Robert Dunn (@robertdunn7 on Twitter) has some very unusual ideas about what is going on in the solar system. He's not alone in this regard. Like many doomsayers he is astronomically illiterate. In fact, Robert is fairly typical of the kinds of people who promote the various doomsday ideas. They don't know what they are talking about, and attempt to fill the gaps in their knowledge with bluster and jargon.

Debate

The conversation between @robertdunn7 and @2012hoax on twitter has been captured, just in case Robert has memory problems. In that 'debate', we resolved that despite Robert's claim that the bright object he was seeing in the Eastern evening sky was not Jupiter, he didn't really know where Jupiter was, and in fact didn't care where Jupiter was. In this page we will address some of the other claims that Robert has made.

Claims

Not Jupiter

Robert claims to have watched this object in the Eastern sky over the course of two months, and he knows it is not Jupiter, because Jupiter is "somewhere else". However, a simple check of any astronomy program (Stellarium, Starry Night, or even online resources like EarthSky.org) will show that it was, in fact, Jupiter.

Here are graphics from Earthsky.org for September 14th, September 15th, September 16th and September 17th. Interestingly enough, these images were produced by EarthSky in July of 2010 (according to the image's modification date).

Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) is (or is being followed by) a dwarf star

Robert claims that "Elenin is a smokescreen", and that it is actually being followed by a 'Brown Dwarf Star' which is 4 times the size of Jupiter, and 88 times the mass of Jupiter.

First of all, there is no such thing as a "Brown Dwarf Star"… brown dwarfs are not stars, by definition, because they do not fuse hydrogen. A brown dwarf occupies the space between large planets and small stars. Once hydrogen fusion begins, the object becomes a 'Red Dwarf Star'.

Second, brown dwarfs are thought to be about the size of Jupiter, or perhaps 10 to 20% larger (as opposed to 400% as claimed by Robert). As you add mass to a gas giant, the gas becomes more compressed, more dense. So the size of a brown dwarf would be about the same size as Jupiter.

Third, an object with 88 times the mass of Jupiter would have caused significant changes in the orbits of planets, in particular Saturn, since Elenin passed close to Saturn on its way into the solar system. Since Saturn is where we expect it to be, we know that there is not a massive object following Elenin.

Fourth, if Elenin were close to a massive object, it would have to be in orbit around that object. Otherwise, it would fall in. Such an orbit would show up in Elenin's position. Since we don't see Elenin making spirals or wobbling back and forth, we know that it is not in orbit around a massive object.

Fifth, if an object 4 times the size of Jupiter were near Elenin, it would appear quite large, even at its current (September 2011) distance of 0.5 AUs. The calculation works out to about 0.44 degrees. The moon is about 0.5 degrees in angular diameter. So this object would be nearly as large as the moon. It would therefore be clearly visible.

Nibiru can be seen in the Eastern sky in the evening (as of September 2011).

Robert claims that an object, which he claims is not Jupiter, is prominent in the Eastern sky in the evening (September 2011). The only bright object up in the Eastern sky at that time of the night is either Jupiter or the Moon. There are no other objects. When pressed on this issue (See the Debate above) he finally admitted that he does not know where Jupiter is, and does not care where Jupiter is, because he is convinced that his object is not Jupiter.

Jupiter doesn't move

He claims that his object could not be Jupiter, because Jupiter doesn't move. Jupiter in fact orbits the sun once every 12 years (approximately). Add to that the parallax effect from the Earth's motion, and Jupiter's path against the background stars would be seen as a nearly straight line across the sky, with annual retrograde loops.

Jupiter doesn't "throw off that much light"

Robert isn't specific as to how much light Jupiter 'throws off', but at its maximum brightness it is the fourth brightest object in the night sky (behind the Sun, the Moon, and Venus). Currently Jupiter is approaching opposition (a position directly opposed to the sun as seen from Earth) and its maximum brightness of -2.91.

On September 26, 2011, Nibiru will be between the sun and the earth

On September 26th, whatever is left of Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) will pass above the sun, separated by 1.8 degrees. It will not pass between the Earth and the Sun.

Nibiru will cause a 3-day long eclipse.

Robert claims that it will cause a 3-day eclipse on September 25th through 27th. In order to cause such an extended eclipse, the object would either have to be significantly larger than the angular diameter of the sun, or it would have to 'pace' the earth. The position of the object is also puzzling, because it appears to be in the wrong part of the sky to cause such an effect. If it were large enough and/or close enough to eclipse the sun, shouldn't it be close to the sun in the sky?

Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) is a 'smokescreen'

I'm not sure what he means by this, whether he thinks that Elenin is being promoted in order to distract people, or that it is literally 'hiding' Nibiru. In either case, the frenzy over Elenin is not being promoted from the scientific side, but rather is being fueled by the endless speculation over this inoffensive object.

Nibiru is 4x the size of Jupiter

As discussed above, the only objects that are 4 times the size of Jupiter are low mass (red dwarf) stars¹.

Nibiru has 88 times the mass of Jupiter

The boundary between a Brown Dwarf and a Red Dwarf Star appears to be around 0.075% of the Sun's mass², which is about 78 Jupiter Masses (M_J). A mass of 88 M_J would make this object a Red Dwarf Star, not a Brown Dwarf.

Nibiru is "not round"

Robert claims that his object is "not round". No further information is given. Any object that has enough mass will assume a state of hydrostatic equilibrum, where the gravity of the object will pull it into a spherical shape. This happens even for small object (such as 'dwarf planets') in the solar system.

Nibiru is "wobbling" and causing Earthquakes

No evidence for this 'wobble' is given, and no mechanism for this 'wobble' to cause earthquakes is given. Since not even the month-to-month variation in the moon's gravity (caused by its elliptical orbit) has been shown to cause earthquakes, it is not clear how Robert's Nibiru could cause them.

Elenin/Nibiru caused earthquakes during 'alignments'.

We discuss and debunk this on the Elenin page.

The Christchurch NZ earthquake in September 2010 was larger than 7.0

The September 2010 earthquake is listed as the 'Canberry earthquake', and was a 7.0 quake. Certainly not small, and it was fairly destructive, but it was not larger than a 7.0 earthquake.

15 earthquakes 6.0 or larger in a 2 week period is "unusual"

Here Robert performs the fallacy known as the 'Statistics of Small Numbers', by looking at a data sample that is too small, and then comparing that small data sample to long-term averages. In fact, by using published data from the USGS, I was able to identify several blocks where numerous earthquakes above 6.0 were recorded in small time frames. Usually these followed a larger earthquake.

There is an "unmistakable pattern" of earthquakes.

If "an unmistakable pattern" of earthquakes is occurring, then proponents should be able to pick this pattern out of the data and present it, quantitatively. I offered Robert the opportunity to do so, which he ignored. The offer still stands… if there is "an unmistakable pattern" then Robert (or anybody else making this claim) should be able to examine a given number of data sets, and indicate which ones contain the 'pattern'.

I am being paid by "them"

Presumably "The Powers That Be", whether Robert means NASA, or the CIA, or the NWO. Regrettably, I have no alternate sources of income. I work for a living, like most people.

I have been promised "space in the bunker"

Again, no evidence exists of these bunkers (other than the ones being constructed by firms such as Vivos who has explicitly barred me from theirs) and nobody has promised me space in such a facility.

During our debate, I have failed to address anything he has said intelligently

I will leave that to the reader to judge.

Jupiter is "on the other side of the earth".

When I stated that the bright object in the Eastern evening sky was Jupiter, Robert claimed that Jupiter is 'on the other side of the earth'. This contradicts every astronomical/planetarium program that I have available, including Stellarium and Starry Night.

Nibiru "bobs and weaves" while maintaining it's course.

This interesting claim was in response to my query about Nibiru apparently moving, but being in the same place. I asked him about this apparent contradiction, and this was his reply. It still seems contradictory to me. What do you think?

Nibiru has "6 or 7 planets with it"

Again, no evidence of Nibiru or any planets is offered.

Jupiter is "tilted"

Jupiter is not tilted any more than usual. Jupiter's axis is only about 3 degrees off of its orbital plane. By comparison, the Earth's axis is tilted 23.5 degrees. When viewed close to the horizon, Jupiter will appear to be 'tilted', but that is an artifact of the earth's tilt. When viewed at zenith, Jupiter does not appear to be tilted.

Jupiter is "tilted due to the Extreme Magnetic influence of the Incoming Dwarf Star"

No unusual tilt is apparent, and the magnetic field of an 'incoming dwarf star' is unlikely to cause Jupiter to tilt. Jupiter is massive, and it is spinning very fast (a day on Jupiter is only about 10 hours long), so there is an enormous amount of angular momentum stored in the system. A change in the direction of the axis of rotation would require that this angular momentum be overcome. A tilt of more than 90 degrees would require as much energy as would be required to stop Jupiter's rotation entirely, and then restart it.

The moon is tilted 90 degrees

An interesting claim that is trivially disproved by examining the moon.

A "Brown Dwarf" is a star

As noted above, a 'brown dwarf' is not a star. It is sometimes referred to as a 'failed star' in that it doesn't have enough mass to begin hydrogen fusion. But since it does not fuse hydrogen, it is not, by definition, a star. A brown dwarf is an object that is essentially an enormously massive gas giant planet.

I am "Satan"

I just checked, and I have no horns.

Right Ascension and Declination coordinates are GPS coordinates

This was Robert's response when I gave the Right Ascension and Declination coordinates of Jupiter, after he failed to give them, or even look them up:

@CometDude @2012hoax The world/global elite have planted Jupiter in as the object when using GPS. You think they could do that? I do

By way of explanation, the celestial coordinates are based on a sphere superimposed on the sky, based on the point of the vernal equinox³. It has nothing to do with Global Positioning Systems.

"The world/global elite have planted Jupiter in as the object when using GPS"

Even if such an event were possible (and I'm not sure how) it doesn't prevent people from looking up the position of Jupiter in one of the many offline charts, and then looking in the sky.

The loss of Jupiter's Southern cloud belt is caused by Nibiru.

Jupiter's clouds change over time. Specifically the Southern Equatorial Band disappeared in 2007, reappeared in 2009, and faded again in 2010. In fact, scientists have been documenting the large scale changes in Jupiter's atmosphere ever since the ability to observe them has been developed:

Astronomers using ground-based telescopes first spied drastic atmospheric transformation in the 1980s. Another major disturbance was seen in the early 1990s…⁴

Models suggest that heat from the interior of Jupiter is driving the cloud bands, and models developed in 2005 match very well to observations⁵.

We are "averaging" a 6.0 or greater earthquake every day for the past 21 days (as of September 21, 2011)

No data is provided to support this claim, and even if it is true (which it might be) it is not an unusual level of activity. Again, Robert is falling victim to the statistics of small numbers.

The Sun is enlarging and SOHO is "pixelating" pictures to hid this fact.

No apparent change in the diameter of the sun has been noticed.

Whatever his object is, it is not Jupiter.

One of Robert's final messages was that he did not know, and does not care, where Jupiter is. He knows that the bright object in the Eastern evening sky is not Jupiter, despite the evidence showing that it is. I suppose that nothing less than a personal view through a telescope will convince him, but I doubt that he owns one.

Conclusion

Robert is incorrect in each and every one of his major claims. He is astronomically illiterate, does not understand the terms, and misconstrues the science. Despite being given reasonable, logical and scientific facts, he refuses to believe that he is looking at Jupiter, that comets don't cause earthquakes, and that we are not having an increase in the number of earthquakes.