ZetaTalk: Hale-Bopp

ZetaTalk dated May 18, 1996

Considering all the hoopla, one would think that a visible comet was entering the solar system. Why is it that the common man, with telescope in hand, Can't Yet Find this marvel? Get used to it, astronomers of the world, as this is the banter you will hear through 1997, that Hale-Bopp is right there, and if you can't see it the fault it yours. The emperor does have new clothes, and anyone saying otherwise is blind, clumsy, an amateur, on the wrong side of the globe, and probably very gutsy.

Has anyone taken a survey of the harassment those who dare question the Hale-Bopp story line undergo? The e-mail, the insults, the demeaning offers to assist? One gathers quickly that it is best to fall silent. Should anyone wonder at the truth of this statement, just look to what our emissary, Nancy, had to undergo for months on the sci.astro boards. Planet X does not exist, our explanation of rotation is absurd, our explanation of two tides is absurd, our explanation of repeating comets is absurd, and never mind addressing the contradictions in human astrophysics, Nancy's statements on our behalf must be absurd, else the Hale-Bopp lackeys will be seen for what they are.

It should be noted that the questions we and our emissary, Nancy, posed on sci.astro have never been answered.

Why did the various major observatories around the world assume the head of Hale-Bopp to be various different things - a dark area, a bright spot, a dark areas to the side of a bright spot - all while the head was the basis of the supposed orbit tracking? Is it irrelevant what the head of the comet is? Is this because the stated orbit rules, and is a given even before the evidence comes in?

Why was it necessary for the IAU to Toss Out 90% of the Data submitted to it for the announced orbit to be found to be correct? Is this science, that the assumption overrules the data?

Why has the supposed Orbit of Hale-Bopp been pre- calculated to take variances from the usual cometary behavior, every few weeks? The public has been broadly reassured that NASA and JPL have taken into account perturbations, but what are those perturbations? The public is to get no more explanation of this than of any other aberration about Hale- Bopp. How dare they ask!