It wasn’t until August 1986 that Voyager 2, the interplanetary probe launched by the United States in 1977, began sending back the first close-up images of Neptune, the eighth planet in our solar system. However, 6,000 years prior, the ancient Sumerians “already knew that“.
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The Solar System. From the inside out: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto |
Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, discovered a wealth of astounding data while analyzing the images sent back by Voyager 2. First, the color of Neptune astonished the scientists. It appeared as a pale blue sphere with some white cloud patches. Secondly, the planet’s axis is tilted, indicating it has a hot, molten core and a strong magnetic field.
Based on the data and images transmitted by Voyager from the Uranus region in 1986, along with information from Jupiter and Saturn that the spacecraft sent back earlier, humanity was able to gain a deeper understanding of the solar system in a completely new way.
However, are we the first to observe the farthest planets in the solar system?
Linguist and historian Zachariah Sitchin believes that the data from Voyager merely confirms his predictions first published in a book titled The Twelfth Planet, released in 1976.
Sitchin also asserts that the data obtained from the probe aligns with ancient Sumerian texts—writings created 6,000 years ago. The Sumerian civilization emerged in the region of Mesopotamia (part of modern-day Iraq) around 4000 BC. According to Sitchin, the Sumerians invented the wheel, the kiln for pottery, and irrigation systems. More importantly, they developed fundamental concepts of astronomy.
They used cuneiform writing to document their discoveries on clay tablets, small statues, and stone cylinders, by carving symbols and images in reverse. Real images were created when these stone cylinders were rolled over soft clay.
Sitchin has studied the writings of the Sumerian civilization for over 30 years. One day, he discovered a rare stone cylinder in a museum in West Berlin. In addition to depicting a god handing a plow to humans, the cylinder also showcased an astonishing diagram of the sky, featuring planets with the Sun at the center. In total, this graphic contained 12 celestial bodies, including the Sun and the Moon.
Sitchin was astonished when he saw the image of Uranus that Voyager 2 sent back in January 1986. The Sumerian description of this planet—mash.sig, meaning “bright green“—almost perfectly matched the slightly greenish hue of Uranus displayed on his television screen. His translation of the Sumerian term “hum.ba” is rendered as “marsh vegetation“.
He believes this indicates the presence of the semi-liquid material discovered on Neptune three years later. The Sumerians viewed Uranus as the twin of Neptune. The data obtained from the probe seems to confirm this perspective. Unlike Uranus, Neptune’s color is a pale blue. This planet has a strong magnetic field, a hot, molten core, and abundant water.
The question here is: how could the Sumerians know these details at a time when neither telescopes nor satellites existed?
Sitchin claims he can answer this question. According to him, the Sumerians received secret advice from extraterrestrials living on the planet Nibiru—the twelfth planet located between Jupiter and Mars. These beings are said to visit Earth every 3,000 years.
“This can be seen in texts that include myths about Anki and Earth“, Sitchin stated.
Andy Cheng, a researcher involved with the Voyager 2 mission, acknowledged that there are many similarities between the two “twin” planets, Neptune and Uranus. However, he believes that any planet (other than Earth) could not sustain life if it were in the solar system, as its distance would either be too close or too far for life to thrive.
Additionally, Cheng suggested that the Sumerian cylinder may only contain stylized images of random stars rather than an accurate chart of the sky. Francesca Roshberg-Halton, a leading expert on the Sumerians at the University of Notre Dame, offered a harsher critique: “worthless“. “Cuneiform characters can be over-interpreted. Sometimes, experienced decoders can complicate matters. There is nothing resembling Sumerian astronomy“, she remarked.
According to Roshberg-Halton, Sitchin’s research contains several errors. “The Sumerians only knew of 7 planets, including the Sun and the Moon. Therefore, the idea of 12 planets is pointless. The brightest star at the center of the illustration is not the Sun but Venus“, she asserted.
