[Visit "Casa da Cultura" – Nonprofit Org with the Best of Brazilian Literature and Arts]

Dark Visitor



Overview

Dark Visitor, tries to interest students in science by describing a real cosmic threat - small black holes that are more numerous than stars. One may have passed by the solar system in 1929, perturbing Neptune and tilting, then unknown, Pluto's orbit. (Pluto was discovered in 1930, but was not the cause of this perturbation.) Because black holes do not reflect sunlight, they are invisible in telescopes. If one were to pass through our solar system, its gravity would change the earth's orbit. Even a small change could sent the earth back into an ice age. Ports would become useless in about one decade as oceans again begin to vacate the continental shelf. The scary story Dark Visitor tells is based on real science, not science fiction.

Dark Visitor begins with the historical background of the principal characters and slowly transforms to include more science, especially physics, astronomy and climate. It explains why the weather in the US usually comes from the west, how snow helps keep Oslo warmer than Boston, despite being 2000 Km farther north, etc. It makes clear many aspects of physics while it tells how astronomer Jack discovered the approaching black hole and why an ice age will rapidly follow its passage. Yet, Dark Visitor is not a text book. The science is integrated into the story. It is an economical, educational gift. Give it to a young person now making career choices.

Contents of Dark Visitor

The first four chapters tell how the Goldwater family acquired their fortune. Why one ancestor, Joseph, was sold into servitude, but like his Biblical namesake, prospered. Why his brother, Amiel, was executed by a German firing squad. How Jack, met George and his sister Karen Goldwater, whom he later married. Why George became a climatologist, and worked for NOAA, not the family firm as his father wished. Why Karen became an expert in plant biology, especially genetic engineering, and is now experimenting with rice in South America. How their Jewish grandfather acquired a small fleet and became the richest man in Boston, after the depression of 1929. Why he was ostracized, even before marrying Kathleen, a prominent Irish Catholic, who was 23 years younger. Why the book's author, Billy T, agreed to integrate Jack's scientific report about the discovery and characteristics of the approaching dark visitor with George's analysis of the climatic changes it would produce, into a book of general interest. Dark Visitor also tells of the investment syndicate Mr. Goldwater formed to profit from Jack's discovery by trading in the commodity market.

In chapters five and six, Billy T reduces George's complex computer models about the climate to simple explanations that anyone can follow. Chapter five shows how the current climate is controlled by the spin of the earth and the uneven solar heating that different latitudes receive. He explains why hurricanes and the Gulf Stream exist, why snow helps often makes Oslo warmer than Boston in winter, despite being 2000Km closer to the North Pole, and many other phenomena. Chapter six builds on the understand of climate mechanism developed in chapter five to show how only a slight change in the earth's orbit can result in drastic climate change - a new ice age. Why, unlike all prior ice ages, which were global, the coming ice age will be confined to the Northern Hemisphere only.

Jack scientific report, which constitutes the second half of the book, begins by describing how Neptune was discovered. He uses the same method to prove that the late 1920s perturbation of it was not caused by Pluto, but by some unknown invisible object (the Dark Visitor). He suggests that the dark visitor now approaching is a small black hole, the core of a large ancient star, but considers many other possibilities in the next chapter. Later chapters describe how he determined the trajectory of the approaching dark visitor and predicted the changes it will induce in the earth's orbit. Finally his results are discussed and presented graphically. (A link given below displays some of these graphical results.)


Dark Visitor describes how these climatic changes are produced by an approaching black hole. Learn more about Dark Visitor at the following specific links:

  1. [Home Page - Why Western World is Falling Behind Scientifically, etc.]
  2. [The physics and climate change included in Dark Visitor]
  3. [Graphical results describing the new earth orbit etc.]
  4. [This Page: Synopsis of the book]
  5. [Sample pages of the text]
  6. [Not defined]


Read for FREE! at: www.iUniverse.com
(downloading one page at a time via browse.)

Dark Visitor is only $12 at Amazon.com, if slow downloading annoys you.

Questions / comments to: Local_Black_Hole@Yanhoo.com

Table of Contents

Preface - Agent briefly describes the global disaster predicted in Dark Visitor and asks reader to decide if a new ice age is really coming in 2008 or if the book is only a scientific hoax.

Introduction - Author Billy T tells why he was privileged to write Dark Visitor and explains his relationship to the astronomer forecasting the approaching black hole.

Chapter 1- George and his Father: Background about the Goldwaters. How and why George's father induced him to become a climatologist. The family agribusiness and why George did not join it.

Chapter 2- Karen and her Mother: How ancestors started the family fortune. Brief mention of the climate change to come and how the syndicate will profit from them. Why Karen's mother danced at Boston's Old Howard burlesque theater.

Chapter 3- Jack and his Studies: How Jack (and Billy T) met the Goldwaters. His astronomy program at Harvard. Why he quit and build an observatory. How this led to the discovery of the approaching dark visitor.

Chapter 4- Amiel and his Travels: Why Amiel sold his brother into servitude and later compensated by disclosing the German U-boat program. How this expanded the Goldwater fortune but killed Amiel.

Chapter 5- Normal Climate: How and why weather and climate phenomena (hurricanes, the Gulf Stream, etc.) occur.

Chapter 6- Ice Age Climate: Failure to melt all snow in colder summers, not cold winters, is cause of the ice age. Etc.

Chapter 7- Methodology of Discovery: How perturbation of known orbits leads to new discoveries. Presents a simple proof that Pluto did not perturb Neptune in 1929. Gives physical constraints on possible dark visitor candidates.

Chapter 8- Dark Visitor Candidates: Presents a brief outline of stellar life cycles that end as white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. Describes several non-stellar sources of black holes, magnetic monopoles, dark matter, cosmic dust, etc.

Chapter 9- Analysis Model, Accuracy:  Discusses a three-body finite-time-step orbital analysis model, with error reduction tricks, and gives its limits and accuracy.

Chapter 10- Coordinate System: Describes the coordinate systems astronomers use (orbital elements and apparent locations).

Chapter 11-Discussion of Results: Earth eccentricity will become 0.0836 with 378 days in a year. Pluto will slow down and slowly begin to fall towards the sun in a more elliptic orbit, but never hit the earth, etc.

Chapter 12- Graphical Results: Presentation of results graphically for Earth and Pluto. Provides comments about the graphs.

Appendix 1 - The first simple computational model with Jack's embedded notes and comments.

Appendix 2 - The full three-body time-step model in compact format with implementation guide.

Appendix 3 - Speculation about black holes forming new universes in a simple math model.

Postscript - "Easter Eggs" are hidden in Dark Visitor - why and hints on how to find them.