Astroblog: In Which I (Fail to) Discover Nibiru: Or Fakery is Flattery

Image purported to be of a large object near 89 Leo, allegedly taken on January 9, 2012 using the GRAS (now iTelescope) scopes. The alleged coordinates are RA 11 34 21 DEC 03 03 35, click on image to embiggen for detail.

 

This image, which is claimed to show the mythical planet Nibiru (or HMO, for Heavy Mass Object), started doing the rounds recently. I became aware of it yesterday, in a Facebook post and briefly pointed out why it had to be a fake.

The purported object is a crescent, yet is supposed to be outside of Earth's orbit, it is impossible for any object outside of Earth's orbit to be a crescent. To be a crescent, the object must be nearly between us and the Sun (try this out with a torch and two tennis balls to confirm it for yourself)...


Source: Astroblog: In Which I (Fail to) Discover Nibiru: Or Fakery is Flattery