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IS A STARSHIP ORBITING OUR SUN -OR- IS SOMEBODY CRYING WOLF?

by Peter P.

During a December 29th appearance on the nationally (US) syndicated radio show "Coast to Coast AM", Robert Ghost Wolf, an interpreter of Native American prophecies, took an unexpected turn skyward as he spent most of the night discussing images taken by satellite SOHO that allegedly showed a non-planet "anomalous object" in the vicinity of our sun.

A point-by-point discussion of these images, as laid out on Ghost Wolf's website (starting at http://www.wolflodge.org/1/sc2.htm   ), soon revealed his fantastic conclusion: That an unidentified flying object (UFO), alternately referred to as a "Light Ship" and a "Sun Cruiser" by Ghost Wolf, was what these images showed. This ship/cruiser, he explained, tied into ancient prophecy foretelling the return of the "Star People" - descendents of our ancestors.

Unfortunately, closer scrutiny of the data offers another - albeit much more mundane - explanation behind these images. After viewing the entire set, I drew my own conclusions, and then - with the assistance of both professional and amateur astronomers on Usenet newsgroups alt.astronomy & alt.sci.planetary - proceeded to both confirm, and further flesh out, these theories.

While an unidentified NASA scientist proposed the "anomalous object" might, in fact, be Mars, both its appearance and position in the sky drew Ghost Wolf away from the same conclusion. See - http://www.wolflodge.org/1/sc2.htm 

The object didn't appear circular, as one might expect a planet to be, but seemingly had the added feature of a "wing span" - which looked like a straight line protruding from either side. Interestingly enough, while researching this article, I caught a television commercial that showed the following, similar, imagery.

In it, a man at night was holding a flashlight in the distance. When the flashlight was pointed directly at the camera, it didn't appear as a round circle of light either. It, too, had a strong beam - or line - of light protruding from either side. It looked almost identical to the "anomalous object" and, in fact, both appear to be the result of the same effect. Such "lines" protruding from the right and left of a lighted circular object (whether self-lit or reflecting light) are called "diffraction spikes". Such spikes are common in astronomical images.

Even under the closer scrutiny of computer-enhancement (whether it be "zoom" or "desaturation"), the difference in intensity between the light reflecting off a celestial body and that of accompanying diffraction spikes would be so minimal as to make it near impossible to differentiate, or separate, one from the other. Hence, the illusion of a single bodied object.

As for the object's position in the sky, one amateur astronomer - Marcus Rugger, a computer programmer by profession, based in Lexington (KY) - used SkyMap Pro to compare it to that of Mars at the time stamped on the SOHO image. (1998/5/1 at 00:40). According to the program, at that specific time, "(the) apparent angular separation of the Sun and Mars (was) 2 degrees 50 minutes."

Measuring the separation of the so-called "anomalous object" and the sun, it was determined to be approximately 2 degrees 47 minutes, within an accuracy of +/- 10 arcminutes. So, in short, the object's position was consistent with it being Mars.

Ghost Wolf later cited another SOHO image, taken 1998/06/12 at 01:44. See - http://www.wolflodge.org/1/sc5.htm   

The same "Sun Cruiser" motif followed, with Mars again being discounted. In this respect, Ghost Wolf was correct. This "anomalous object" is *not* Mars. By comparing the star field to the Millennium Star Atlas, online amateur astronomer Rugger referenced four recognizable stars. Thusly, their exact coordinates could be found and by calculating their angular separation, the scale of the image could be determined. Again running SkyMap Pro, the "anomalous object" in this image was determined to be... Mercury. By this date, Mars had orbited (and is visible) to the far right of the sun (near the right edge of the picture.)

Lastly, one might question the apparent movement of the "anomalous object" seen at -  http://www.wolflodge.org/1/sc4.htm  

If the film is viewed closely, several stars will be seen in each frame, moving left to right faster than the alleged "Sun Cruiser" -   an optical illusion, due to the movement of *SOHO*, pointed directly at the sun, as it orbits. It would be akin to you walking down a sidewalk, your gaze *fixed* on a stationary object - like a street sign - to your left, that's between you and the street. As you walked by, it would appear as if the buildings (etc) across the street were moving from the left side of the street sign to the right side of the sign.

Now, if somebody else was walking on the other side of the street in the opposite direction, even though he/she was moving right to left, he/she would still appear to be moving from the left side of the sign to its right side from your perspective - because you're closer to that street sign. (Alternately, a faster object - like car, for example - speeding right to left would appear to be moving right to left from your perspective, because it would be moving a lot faster than you were.)

The same principle applies to SOHO and the planets. Which planet it is can be determined by its speed and apparent direction.

The "anomalous object" in that last referenced URL (sc4.htm) was determined to be Mars, by Rugger, who stated, "Both Mercury and Venus are closer to the Sun than SOHO is and they're moving faster.  So when they're at superior conjunction (i.e. opposite side of the Sun) they appear to pass the Sun right to left.  When they're at inferior conjunction (i.e. between us and the Sun) they move left to right, like in the image, but they would do so *faster* than the stars in the image, not slower.  Mars on the other hand is farther from the Sun than SOHO and is moving slower. So it appears to move left to right relative to the Sun when at conjunction. (Also -) Mars, during conjunction, moves left to right slower than the stars do.  That's because it is moving in it's orbit around the Sun (like the person walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the street)."

Other images were discussed by, and available for viewing on, Ghost Wolf's website, but all seemed to have diffraction spikes - to varying degrees - and, as shown above, can eventually be determined to be a known celestial body.

In conclusion, it would appear that the wait for the "Star People" is not yet over. According to Ghost Wolf's interpretations, as discussed during his radio appearance, these beings and their "light ships" are due between mid-December and February 1999. Whether they do show is anybody's guess, one would suppose. But one can be assured that the images taken by SOHO, as referenced by Ghost Wolf on-air and online, do *not* herald their arrival.

(For more info on the exact stars referenced, and determination method that revealed one of the objects to be Mercury, see -   ftp://ftp.primenet.com/users/p/ptp/sky   

We hope to add another piece of documentation, a spreadsheet identifying stars/etc, by the end of the week. When posted, the URL will be noted at the start of the aforementioned FTP file. It will be posted on the ECW Ghostwolf resource page at http://www.m-m.org/jz/ghostwolf.html )


Peter P. is the publisher of Earth Changes Weekly and manager of the Earth Prophecy mailing list which tracks the modern day prophets for accuracy. He is a Phoenix-based freelance writer who has split his work life during the past ten years between journalism, both as a freelancer & on staff of a biweekly alternative paper, and assisting the developmentally disabled.  Subscription to the Earth Prophecy mailing list is free; for further information contact: ptp@primenet.com


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