Abstract

If Nemesis, a hypothetical brown dwarf star, periodically passes through the inner solar system, it should have perturbed the orbits of the planets substantially, especially near times of perihelion passage. Yet almost no such perturbations have been detected. This can be explained if Nemesis is really comprised of two stars with complementary orbits such that their perturbing accelerations tend to cancel at the Sun. If these orbits are also inclined by 90?, the planet orbit changes could have been minimal even if acceleration cancellation was not perfect. This would be especially true for planets that were all on the opposite side of the Sun from Nemesis during the passage. With this in mind, a search was made for significant planet alignments. On July 5, 2079 Mercury, Earth, Mars+180?, and Jupiter will align at a mean polar longitude of 102.161??0.206?. Nemesis A is expected to arrive 180? away at a perihelion longitude of 282.161??0.206? and a perihelion distance of 3.971 AU, the Kirkwood 3/2 resonance with Jupiter at that time. On July 13, 2079 Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune+180? will align at a mean polar longitude of 299.155??0.008?. Nemesis B is expected to arrive at that perihelion longitude and at a perihelion distance of 67.25 AU, outside the Kuiper Belt. The mass of Nemesis A has been estimated to be 2.545 Jupiter masses, and the mass of Nemesis B has been estimated to be 0.4325 solar mass. The ternary system of Sun, Nemesis A, and Nemesis B are apparently maverick members of a globular cluster of cold dark stars, and they orbit its center with a period of about 26,200 years and an eccentricity of about 0.009. The ecliptic longitude of the center of this cluster is about 258?, but the latitude has not been determined. This paper suggests that this orbit, not the presumed lunisolar torque, is the cause of the precession of the equinoxes as suggested by Walter Cruttenden. It also suggests that cold dark globular clusters, not recognized by conventional astronomers, have been misidentified as cosmic voids. In fact, there is a huge cosmic void located at that longitude and having a latitude of about +24?.