This letter emailed ten minutes ago, I'll post here because it's my current best "sales pitch". If anyone else wants to "sell" any proprietors of large telescopes, to search for Barbarossa, I'd suggest these arguments.
Dear Prof. *****,
I am a graduate of Harvard College, B. A. cumlaude in Mathematics, 1977. I am not a professional astronomer but nonetheless, what I tell you is "Veritas".
In Feb. 2007 I discovered (eventually, on all of the four existing relevant online Red and Optical Infrared sky surveys) a body near the longitude predicted by David Todd, Percival Lowell, and Robert Harrington. It is near the positive CMB dipole, suggesting an alternative explanation for the correlation of the CMB multipoles with the ecliptic. Even without correction for Earth parallax, the coplanarity and constancy of angular speed are statistically significant. Its Red and Optical Infrared magnitudes are ~ +18.5. The images show the "Eberhard effect" characteristic of real stellar images on photographic emulsions.
This is really Lowell's "Planet X". Not receiving any reply from the International Astronomical Union, I named the planet myself: Barbarossa, after the legendary sleeping crusader.
My orbit fitting gives a=384 AU, e=0.61, and P=6340 +/- 7 yr. For a mass ~0.01 solar, there is a "precession resonance" with Neptune, Pluto, and the classical Kuiper Belt: the precession period of these orbits due to the average torque exerted by Barbarossa, is 3x, 2x, or 1x the precession period of these orbits due to the torque exerted by the known planets. Goldreich's nonexistence proof is faulty.
For many pulsars, Pdot/P clusters near small multiples of H0. This shows that there is something we do not understand about distant radio signals, from pulsars in particular. The alleged lack of acceleration toward pulsars, also is a faulty nonexistence proof.
Two stars with exceptionally strong "interstellar absorption", 61 Leonis and Theta Crateris, lie behind Barbarossa. My tabulation showed that there is a statistically significant excess of discordant Red and Blue USNO-B catalog magnitudes in this region. Barbarossa has a nebula that moves with it.
The correct interpretation of the "Sothic" date of Amenhotep I, is that it really refers to a heliacal rising of Arcturus, and occurs in an Egyptian calendar beginning at the summer solstice, 4328 BC. This gives 6339.5 tropical yr between the beginning of the lost Egyptian calendar, and the end of the Mayan Long Count. With only ~5% error, sqrt(kT/m) = H0*c*P, where P is the period of Barbarossa, H0 the Hubble parameter as now measured, T the CMB temperature, and m the mass of the proton (or hydrogen atom). My literature search found that according to the present state of the art, almost no dogmatic statements can be made about the diameter, albedo, or surface temperature of Barbarossa, a partially gravitationally collapsed body of unknown composition and origin.
I would be happy to meet with any or all faculty members of the University of ***** Astronomy Dept. in October for discussion. It is convenient for me to visit ***** then, because *********.
Sincerely,
Joseph C. Keller, M. D.
... POB 9122, Ames, Iowa 50014
