strange corrupted words
Alan Cornette
For those individuals pronouncing judgement based upon their meager knowledge of a subject: Anytime religion and conspiracy nuts, and science fiction writers latch on to an interesting name originating from serious research, the name inherits new meaning which is generally negative and false. Then legitimate researchers cannot use the name.
A great example of this is the word NAZI, a word originating in ancient Sumer, and referring to a group of people some 5,000 years ago. No one can now use the term, Nazi, without stirring up controversy because of Hitler and Nazi Germany. Now consider the word, NIBIRU, another word from ancient Sumer, with the surprising meaning “Planet of the crossing.” Now, why would such an ancient name as Nibiru be associated with a subject related to modern-day astrophysics?
This question is exactly why many unknowing, self-appointed critics, are so afraid of a word related to present day efforts to find Planet X. Nibiru is also a name for Planet X, referring to a large planetary body existing out beyond the Kuiper Belt. Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1930, discovered Pluto. However, his prime objective was Planet X - Nibiru. Now, see how unprofessional this sounds after seeing all that crappy stuff on Google when you enter a search for Nibiru.
Oh, by the way: way back in 1983, the IRAS, an infrared telescope mounted on a spacecraft, discovered out beyond Pluto, a very distant “mystery celestial body” moving toward earth. It didn’t go away, and now astronomers are again saying that a large body must exist “out there” that could be 4x the size of Jupiter. They dare not use the word, Nibiru!
So, just as the word Nazi, any serious researcher must stay away from the word, Nibiru. And, there are individuals ignorant of word origin and original meaning, who love to get on social media and, evidently, expose their ignorance by condemning a word without knowing its original meaning. It’s time such individuals leave the scene, so to speak.
Social platform sites may not be the ultimate place to discuss serious scientific study, it does nevertheless, provide a forum for legitimate exchange of such information. Go to the Houston Space Center, or Lowell Observatory, and look for information as I have, and study the hundreds of written sources, before you believe the religious, conspiracy, and science fiction nuts, scattered all over the social networks. BTW, I brought up the Planet X-subject with an astronomer at the observatory. His response: "Oh, Planet X does not exist. The astronomers at that time made a mathematical mistake. It doesn't exist."