E A R T H Q U E StTT N E W S


Andrew Collins inside the lost caves of Giza in April 2008 (pic credit: Andrew Collins).



Andrew Collins Newsletter - December, 2016

In this newsletter: New paper shows that aliens might be harvesting the star KIC 8462852 in a process known as star lifting. Rodney Hale and the author work on modelling the star's light curves. News on new book and tours for new year. The death of Dutch geologist and mineralogist Han Kloosterman, discoverer of the Usselo Horizon. Megalithic Oddyssey symposium 2017.

 

Hi, hope this e-newsletter finds you well. Thank you to everyone who came to the Origins 2016 conference in November. Everyone learnt an awful lot, and the sense of connection with something important going on right now, both in the ancient mysteries subject and also out there in deep space, was overwhelming. We live in exciting times right now.

KIC 8462852 - A FULL UPDATE

Let me begin with an update on weird star KIC 8462852, otherwise known as Tabby's Star or Boyajian's Star in honour of its discoverer astronomer Tabatha Boyojian. A new paper from a German academic, Dr. Eduard Hendl, examines the unique periodic light dips recorded by the Kepler Space Telescope in 2011 and 2013 and concludes that they are the result of a process known as star lifting. This is the harvesting of stellar matter, most obvious hydrogen, helium or plasma, using an advanced form of alien technology. Star lifting can be utilised for a number of reasons, most obviously to harness a star's mass for use in construction or to reduce the light output or size of a star.

Are aliens harvesting the matter from weird star KIC 8462852. A German academic says yes! Pic credit: Andrew Collins

Star lifting is actually a smart solution to this mystery, much better than the existing proposal that any potential megastructure lurking around the star is either a starlight-collecting Dyson sphere or Dyson swarm (after the work of theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson). Harvesting stellar matter in the manner described will actually cause a star's light flux to gradually dim in exactly the manner recorded in connection with Tabby's Star.


KIC 8462852. Are aliens harvesting matter from its surface using a process known as star lifting? A German academic says yes (pic credit: Andrew Collins).

This long term light dimming was first noted earlier this year by Bradley Schaefer, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Louisiana State University. He examined a set of old photographic plates - the so-called DASCH collection - housed today in Harvard University. They record every part of the night sky between 1890 and 1989. Examining the plates Schaefer found that KIC 8462852 had progressively dimmed its light by as much as 22 percent across the 100 year period the plates were being made. He published his findings online causing quite a stir in the process. However, his findings were called into question by a separate group of astronomers led by Michael Hippke, who found no such trend either in the Harvard plates or in another set from Germany known as the Sonneberg collection. Bradley Schaefer defended his position, leading to a rather public argument between all parties involved.

There the matter might have rested were it not for two astronomers, Carnegie's Josh Simon and Caltech's Ben Montet. They said, hang on, if this light dimming really was taking place across a period of 100 years shouldn't Kepler have seen this light dimming going on during the time it was observing the star between 2009 and 2013? Although the Kepler Space Telescope was created with this eventuality in mind - its main function being to register light flux perterbations caused by orbiting exoplanets - every month does capture the entire star field in view (this being the area between Cygnus and Lyra). What Simon and Montet found was that the Kepler data revealed that KIC 8462852 had dimmed by as much 3 percent in just five years of observation. So this new discovery suggests that Bradley Schaefer's findings were indeed correct. Thus it seems that since observations of the star began in 1890 it has lost a staggering 25 percent of its brightness, something that healthy F3 class stars just don't do! Arguably, this could have been going on for many years, perhaps even centuries, meaning that originally the star was might brighter indeed.

Star lifting can account for both the long term light dimming trends and the short term dips recorded by Kepler. These show a dramatic dip of up to 15 percent in March 2011 (known as D792, i.e. Kepler day 792) and another of up to 22 percent in February to April 2013 (known as D1519 and D1568). Other smaller dips of anything up to 3 to 5 percent also occurred at other times, and these too remain unexplained. Sadly, Kepler was not able to keep its focus on Tabby's Star after the dramatic dips of 2013, so we do not know whether any further light dips took place between then and October 2015. It was then that the star's strange activity was announced to the world, and since then every large telescope in the world has been pointing in the direction of Cygnus, without any further signs as yet of a major dip.

Heindl's working model for star lighting as the cause of the star's short term light dips (particularly light curve D792 that occurred in 2011) predicts that another large drop in light will occur in February-March 2017. Others, including Tabatha Boyajian herself, predict a major dip for May 2017. Let's hope either one of them is right.

None of this means that the mystery of Tabby's Star has been solved. Far from it. Plus there is every likelihood that a natural explanation will be found to explain all its anomalies reported to date, including both the short-term and long-term light dimming (even though aside from unlikely candidates like swarms of comets, disembodied planetary debris either around the star or in the nearby interstellar medium, and a disk of dust and cloud around an invisible black hole, natural explanations are sadly lacking at this time, and none proposed so far fully explain what is going on). Star lifting as a theory is a good one indeed. Only further data can truly help resolve this matter, and that we need urgently.

For those wishing to learn more about star lifting - its purposes and methods - watch this 30-minute Youtube video by science writer and futurist Isaac Arthur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzuHxL5FD5U

The concept with originally proposed by David R. Criswell, Director of the Institute for Space Systems Operations at the University of Houston, in his pioneering paper "Solar System Industrialization: Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience," published in Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience (Eds. B. R. Finney and E. M. Jones), 50-57, Uviv. Calif Press, 1986.
Dr Heindl's paper has been picked up by the media with the Daily Mail publishing a major feature online under the title: "Dyson sphere' star may be dimming because ALIENS are mining energy from its surface, claim scientists." It is a good account of what is going on up there, and also provides a full review of what we know so far about the mystery of Tabby's Star. Here is the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3993824/Dyson-sphere-star-dimming-ALIENS-mining-energy-surface-claim-scientists.html

RODNEY HALE AND THE AUTHOR INVESTIGATE TABBY'S STAR

Engineer Rodney Hale and myself are also examining KIC 8462852's short term light curves in an attempt to imagine the object or objects that passed in front of the star in 2011 and again in 2013. The idea will be to recreate what they might have looked like to help astronomers better identify what is going on up there. This involves an extraordinary lot of technical work, which as a chartered engineer and keen astronomer Rodney is ideally placed to do. Preliminary results suggest we are dealing with something completely unique to astronomy. However, so as not to make any mistakes this process will proceed very slowly, with notes and observations being made every step of the way. We have been in communication with Dr Eduard Hendl about his own physical modelling of the light dips, and he has been helpful in providing us with his primary dataset for comparison with our own ongoing work.

The fact that the star is located in the Cygnus constellation, between Deneb and wing star Rukh, is, quite obviously, of immense interest to me. This is especially so right now as I am currently putting the finishing touches on a book called "The Cygnus Key: Gobekli Tepe and the Birth of Egypt." This will show that Cygnus has been important in the ancient mindset since at least 15,000 BCE. It also asks the question of why Cygnus was so important to the ancients. Did they know something about this star group that humanity is only now beginning to comprehend for the first time?

However, I have to be careful what I write about KIC 846852. I cannot jump ahead of myself, especially as the final deadline for this book is Christmas! I wrote the final chapter overnight on Friday/Saturday night. That's great, although there is still a lot of editing that clearly needs to be done before the publishers can have it! Now on to other matters.

HAN KLOOSTERMAN

I was saddened to hear about the death of Dutch geologist and mineralogist Johán Bert ("Han") Kloosterman, who passed away in November. He was most famous for discovering the so-called Usselo Horizon, which I describe in the following manner in new book Atlantis in the Caribbean and the Comet that Changed to World.
"He [Han Kloosterman] had determined that the impact left behind a distinctive, carbon-rich layer of burned debris between one and a half centimeters and thirteen centimeters in thickness. To date this has been detected in countries on six continents, including France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, White Russia, India, South Africa, Syria, Egypt, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Australia, Great Britain, and here in Belgium, where just over the border in the Netherlands, at a place named Usselo, the significance of this ominous black layer was first recognized by Kloosterman in the 1980s.

Han Kloosterman (1931-2016) with his beloved Usselo horizon (the black wavy line) visible in the sandy wall in front of him.

Archaeologists originally put down the existence of this carbon-rich layer to localized conflagrations, caused by lightning strikes, erupting volcanoes, or human deforestation. What they had not anticipated, however, was the sheer extent and uniformity of the layer, something only realized after Han’s findings were announced in 1999.

Today this burned layer (known everywhere as the Usselo horizon, except in the United States, where it is known as the Clovis layer) is being examined in countries all over the world. Its existence has now become the unique signature of a comet impact that very nearly destroyed the habitable world. Recently, it has been found to contain telltale microscopic impact debris, such as nanodiamonds, magnetic spherules, and tiny glass-like objects made of silica only produced at temperatures in the range of two thousand degrees centigrade.
Aside from myself, Han’s extraordinary discoveries have come to the attention of other scientists in the field of catastrophism, the study of catastrophes in world history. They include Richard Firestone, a nuclear chemist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who with his own colleagues, including geologist James P. Kennett and geological consultant Allen West, has been independently working on the idea of an impact event having taken place coincident to the Younger Dryas mini–ice age. It is the subject of his essential book The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes, published by Inner Traditions in 2006. In here Firestone provides brand new evidence to suggest that the Carolina Bays are, as I propose in this book (see chapter 21), the result of massive air blasts caused by disintegrating comet fragments impacting with the Earth. Since the publication of Firestone’s book dozens of scientific papers have appeared on the subject of the Younger Dryas impact event. Even though their conclusions are fiercely contested by a group of skeptical scientists who vehemently deny that any such event ever took place, more and more evidence emerges each year to tell us very firmly that something terrible did befall the world around 12,800 years ago."


Han Kloosterman (1931-2016), with his beloved Usselo horizon (the black line through the sandy bank of soil) in front of him (pic credit: Andrew Collins)

I had the privilege to meet Han, by then an oxigenerian, when visiting Holland and Belgium in 2014. Despite the fact that he was wheelchair bound, partially deaf, somewhat frail, and virtually unable to speak due to the effects of an operation for throat cancer, he was one of most brilliant minds I have ever met. He would not allow his disabilities to prevent him from continuing to verify the full extent and impact of the Usselo horizon. We went out to a site in Belgium with a local archaeologist and a team from Prometheus Productions to examine an archaeological layer containing the Usselo horizon as part of an episode of Ancient Aliens. Although he could hardly speak, he wished to convey to me important information about the Younger Dryas impact event, which he did by scribbling down statements on any available paper - beer mats, napkins, etc. What he wrote went on to feature in the detailed Preface for Atlantis in the Caribbean. It was an honor to meet such a charismatic person, who had such a lot to offer the world. I only hope that the work he was doing just before his death will be completed by others in the fields of geology, chemistry, archaeology, palaeoclimatology and catastrophism. RIP Han Kloosterman (1931-2016).

MEGALITHIC ODYSSEY SYMPOSIUM - MAY 2017

Please note also that I will be attending the Megalithic Odyssey Symposium on May 14, 2017. It takes place at Kennedy Lecture Theater U.C.L. I.C.H. Building (Institute of Child Health), 30 Guilford St, London, WC1N 1EH. Other speakers include Brien Foester, Laird Scranton, John Anthony West, Thomas Sheridan, Maria Wheatley and conference organiser James Swagger. Should be a good one!

CONTACT IN THE DESERT - MAY 2017

I will also be appearing at the Contact in the Desert event between May 19-22, 2017, Joshua Tree Retreat Center, Joshua Tree, CA. Other speakers include George Noory, the presenter of the Coast-to-Coast AM radio show.

This will be the final newseltter before Christmas, so do have a good one. I am sure right about now you are considering your holiday plans for 2017, so do consider two opportunities of a life time. Join Hugh Newman and I as we go to Cambodia and Java in March, and Armenia and Georgia (with Gobekli Tepe add on) in June. All details given below.

I look forward to 2017. It will be an electric year

Best wishes,

Andrew Collins




Some older News ....

Atlantis in the Caribbean

I have a new book published by Inner Traditions this coming month entitled Atlantis in the Caribbean and the Comet that Changed the World." It is a completely revised edition, with lengthy new introduction and afterword, of my 2000 book Gateway to Atlantis. It ably demonstrates that:

- Plato's knowledge of the destruction of Atlantis came from Phoenician and Carthaginians journeys to the Western Atlantic seaboard, including the Bahamas and Caribbean

- Atlantis's central island as described by Plato was Cuba, its sunken lands being the former Bahaman landmass, as well as other areas of the Caribbean reclaimed by the sea shortly after the last ice age

- Its method of destruction was the comet impact of 10,800 BCE, and the subsequent rise in the sea-level caused by ice melt waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico during the Younger Dryas event, ca. 10,800-9600 BCE

- Ample evidence of underwater archaeological remains exist off the coasts of various Bahaman islands, as well as evidence of human activity in drowned caves within the Bahamas, showing that the former landmass was occupied thousands of years before the first official inhabitants arrived here from Cuba ca. 500-600 AD

All pretty standard stuff really, although it is surely a far cry from the old adage that Atlantis is the memory of the destruction of Minoan Crete due to the eruption of Santorini some 3,500 years ago. To argue this theory historians and sceptics have had to persuade us that Plato got all his dates wrong, he wrongly estimated the size of his island continent, and wrongly located the Pillars of Hercules and the Atlantic ocean. Now we don't have to invoke such crap to ably demonstrate that Plato actually got it right, and that Atlantis really was located on the western Atlantic seaboard and was drowned, finally, ca. 10,800-9600 BC.

I also exclusively reveal the full story behind the discovery of the Cuban underwater structures by ADC Communications in 2000, and what I think about the matter today, and I am not kind, in all honesty.

There is also a detailed assessment of the recent discovery in shallow water, south of the island of Bimini, of an archaeological ruin of great significance known today as Brown's Ruins. Today it is merely a strewn field of huge blocks made of blue schist, spread out like a fan towards the south. However, enough can be seen to suggest that this was perhaps a built structure that suffered the impact of an almighty tsunami at some point in the distant past. My colleagues Greg and Lora Little have dived the site on several occasions, and Lora will bring you a full report on their findings within her exclusive UK lecture at Origins 2016. Greg, whose own work with Lora investigating the underwater structures located in Bahaman waters was inspired in part through reading my book Gateway to Atlantis, has this to say about Atlantis in the Caribbean:

"Collins has compiled the most thoughtful, comprehensive, and rational book ever written on the controversial topic of Atlantis."

Anyway, you can get Atlantis in the Caribbean now from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I guarantee you will not be disappointed with the in depth research I have conducted into this subject.


Cover of Atlantis in the Caribbean by Andrew Collins


Tour Expedition to Armenia and Georgia

From June 1st to June 11th 2017 Hugh Newman and I embark on a tour of Armenia and Georgia (with add ons to Gobekli Tepe and eastern Turkey, May 29-June 1st), which will explore the prehistoric, ancient and most sacred places of these countries.

Among the sites to be visited in Armenia are the Dvin pyramid, Agarak carved caves, Portasar "Naval" Stone, Karahunj "Armenia's Stonehenge," Hartashen megalithic avenue, Metsamor observatory and various rock cut churches. In Georgia we visit the Khervisi Fortress, megalithic ruins at Saro, Uplistsikhe cave town, Vardzia cave town, Narikala Fortress, and various other sites as well.

Obviously, Karahunj is top of the list of sites to be visited in Armenia, especially as the layout of this incredible megalithic complex is thought to resemble the shape of the Cygnus constellation in its guise as a vulture, angegh in Armenian, which is the form Cygnus takes in Armenian star lore. Compounding the Cygnus link is that the site is believed to be aligned to the Cygnus star Deneb (and click here for my take on the subject).


Karahunj in Armenia. Its stones are laid out to resemble the star pattern made by the Cygnus constellation (pic credit: Wiki Commons Agreement, 2016).

Please note that the two add ons to Turkey are optional and not part of the main tour, which does NOT enter Turkey at any point.

The tour includes quality hotels, most meals, entrance to sites, local flights, ground transport, English speaking guides (but does not include international flights, trip insurance, drinks and tips).

Click for full details and immediate registration using paypal or click the flyer.


Cambodia and Java Tour

If you fancy joining Hugh Newman of Megalithomania and myself in Cambodia and Java in March 2017, why not check out this upcoming tour we have arranged in concert with Travel the Unknown. It takes in various sites in the Angkor Wat area, including all the major temples. We will also visit the Hindu-Buddhist temple complex of Preah Vihear, where you will see a style of megalithic architecture in one structure unlike any of the other buildings. A case can be made for this structure dating back to an earlier age of activity at the site.

From Cambodia we shall be travelling on to Java, where you will see the megalithic complex of Gudung Padang, which could easily be pre-8000 BC in origin. Our guide for the tour of the site will be geologist Danny Hilman, who has done such great work bringing the previously unknown core architecture of Gudung Padang to the notice of the archaeological world. We shall also visit the incredible Hindu-Buddhist temple complex of Borobudur as well as various other key sites, including the location where one of our earliest ancestors, Java Man, was found by anthropologist Eugène Dubois in 1891.

Click for more information on this unique tour to Cambodia and Java.

 


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