Pseudoastronomy

{{sources needed}}{{pseudoastronomy}}
'''Pseudoastronomy''' (not to be confused with [[astrology]]) is a subset of pseudophysics that claims to have found additional astronomical bodies, different ways of forming/developing astronomical bodies, different [[physics]] of the Universe, or just straight-up doom-mongering. And of course, [[YEC|creationists]] have found many very scientific-sounding ways to explain away problems in their 6,000-year-old [[Earth]].

Many of these pseudoastronomical claims fall into the category of "[[Earth changes]]", which is as vague as it is [[apocalyptic]].

None of these theories are scientifically supported.

==Additional astronomical bodies==
*[[Planet X]]: A hypothetical 
tenth
 [[Pluto|ninth]] [[planet]]. It's used in a wide variety of pseudoastronomy, so claims about its nature are inconsistent.
*[[Nibiru]]: Like Planet X, but more [[Zecharia Sitchin]]-y.
*[[Hercólubus]]: A giant planet that will fly by Earth, cause volcanoes to erupt and kill everyone in a cataclysm. The only solution is [[astral projection]].
*
Nuitari
 [[Lilith (pseudoastronomy)|Lilith]], a claimed second moon of 
Ansalon
 Earth so dark that it is invisible.
*[[Vulcan]]: no, not Mr. Spock's home, but an alleged planet further into the Sun than Mercury.

==Different formation/development methods==
===Planetary===
*[[Flat Earth]]: The Earth is flat. What holds it up?<ref group=note>Alternatively, and more positively: what holds it down?</ref> [[Fun:Scientific Geoterrapinism|Nobody knows!]] Promoted by [[B.o.B]] and [[Flat Earth Society (website)|the Flat Earth Society]] among others.
*[[Hollow Earth]]: The Earth is hollow. Something weird is inside (maybe [[Extraterrestrial|aliens]]/[[crystals]]/[[Nazis]]) and the [[Government | GOVERNMENT]] IS COVERING IT UP!<ref group=note>Not your local government. Not your state/provincial/regional government. THE government.</ref> Promoted by [[Ernst Zündel]] and [[Richard Shaver]], among others.
*[[Expanding Earth]]: The Earth is expanding. Originally the scientific consensus, now inhabited by [[cranks]] alone.
*[[Atlantis]], [[Lemuria]], and [[Mu]]: Lost continents with lost civilizations that fell to the ocean floor. How this didn't radically affect sea levels worldwide is a question we can't answer.<ref group=note>Well, not unless we postulate a non-Biblical global flood...</ref>
* The idea that there was a planet between Mars and Jupiter that was destroyed and formed the asteroid belt.
* The idea that Earth was previously a moon of [[Saturn]]. Promoted by [[Immanuel Velikovsky]]. (see below)

===Lunar===
*[[Hollow Moon]]. The [[Moon]] is hollow and actually an alien spaceship parked in Earth orbit. [[NASA]] of course hides it. [[WAKE UP]]

===Solar===
* [[Stellar metamorphosis]]: [[Star]]s are planets. 
Creat
Advocated by [[Jeffrey Wolynski]].
* Solar fission: The sun initially formed without planets, then flung the planets off in pairs. Theorized by Thomas Van Flandern.
* Solar binary: The Sun is a binary, its companion being an [[Invisible Pink Unicorn | invisible brown dwarf]].

===Universal===
* [[Cellular cosmogony]]: The Earth's surface is the inside surface of a sphere. The entire Universe fits within this sphere, because of gravitational distortion. Right.

==Alternate physics==
*[[Geocentrism]]: The Earth is the center of the Universe. Promoted by ''[[Galileo Was Wrong, The Church Was Right]]'' and [[Robert Sungenis]] among others.
*[[Galactocentricity]]: The [[Milky Way]] is the center of the Universe. (Note that both geocentrism and galactocentrism cannot both be correct, since the Earth is not the center of the Milky Way.)
*[[Fixedearth.com]]: The Earth doesn't move.
*[[Electric Universe]]: Electromagnetism > [[gravity]].
* Hyperdimensional physics: This fantasy was pseudo-elucidated by [[Richard Hoagland]] and [[Mike Bara]] in their book ''Dark Mission'' (2007). One tenet of the faith is that all energy originates from a "higher state" outside three-dimensional space.
* [[Welteislehre]], Nazi pseudoscience

==Doom-mongering==
*[[Geomagnetism]]: A geomagnetic reversal will end civilization and/or [[life]] as we know it! Discount the previous 170-171 times this has happened in the past 76 million years!
*[[Pole shift]]: Earth will flip over, and human civilization will flip its shit.
*[[Comet Elenin]]: 
It's gonna fuck shit up.
Oh wait... it passed by harmlessly and then disintegrated. Never mind.
*[[CW Leonis]]: It's ''obviously'' [[Nibiru]] and/or [[Comet Elenin]] and/or impending doom!

==Creationism==
*[[Lunar bukkake hypothesis]]: The [[Great Flood]] shot water into the [[Moon]], all over the Moon's face. Solves the "why are there craters on the moon if it's 6000 years old" problem.
*[[Catastrophic plate tectonics]]: The Great Flood screwed up the continents. Solves the "obvious evidence of [[plate tectonics]] disproves a Young Earth" problem.
*[[Anisotropic synchrony convention]]: [[Light]] travels instantaneously towards you but half the [[speed of light]] away. Solves the [[starlight problem]].
*[[c-decay]]: Light speed slows down over time. Solves the starlight problem.
*[[White hole cosmology]]: The Earth is/was in a "white hole" that slows down its time. Solves the starlight problem.

==People==
===Promoters===
*[[Immanuel Velikovsky]]: Most of modern physics is wrong, but the [[Old Testament]] is obviously true because of "comparative mythology."
:*[[Ted Holden]]: Promotes Velikovsky's work.
:*[[David Talbott]]: Promotes Velikovsky's work.
*[[Maurice Cotterell]]: Claims that the [[Sun]] directly affects female fertility, civilizational rise and fall, and [[human]] life and death.
*[[Mike Bara]]: Among Bara's many mistaken ideas about astronomy, he's a proponent of solar fission--which was a favorite of the maverick astronomer Thomas Van Flandern.
*[[Stephen J. Crothers]]: Rejects most of modern physics, with a special emphasis on the claim that [[black hole]]s do not exist.
*[[Richard C. Hoagland]]: Whines about [[NASA]] and finds [[Pareidolia|weird-looking shit]] on Mars.
*[[James McCanney]]: Both the Sun and comets are electrically charged. Comets contain no ice whatsoever.
*[[ZetaTalk]]: A cult that claims to talk with aliens. Claimed that [[Nibiru]] would pass Earth in 2003; it didn't.
*[[Time Cube]]: [[Gene Ray]]'s idiocy knows no bounds.
*[[David Icke]]: Depending on his mood, claims the Moon is either hollow, an alien spacecraft, an interdimensional portal or doesn't exist at all. He also makes unusual claims about Saturn.
*[[W. Cleon Skousen]]: A [[Mormonism|Mormon]] apologist who believed that [[YHWH|God's]] home planet, Kolob, exists in orbit around Sagittarius A*, what we now believe the be the super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
*[[Scientology]]: The [[Xenu]] mythology posits a galactic federation ruled the Milky Way 75,000,000 years ago. [[L. Ron Hubbard|Hubbard]], in official church scripture, recounts events occurring "four quadrillion" years in the past, or about 289,855 times older than the current age of the Universe.
*[[Robert Temple]] and his writings on the [[Dogon]]

===Skeptics===
*[[Phil Plait]]
*[[Stuart Robbins]]
*[[Neil deGrasse Tyson]]

==See also==
{{fun|Scientific Geoterrapinism}}
*[[Pseudoscience]]
*[[List of predictions of the end of the world]]

==External links==
*[http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy.html Bad Astronomy], [[Phil Plait]]'s site at Slate Magazine.
:*[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/ Bad Astronomy], the blog at ''Discover'' Magazine.
:*[http://www.badastronomy.com/index.html Bad Astronomy], the original website.
*[https://pseudoastro.wordpress.com/ Exposing PseudoAstronomy] by [[Stuart Robbins]]
:*[http://podcast.sjrdesign.net/ EP Podcast]
:*[https://www.facebook.com/ExposingPseudoAstronomy/ EP] on [[Facebook]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

{{pseudonav}}

[[Category:Lists]]
[[Category:Pseudoastronomy| ]]
[[Category:Pseudophysics]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]

Categories: Lists, Pseudoastronomy, Pseudophysics, Pseudoscience