Criticism By Physicist Paul LaViolette
In 1999 PhD physicist Paul Alex LaViolette (born November 8, 1947), chairman of the (a non-profit organization which promotes research that falls outside of the mainstream view in science), criticized assertions about the Photon Belt made by Shirley Kemp in her magazine article titled "And So Tomorrow" (August 1981). LaViolette disputed (on the grounds of conventional physics) Kemp's assertion that the Photon Belt had been detected by satellites in 1961, holding that no records of any such satellite findings were ever released, and that it was unlikely that equipment of the period would have been able to detect a photonic belt such as she had described in her magazine article. LaViolette also disputed Kemp's assertions about the movements of the Photon Belt and the solar system in relation to the star Alcyone, stating that in order for Kemp's figures to be accurate the solar system would have to be travelling at 10% of the speed of light, while Alcyone itself would have to be approximately 1 billion times the mass of the Sun in order to support such an orbit.
LaViolette also objected to the confounding of the rather mystical ideas of a "photon belt" with his idea of "superwave" emissions emanating from the centre of the galaxy, which he presents as a serious scientific hypothesis supported by observational evidence.
A number of predictions have been made as to the date of Earth's collision with the Photon Belt. So far, no observable effects attributable to the photon belt have been seen on those dates. Dates so far given have included 1992, 1997, 2011 and 2012.
Read more about this topic: Photon Belt
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