll be sure to check them out soon. The whole thing about SOHO is really fascinating, but it's almost even more fascinating to see all the claims being made as soon as an object appears in view. It has been everything from motherships to Elvis private space ship (no, really=)

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Facts are stubborn things.
- Ronald Reagan

Re: Lasco C3

TheGreatJuju 15 Jun 2010 10:39

SOHO has been in orbit for some fifteen years. It goes down for maintenance sometimes. Inevitably, when it does, NASA and ESA are accused of hiding Nibiru, an alien armada or what have you. I find this is so completely odd, because the types of people who clam a cover-up are the same ones who jump all over woo explanations of artifacts. Apparently, NASA/ESA are smart enough to hide Nibiru and aliens only some of the time.

The cameras are protected behind spring-loaded doors that can be closed during threatening space weather. In fact, the Mylar insulation in and around these doors is brittle with age, and pieces of it occasionally fly off when the doors open. This was purportedly what cased the Hellion 1957 (fictional brown dwarf) hysteria from woo-woos last year.

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"They tell you, but do you believe it? If so, why?"

http://www.undeadrufus.com

Re: Lasco C3

bikenbeer2000 15 Jun 2010 01:37

It's possible to predict 'Nibiru' sightings from this table of planets transiting the LASCO/C3 field of view:
http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=transits/transits_2010
Expect a rash of 'sightings' on the conspiracy forums next week when Mercury comes into view. I'm almost tempted to post a message myself a day or two before, telling them that 'Nibiru' will appear shortly. I might be hailed as some sort of prophet. Baiting these jokers could be turned into a sport.

Re: Lasco C3

3WMElliott 15 Jun 2010 02:04

I had a looong back and forth about Venus seen in Stereo-A recently, across a few videos. In short:

"Omg! Nibiru!"
"No, Venus, look, here's a map"
"Fake map!"
"No, here's another map that confirms the first one, it's still Venus."
"Now the images are higher quality! It must be photoshoped!"
"No, we've finally got the science data, not the lower quality beacon mode, which shows Venus. Still."
"This cant be Venus! Look at it's shape! It has wings!"
"And it had the same 'wings' in this transit from last year, which we can also confirm to be Venus in the same ways we've confirmed it to be Venus this time around…"

Didn't get a reply to that one…

SOHO, STEREO, and SDO will always be a source of Nibiru/Planet X/UFO claims, no matter how many times you have to explain it to people.

Re: Lasco C3

RickardM 17 Jun 2010 02:12

All hail Bikenbeer2000=) I got to ask you guys (that actually do know astronomy) has there always been so many misinterpretations when it comes to astronomy, or is this an effect of the whole end of the world lunacy? It seems to me that most people that post youtube videos lack even the most basic knowledge of astronomy, and thus almost everything appears to be abnormal. This is especially evident if you browse through David Morrisons "Ask an astrobiologist" site. Some claims are incredibly imaginative (like chemtrails for example).

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Facts are stubborn things.
- Ronald Reagan

Re: Lasco C3

3WMElliott 17 Jun 2010 12:21

Venus is the third brightest object in the sky behind the Sun and the Moon. You would not believe how many people post videos and photos of Venus and get in a flap about not knowing what it is. One even said that they looked at a program that said it was Venus, but that they didn't believe it, and still insisted it was something else.

And that's before we get into the nonsense that is Astrology. For something supposedly based on astronomy, it sure does spout a load of rubbish, and has done for a looooong time.

People will always jump onto whatever they can find to support their claims. What better source of 'evidence' than a constantly updating satellite feed that the vast majority of people do not understand with regards to what they're looking at? Until somebody like us comes along to educate them a bit more…

Re: Lasco C3

bikenbeer2000 17 Jun 2010 15:34

Apart from the conspiracy nutcases, I think there's a poor understanding of science by the general public. I've met people who are otherwise quite intelligent but have revealed some surprising misapprehensions when it comes to the solar system or space in general.
I answer questions on Yahoo! Answers, and although many of the questions are from kids, some howlers crop up regularly, for example the idea that the phases of the Moon are caused by the Earth's shadow.
There are frequently people who are convinced they have seen a UFO and on the rare occasions they supply enough details, it's possible to tell them they were actually looking at an aircraft/planet/star/satellite/chinese lantern, etc. I guess most of these people are not conspiracy types, but they probably like to think they've seen something unusual and don't like to be told they haven't.
One person described a strange, large reddish object 'definitely a UFO' low on the western horizon, so I checked the time of moonset at his location and found that it was 10 minutes after the time he gave. When I told him he'd been looking at the moon, he called me stupid.
So I guess the conspiracy types, with their videos of 'Nibiru' like to think they've got one-up on the astronomy 'establishment' who've missed something. Then the non-conspiracy but uneducated types fall for the hype because they don't have the knowledge to debunk it and because it sounds exciting and interesting.