Freaky Stuff
Posted: 20.06.2002, 12:02
Okay, so I'm not the most literate in the ways of astronomy, not by a longshot. So I'm trying to find info on star classes because I was checking out extrasolar planets in Celestia, and wanted to know if any stars like ours had been discovered to have planets orbiting them. I'd been looking at G2V types but I didn't really know whether this meant that the star was really like ours, which is why I wanted the lowdown on star classification in the first place.
Well, in Celestia, the nearest G2V star to us with a planet is RHO CrB. Anyhow, when looking up info on star classes, I stumbled upon this interesting tidbit:
http://www.gravitywarpdrive.com/Zeta_Reticuli_Incident.htm
So they're going on about Zeta 1 Reticuli and Zeta 2 Reticuli. Freaky, I thought. So I look for Zeta 1 Reticuli in Celestia (Goto object), and I can't find it. It must have a different name or something, I figured. So I do a Google search for Zeta 1 Reticuli and find out it's abbreviated to Zeta1 Ret, and Zeta 2 Reticuli is abbreviated to Zeta2 Ret, which Celestia displays with no problem. But there is one thing that starts to puzzle me. According to the article in which I found this information, astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting Zeta 2 Reticuli, which of course is the focus of the whole story in the first link I mentioned. Yet, in Celestia, there is no planet orbiting Zeta 2 Reticuli.
http://www.mufor.org/zeta2ret.html
So really, what I want to know is, where can I find a list of all stars known to have planets, is Zeta 2 Reticuli in that list, and if so, why doesn't Celestia have a planet around it? Don't think I'm some sort of X-Files nut or something (I actually can't stand that show in case you're not interested). I just want to know if Zeta2 Ret has ever been thought to have a planet, and if so, why does it apparently not have one now? Thanks in advance for the effort :)
UPDATE: Apparently I can't read. So they say that a planet has been discovered, stick it in the catalog, then remove it 4 days later. Has this happened before or since? Or is this a unique case?
"In a rather strange 'about face', the above information was removed from the Extra Solar Planets Encyclopedia site after 4 days .. the official reason was that 'the data may have been misinterpreted and there probably is no planet.'"
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I found the Extra Solar Planets Encyclopedia site and found no mention of Zeta 2 Reticuli, even in back literature from 1996. No explanation as to who claimed it had a planet, why it had been removed, nothing. So does anyone know about this? I'm having a lot of difficulty finding any websites that mention Zeta 2 Reticuli that aren't UFO government coverup conspiracy sites. Is there anything published by your typical reputable astronomer about Zeta2 Ret having/ not having a planet?
http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/encycl.html
Well, in Celestia, the nearest G2V star to us with a planet is RHO CrB. Anyhow, when looking up info on star classes, I stumbled upon this interesting tidbit:
http://www.gravitywarpdrive.com/Zeta_Reticuli_Incident.htm
So they're going on about Zeta 1 Reticuli and Zeta 2 Reticuli. Freaky, I thought. So I look for Zeta 1 Reticuli in Celestia (Goto object), and I can't find it. It must have a different name or something, I figured. So I do a Google search for Zeta 1 Reticuli and find out it's abbreviated to Zeta1 Ret, and Zeta 2 Reticuli is abbreviated to Zeta2 Ret, which Celestia displays with no problem. But there is one thing that starts to puzzle me. According to the article in which I found this information, astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting Zeta 2 Reticuli, which of course is the focus of the whole story in the first link I mentioned. Yet, in Celestia, there is no planet orbiting Zeta 2 Reticuli.
http://www.mufor.org/zeta2ret.html
So really, what I want to know is, where can I find a list of all stars known to have planets, is Zeta 2 Reticuli in that list, and if so, why doesn't Celestia have a planet around it? Don't think I'm some sort of X-Files nut or something (I actually can't stand that show in case you're not interested). I just want to know if Zeta2 Ret has ever been thought to have a planet, and if so, why does it apparently not have one now? Thanks in advance for the effort :)
UPDATE: Apparently I can't read. So they say that a planet has been discovered, stick it in the catalog, then remove it 4 days later. Has this happened before or since? Or is this a unique case?
"In a rather strange 'about face', the above information was removed from the Extra Solar Planets Encyclopedia site after 4 days .. the official reason was that 'the data may have been misinterpreted and there probably is no planet.'"
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I found the Extra Solar Planets Encyclopedia site and found no mention of Zeta 2 Reticuli, even in back literature from 1996. No explanation as to who claimed it had a planet, why it had been removed, nothing. So does anyone know about this? I'm having a lot of difficulty finding any websites that mention Zeta 2 Reticuli that aren't UFO government coverup conspiracy sites. Is there anything published by your typical reputable astronomer about Zeta2 Ret having/ not having a planet?
http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/encycl.html