posted on Dec, 23 2008 @ 05:31 PM
Proof of ancient knowledge from an unknown civilization? The smoking gun of aliens whispering unknown knowledge to the elite?
You often see the claim that Swift's knowledge MUST have come from some secret advanced knowledge - how could he have known?
...................................Inner Moon............ Outer Moon
....................................(Swift) / (Actual) (Swift) / (Actual)
Radius (Mars Diameters).....3............1.38......5..........3.46
Revolution period (hrs).......10...........7.7......21.5......30.3
So how did Swift, a writer and wit of some note achieve such accuracy?
In 1726 the British author Jonathon Swift wrote a satirical book called 'Gulliver's Travels'. In this work, Swift wrote that the inhabitants of
Laputa had discovered two satellites that revolve around Mars. Not content with this, Swift even specified the orbital radius and periods of these
moons as follows the chart above:
Many people have been astounded by Swift's apparent knowledge of these Martian moons 150 years before they were discovered by Asaph Hall. It is
particularly interesting why Swift should have placed the inner moon so close to the planet, with such an unusually fast period of revolution.
However, as amazing as this may seem at first glance, a detailed analysis shows that Swift's choices are quite in accord with the available
scientific knowledge of the day.
In 1610, following Galileo's discovery of 4 moons around Jupiter, Kepler speculated that Mars would be found to have 2 moons. He based this on
observations that in proceeding out from the Sun, Venus had no moons, Earth one, Mars two, the "missing" planet three, and Jupiter four. This belief
would have been strengthened in Swift's time, as by then five moons had been discovered around Saturn.
If we look at the orbital radii of the moons of Jupiter, we might see why Swift chose the orbits he did for the Martian moons.
*Orbital radii of Jovian Moons in Jovian diameters*
Moon 1 (Io) 2.9 (rounds to Swift's value of 3)
Moon 2 (Europa) 4.7 (rounds to Swift's value of 5)
Moon 3 (Ganymede) 7.4 (N/A)
Moon 4 (Callisto) 13.1 (N/A)
Once the orbital radius is given then Kepler's or Newton's laws may be called upon to compute the period. Two quantities are needed for this
calculation - the diameter of Mars and its mass (or alternatively Kepler's constant for Mars). The first quantity was known (although it was believed
to be 7700 km). It appears that Swift assumed an Earth mass, as this gives the figures he quoted. And so we see that maybe the "mystery" is not so
mysterious after all. Some people have stated that Swift could not possibly have performed the required calculations. This may be so. But he
undoubtedly had friends who could!
FromThe site of this knowledge
[edit on 23/12/08 by Hanslune]