No, it is nonsense and BS. David Meade in his book just repeats many of the misconceptions floating around on the internet. He makes no attempt to check if they are true or not.

He thinks that the gravitational pull of the Earth is so great that an approaching entire solar system will be diverted into a loop around Earth, and he thinks that a planet approaching from the South would only be visible in a plane flying high above South America (for some reason) and lots of other nonsense things.

There is nothing here to be scared about.

Somewhat more detailed debunking here: Debunked: Nibiru will hit or fly past Earth in September (or October or November) 2017 - David Meade’s “prophecy”

Well it’s not even an astronomical theory. The thing is that it doesn’t make sense as astronomy. The whole thing is nonsense, total BS. Promulgated by youtube uploaders and bloggers who don’t have the slightest clue about the basics of astronomy. To try to disprove it is to give the idea more dignity than it deserves.

It's like someone who claims to be an expert on sport, who in the next sentence says that Usain Bolt is a top seeded tennis player and won Wimbledon. If you know the basics of astronomy, the things they say are as absurd as that. They give away their complete ignorance of astronomy within a couple of sentences.

"INVISIBLE" BROWN DWARFS

By way of example, they read in genuine astronomy articles that brown dwarfs can be spotted in the infrared when far from any star even in pitch darkness. They conclude from this that they are invisible in ordinary light - that's like concluding that you are invisible because you are warm. Since when did warming something up make it invisible?

Humans are easily visible at night with infrared goggles. We can’t however be seen in pitch darkness if you see with what we call “visible light”, because we don’t fluoresce and aren’t in any other way luminous. A glow worm can be seen at night. Does this prove that we are invisible in daylight, because we can’t be seen at night?

Similarly brown dwarfs are invisible in pitch darkness far from any star but stars are visible because they shine by their own light. Brown dwarfs can be seen in infrared even in pitch darkness, just as we can be, for a similar reason.

That’s the level of reasoning that you get from these people. They don’t even look clearly at their assumptions.

CAN'T SEE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PLANET THAT NEVER COMES CLOSER THAN SIX TIMES THE DISTANCE TO NEPTUNE AND A PLANET THAT FLIES PAST EARTH

They read that astronomers think that there is a chance we may have a planet that's in an orbit that takes it at its closest to 200 au from the Sun and at its furthest, 1200 au from the sun - and if it exists, it must currently be at its furthest point or we'd have spotted it already easily. Neptune is 30 au from the Sun - so at its closest this "Planet 9" if it exists reaches more than six times the distance to Neptune - but to be not spotted yet, it has to be five or six times further away than that right now.

They conclude that this proves that they have been right all along that there is a planet in an orbit that goes from way beyond Neptune all the way to Earth's orbit and back again every 3600 years and is currently very close to us, "hiding behind the Sun" and just about to hit us or fly past us. Do you see a difference between these two scenarios? They can't seem to see any difference.

Bill Nye shows the scale of our solar system. If "Planet 9" exists then the closest it comes to Earth is six times the distance to Neptune. It must be several times further away than that at present or we'd see it already. Do you see a difference between this and the idea of a planet that comes as close to the Sun as Earth? They can't see the difference which shows the level of their understanding of astronomy.

IMPOSSIBLE PLANET

Their orbit is impossible because it would cross the orbits of all four gas giants. It can't keep missing them time after time because they have different orbital periods and it would hit one of them or be deflected out of its orbit or mess up our solar system within a million years. If our solar system ever had such a planet, it is long gone ,more than four billion years ago.

Even a 1 km comet would be easy to spot two years before it gets to Earth or Mars as we know from experience too, e.g. Siding Spring found nearly two years before its flyby of Mars and it was between 400 and 700 meters in diameter.

TWO SUNS

Then they go on to pile on the most absurd things. They say that we have two suns. I frequently get people asking me if it is true that we have a second sun and that we are in danger of it flying past Earth! Honestly. Don't they believe their own eyes? This is very easy to check. Don't stare at the Sun. Hold a finger in front of the Sun and then look to left and to right. Hold your finger at anothre angle and look above and below. Do you see a second Sun?

You have just disproved their theory that we have a second Sun.

BALDERDASH AND BULLSHIT

They say so many absurd things. They dress them up in videos with stirring sound tracks and authoritative sounding voice overs. And somehow people who know nothing about astronomy come to believe these things. Who knows if they are just unable to reason logically, or if they are hoaxing everyone else, or don't understand astronomy or what it is. Some are certainly just doing it as hoaxes for the ad revenue. And the ones who are selling Doomsday bunkers obviously have a commercial reason for running these stories. There are dozens of books on it also. It's like a minor industry, all based around balderdash and bullshit.

The common sense way to respond, when you find that someone spouts bullshit, is just to treat them as an unreliable source.

ASTRONOMY NIBIRU BULLSHIT TESTER - WOULD YOU READ A SPORTS COLUMN THAT STARTS "WHEN USAIN BOLT WON WIMBLEDON IN 2008..."?

I suggest you try out my Nibiru Bullshit Tester - and - well you don’t even need to do that. If a website or a news site or a TV channel or blog talks about a planet called Nibiru in all seriousness and they are not debunking it, then - just cross them off your list of people who know anything about astronomy.

To continue to read after that is like reading in all seriousness an alleged sports blog that starts "When Usain Bolt won Wimbledon in 2008 ...". It's even more absurd than that. Usain Bolt is a human being and could in principle win a tennis tournament, it is just not his sport. But their ideas don't even make logical sense in astronomy. They are bullshit through and through.

It’s best to just cross them off your list of people you go to when you want to know about something in astronomy. They will fill your head up with strange ideas that make no sense, and confuse you. You may waste a lot of time trying to make sense of the BS. And you may need to do a lot of unlearning of this nonsense before you begin to get some understanding of how astronomy really works.

See also

• Debunked: Nibiru will hit Earth on [Insert Date here]
• Debunked: Nemesis is Nibiru - updated
• Nibiru Bullshit Tester.

This is based on my: Is Nibiru a Hoax?

No, not with naked eye. Some people have had their eyes damaged after staring at it for minutes, perhaps particularly susceptible for some reason. Though, according to the sources, some people have stared at the sun for minutes, and in one medical experiment, several people (who were just about to have their eyes removed to prevent spread of cancer ) stared at the sun for an hour, with no harm to the retina. So, you just don’t know which you are. That’s why staring at the sun at any time is not recommended at all and you get these warnings.

Also, that’s in full sunlight not an eclipse. We seem to be particularly susceptible to eye damage during solar eclipses - perhaps because the eye opens wide in the darker conditions, an unusual situation with darkened surroundings, staring at a small bright spot in the sky. Doctors often have to deal with cases of people who have damaged their eyes by staring at the sun, during eclipses - so don’t let it happen to you.

It’s actually the UV light, short wavelength light that seems to be what cause the most harm here.

As for looking through a telescope or binoculars at the sun - that can harm you very quickly through infrared - heat. It’s like focusing light from the sun onto something with a lens to set it on fire.

The thing is we have no pain receptors in the retina. So the first you know of it, that anything is wrong, is when you notice that your vision has been affected - that you have a spot in the center of your vision where you can’t see anything.

SUN PROJECTION AND CRESCENT SHAPED DAPPLES

There are many ways to enjoy the eclipse. First the projection method. This actually happens naturally, if you are lucky enough to see it. The dapples beneath trees are actually each little images of the sun in a pinhole camera type effect from chinks in the leaves. So during a solar eclipse you see all the dapples turn to crescents like this, in ideal conditions:

Photo from here: File:IMG 1650 zonsverduistering Malta.JPG

So you can look out for those Making eclipse magic

You can also make your own simple pinhole camera to look at the sun projected onto a sheet of paper (say). Though it’s likely to be a bit faint and dim.

Or you can set up a telescope to look at the sun and then project the image onto a sheet of paper. You need to be careful you don’t damage the telescope optics. So you need some kind of a heat shield, to reduce the aperture of your telescope. Instructions here from Sky at Night.

How to make a solar projection screen

This is what it is like - you’ll see sunspots too:

ECLIPSE GLASSES AND SAFE AND UNSAFE FILTERS

What most people do is to get eclipse glasses. They make the sky very dark. You just see blackness apart from the sun.They normally tint the sun yellow-orange. It’s not really that colour at all, it’s white. But people expect it to look yellow, and so the manufacturers of these glasses tint them accordingly.

These are very low cost, just a few dollars, so it’s worth ordering a few in advance for yourself and for anyone else who might watch it with you. Or you may get them for free with an astronomy magazine. Be sure not to use them though if they have been damaged and have holes in them, even tiny chinks, and get from a reputable seller.

It is not safe to use dark plastic wrappers and the like to block out the sun. They may or may not block out the necessary frequencies and as they are not designed for that, there is no way to know.

You can use welder’s goggles but you need to be sure to get the right grade of goggle. It must be at least welder grade 14. Also stacking lower grade welder glass is not safe.

Things like sunglasses and mylar balloons, food wrappers etc are definitely not safe.

It’s far easier and safer just to use the proper eclipse glasses.

SOLAR OBSERVING TELESCOPES

You can also get a dedicated solar observing telescope or add a filter to use a normal telescope for solar observing.

Telescope owners can use a filter that goes over the the front of your telescope which blocks out 99.99% of the incoming light. However, don’t try a filter at the eyepiece end.. A filter over the eyepiece can be burnt. Don’t try looking through a telescope or binoculars with eclipse glasses. They aren’t designed for that.

Some telescopes used to come with eyepiece solar filters. They are not safe, throw them out..

VIDEO BY AN ASTRONOMER ON HOW TO OBSERVE THE SUN SAFELY - AND WHAT’S UNSAFE

Here is a video on safe and unsafe ways to do it.

The only time it’s safe to look directly at the sun during an eclipse is when the rest of the sky goes dark and the sun’s corona shows. Before that you get the diamond ring effect - even though it’s just a chink of sun, it’s still not okay to stare with naked eye vision. Your pupils are wide open and your eyes are vulnerable.

You might wonder, what about all the people who stare at the sun at sunrise and sunset?

Well the sunlight gets to you almost horizontally through the thickest part of the atmosphere, and there are often clouds in the way. Even so, people don’t tend to stare at the sun for long. They look at the clouds and many other things. And unlike a total eclipse, it’s still quite light so your pupils are contracted too.

When you watch a solar eclipse, even a partial one, your attention is all on the sun, and if it is a total eclipse or close to, then your pupils will open wide.

SUNGAZING AS A RELIGIOUS OR HEALTH PRACTICE AT SUNRISE AND SUNSET

It’s not a good idea to stare at the sun even at sunrise and sunset either - yes the light is somewhat more filtered but it’s not like looking at the sun through a safe solar filter.

You might be one of the few whose eyes are particularly susceptible to this. Some people stare at the sun as a religious observance of sungazing especially at sunrise and sunset or for their alleged health benefits. It’s an alternative healing method.

But the sun isn’t guaranteed safe at sunrise or sunset. Compare what you see at those times with what you see with eclipse glasses.

And maybe many of them do it just fine - this chap seems to have managed okay - but you might be one of the unlucky ones, as doctors occasionally see patients with eyes damaged through these religious observances.

Here is an example, of five patients treated for serious eye problems after attending a gathering of 10,000 catholics staring at the sun hoping to see a miracle. The Catholic Church warned them against attending according to this article but many did anyway and a few went blind: It's no miracle, I could see but now I am blind -

There again that’s 10,000 people and presumably they didn’t all go blind, but five, at least, did. Temporarliy anyway, and some of those might have lost some of their sight, in the area used for detailed vision and reading, permanently. If you are unlucky, you could lose the ability to read through this practice, as Isaac Newton did, temporarily, or permanently.

COULD YOU SUBSIST ON SUNLIGHT ALONE THROUGH SUNGAZING?

Some practitioners from India think it is possible to live only on sunlight, without eating, and some of these engage in sungazing.

This doesn’t make scientific sense, so if they are able to do this, it’s basically a miracle, something science can’t explain. The cells at the back of our eyes may actually get a tiny amount of energy from sunlight. There are some microbes, the haloarchaea that obtain all their energy from sunlight not by photosynthesis, but by a process very similar to the way that we see. They use bacteriorhodopsin, and our eyes use rhodopsin. It’s much the same.

Lake Hillier in Western Australia, a "pink lake". It's pink partly because of the purple haloarchaea, and partly because of red carotene accumulating in a green algae dunaliella salina.

The green algae use chlorophyll. But the haloarchaea use rhodopsin and don’t fix carbon dioxide or generate oxygen but convert light directly into energy via a “proton pump” in much the way that our eyes use to see sunlight.

But that’s just one tiny bacteria subsisting off sunlight, which indeed they can do, just fine. Perhaps the cells at the back of your eye could subsist off sunlight, but not your whole body, at least not according to scientific understanding.

There’s no way, scientifically, that your entire body could subsist from photosynthesis through your eyes. See also Sungazing - RationalWiki

Also it’s not safe to stare at it through light cloud or to stare at its reflection in a mirror or in a bowl of water.

Most of the dangerous rays of light are invisible to your eyes, and for instance a cloud that blocks out the sunlight in visible light might let the dangerous UV light through.

MEDICAL EXPERIMENT STARING AT THE SUN FOR ONE HOUR

From: Galileo, solar observing, and eye safety

“Tso and Piana asked three middle-aged people, each with an eye that was to be surgically removed to prevent the spread of malignant melanoma, to stare directly at the Sun for one hour, a day or two before the operation. To quote from their summary:

“Two of the patients sungazed with an undilated pupil, and, 24 hours later, recovered their preexposure visual acuity with no detectable scotoma. One of the patients looked at the sun with a partially dilated pupil, and 24 hours later her visual acuity dropped from 20/20 to 20/25.

“But even in that eye, whose pupil was dilated to 4 mm, acuity was back to 20/20 after another day, though the scotoma remained.

“After surgery, the eyes were examined under the microscope. Although damage to the retinal pigment epithelium was seen in every case, the photoreceptors appeared perfectly normal. The ages of the patients were 49, 55, and 57 years.

“On the other hand, there are also cases of people who stared at the Sun for only a few minutes, when it was much lower in the sky, and suffered long-lasting scotomas:”

NEWTON’S TEMPORARY BLINDNESS - UNABLE TO READ

Newton reports that he damaged his eyes to the extent that he couldn’t read, by staring at the sun, which he did repeatedly over a period of some hours, after which he stayed in total darkness for three days to try to recover. He eventually did but for some months later he still saw effects from his eye damage in dark conditions. You can read the details here: Eye problems of other early solar observers

You might well be okay like Newton eventually - but there again you might not.

DON’T EVEN GLANCE AT THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE UNLESS SET UP FOR SOLAR OBSERVING WITH THE PROPER FILTERS OVER THE OBJECTIVE - BURNING LENS EXPERIMENTS

It’s especially important not to look through any kind of telescope or binoculars. In that case, it’s the infrared more than the UV, it can literally burn your retina.

This is why you must not look at the sun through a telescope unless it has a properly installed solar filter:

SUMMARY

So for most of us, the advice is to use the proper eclipse glasses to look at the sun, and only take them off for the solar corona. Or of course to look around at the crescent dapples etc. And be ready to put them back on as soon as the diamond ring effect appears again. As for projection, looking through a telescope etc - maybe you can some nearby astronomers with telescopes to show it to you through their scopes?

But you don’t need to be like David Mitchell

It’s okay to glance at the sun as happens normally in daylight.. It’s staring for it for long periods that’s the issue and this is something we don’t normally do except during a solar eclipse. Normally you can just rely on what comes natural to you, it’s so bright you just look away again naturally, unless you deliberately stare at the sun, and your eyes are kept safe.

The safety tips for observing the sun are due to accidents that happen to only a few people out of thousands, (at least 5 out of 10,000 for that Catholic sun gazing miracle seeking crowd). But they do happen, which is why doctors warn us not to stare at the sun. They want us to be safe and not be one of the people in that statistic which leads to them having to treat patients with sometimes irreversible eye damage.

And - just never look through binoculars or a telescope even for a fraction of a second, except during the solar corona. When you see the corona it is safe to look even through a wide aperture high power telescope. But you need to keep an eye on the time and be sure to look away in good time, e.g. 30 seconds before totality is due to end or some such.

See also When is it "safe" to view a solar eclipse with the naked eye? Or is it best just to utilize a telescope?