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McCanney: We don't know. Of course though, NASA would __ wise, the chemical composition of the atmospheres of Venus and have very good knowledge of this. Mars are exactly the same—which means they were formed in the The other important thing that I wanted to say earlier about same boiling pot there, as they passed by each other. Hale—Bopp is that in the six-year period from 1991 to 1996, where it Martin: I wanted to ask you about Velikovsky. You're very actually hit perihelion with the Sun, it lost three months' time in similar to him in that he was given a hard time and ridiculed, and it arriving due to the tail-drag of the huge comet. That's why we turns out he was right. didn't have the direct collision with it. And when I say "direct McCanney: There's no question any more that Velikovsky was collision", I don't mean hitting Earth; I mean we would have been right. And, I think the biggest thing that I want to say about within about one million miles. By anybody's standard, it would Velikovsky is that he was not studying astronomy. He was study- have been total devastation of this planet. The flooding would have ing calendars! been enormous. It was only due to the fact that this thing slowed down that we missed it. COMETS AND PLASMA PHYSICS Martin: I guess another question would be: where is NEAT Martin: Let's talk about your concept of comets and plasma. going? What is plasma? McCanney: NEAT headed back out. That is object number McCanney: Plasma is like a fourth state of matter. In a vacuum four of my South American Harrington Expedition to chart the new environment where you have strictly gases and high energy, for orbit for NEAT, because it clearly lost a lot of its energy as itcame example, a lot of light coming out of the Sun that splits the atoms around the Sun, as it picked up a lot of tail material. into free electrons, ions, neutral atoms and other forms of energy So, it's not going to come and hit Earth. That's what NASA like stored magnetism, stored electric fields—that's a plasma. And always says: "Oh, these people think it's going to hit Earth." No, the interaction of all of these things is what you call plasma physics; no; nobody said anything about it hitting Earth. They try to make that's the study of it. That's, literally, in a nutshell, what plasma is. fun of people and, in fact, they Martin: Let's talk about comets. actually have people who set up those They're not dirty snowballs. What are stories on the Internet so they can go comets? make fun of them. It's part of their McCanney: Let me start by saying disinformation campaign. this... For a long time, there was Martin: When a comet the size of somewhat of a feud in the astrophysics NEAT, or a planet the size of NEAT, There's no question community between a guy named swings by our Sun, how does "action Chapman and Hans Alfhen, from the at a distance" come into play? any more that Swedish Institute. Chapman said that McCanney: The flare that came Velikovsky was right. space is electrically neutral. Alfhen off [the Sun], that you see in many of the photos, came and hit the back side of the comet tail. Martin: The five-million-mile flare? McCanney: Yes. Now, if that were to have come at Earth, it would have knocked us to our knees. But it went off in a totally obscure won out. direction. Let's look at something else. What you didn't see there, There is a very simple physics problem that is taught to every but I could see it coming off of NEAT...if you look very closely, graduate student in space science, astrophysics and physics. That is, you'll see a pin-thin streak coming directly away from the Sun and if you take a charge and put it in outer space, then very, very said, no; we can see this plasma up there; it's doing strange things; we don't know what causes all of this, but space is not electrically neutral—it's very much active electromagnetically. The United States, of course, is where the money is—so Chapman, the American, out away from the nucleus, out the right of the screen. That's con- rapidly—and you can calculate how rapid this is—charge will come necting with planet Mercury. Mercury was in a direct alignment and surround it and shield it, and will not allow it to be seen, with NEAT as it came across the ecliptic, the plane of the planets. electrically, in any other part of the Universe. It's a shielding That line, that you can actually see on solar photographs, is connect- _ property, and if you have a magnetic field out there for some reason ing to Mercury. around an object, the same thing will happen; you get a plasma effect. So, now, let's put Earth over there. What if Earth had been over _—_ And that is, for example, one reason why our gravity is known to be 90° around, and we were not broadside to it? Then, we couldhave _a force that is totally independent of electromagnetism, because these very easily been in a position to take that flare, for example, or take electromagnetic forces are so shielded that gravity "sees through an electrical discharge directly from NEAT. That is what the them", let's say. ancients talked about with the comets, the lightning bolts flying Be that as it may, Chapman kind of won this theoretical battle. across the heavens; they saw these things—Zeus throwing lightning And so, for decades you had the Chapman conferences, and bolts to Mars. They saw this stuff. Chapman physics was taught in all the textbooks, and all of these Martin: It was literal; it wasn't metaphorical? guys grew up thinking that space was electrically neutral—because McCanney: No, it was not metaphorical. When Venus came of that little problem you could do as a graduate student. And I've around Mars, it lashed out with an electrical discharge and the auro- — done that. But what I realised, and apparently none of these other ras in the atmosphere of Mars lit up; it looked like a snake grabbing _ people realised, was that the data, as it started coming back from the Mars. It literally sucked the oceans and atmosphere off of Mars as space probes, didn't support that at all. There was a tremendous it passed by. And they saw this. They knew that Mars, prior to amount of electromagnetic activity out there. that, was a water planet, was a blue planet, just like Earth. Mars has That was in 1979 when I was a young instructor at Cornell avery thin atmosphere. Venus has a massive atmosphere, thou- University and had access to all of this data coming in from Voyager sands of times denser than Earth's atmosphere. But percentage- spacecraft, Pioneer and Voyager, as they went by Jupiter and Saturn. wise, the chemical composition of the atmospheres of Venus and Mars are exactly the same—which means they were formed in the same boiling pot there, as they passed by each other. Martin: I wanted to ask you about Velikovsky. You're very similar to him in that he was given a hard time and ridiculed, and it turns out he was right. McCanney: There's no question any more that Velikovsky was right. And, I think the biggest thing that I want to say about Velikovsky is that he was not studying astronomy. He was study- ing calendars! There's no question any more that Velikovsky was right. won out. There is a very simple physics problem that is taught to every graduate student in space science, astrophysics and physics. That is, if you take a charge and put it in outer space, then very, very rapidly—and you can calculate how rapid this is—charge will come and surround it and shield it, and will not allow it to be seen, electrically, in any other part of the Universe. It's a shielding property, and if you have a magnetic field out there for some reason around an object, the same thing will happen; you get a plasma effect. And that is, for example, one reason why our gravity is known to be a force that is totally independent of electromagnetism, because these electromagnetic forces are so shielded that gravity "sees through them", let's say. Be that as it may, Chapman kind of won this theoretical battle. And so, for decades you had the Chapman conferences, and Chapman physics was taught in all the textbooks, and all of these guys grew up thinking that space was electrically neutral—because of that little problem you could do as a graduate student. And I've done that. But what I realised, and apparently none of these other people realised, was that the data, as it started coming back from the space probes, didn't support that at all. There was a tremendous amount of electromagnetic activity out there. That was in 1979 when I was a young instructor at Cornell University and had access to all of this data coming in from Voyager spacecraft, Pioneer and Voyager, as they went by Jupiter and Saturn. NEXUS + 51 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com