CASE OF THE LAYERED ASTEROID
Once Again, Modern Science Corroborates Ancient Knowledge
is not every day that I get an overseas call with someone shouting;
it happened on Friday, February 18th 2000; and the reason was NASA's press
conference the day before, reporting the first findings by the spacecraft NEAR
(Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous,) of its examination of the asteroid Eros.
and about 21 miles long, Eros is one of countless bits and pieces of planetary
matter that orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, collectively called the
Asteroid Belt. One theory is that
these are remains from the time when primordial matter around the Sun coalesced
into planets, but these bits and pieces failed to do so.
Another theory is that these are remains of a planet that did form there,
but that it somehow broke up; the inability to explain how or why it broke up
has been the reason why this theory has not been embraced by scientists.
To learn more about the
origin of the asteroids, NASA launched NEAR four years ago (February 17, 1996)
for the purpose of reaching and going into continuous orbit around the asteroid
named Eros; this was successfully achieved on St. Valentine's Day, February 14,
the first findings. reported at a news conference on Friday February 17th,
triggered the congratulatory call to me; for they corroborated an ancient
cosmogony pieced together in my 1976 book The 12th Planet.
has an ancient, heavily cratered surface," reported Dr. Andrew Cheng, chief
project scientist. "There are
also tantalizing hints that it has a layered structure, as if it were made up of
layers, like plywood."
stratified features, Dr. Cheng explained, could occur if the asteroid was melted
while it was part of a planet (quoted by Associated Press Science
News, 2/18/00-, emphasis by Z. S.).
The12th.Planet I asserted that an ancient Sumerian text, best preserved
in a later Babylonian version called Enuma Elish, which has been taken by
scholars to be an allegory or myth about gods fighting in the heavens, was in
reality a record of a sophisticated cosmogony dealing with the formation of our
protagonists Tiamat and Nibiru (which the Babylonians renamed "Marduk"
in honor of their national god), I wrote, were not allegorical or mythical
celestial gods but actual planets -- one (Tiamat) that existed between Mars and
Jupiter, the other (Nibiru,/Marduk) an, invader from outer space that, passing
by our solar system and pulled in by the system's gravitational pull, ended up
colliding with Tiamat. In this
Celestial Battle (as the ancient text names the catastrophic event), Tiamat
broke up; one half of her was thrust into a new orbit to become Earth; the other
half was smashed in an infernal collision to become the “Hammered Out
Bracelet” (which we call the Asteroid Belt):
(Marduk) enters our solar system from outer space.
Sumerian cosmogony, Sitchin asserted back in 1976, offers the best explanation
for many enigmas in our solar system, among them the explanation for the
Now little Eros tells its robotic
visitor from Earth: Yes indeed, I was once part of a beautiful planet that broke
up; yes, I originated as a result
of a fiery collision, as the Sumerians described thousands of years ago; and
that is why I am layered!
And this, my friends is only the
latest modern discovery that corroborates the amazing ancient knowledge.
Reproduction is permitted if accompanied by the statement.
© Z. Sitchin 2000
Reproduced by permission.