Star One: Tycho City: Discovery by Raymond L. Weil

Author:Raymond L. Weil
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Publisher: Raymond L. Weil
Published: 2012-08-02T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

Pierre LaRann, LeAnn Kelly, and Charles Turner stared at Adam Strong in disbelief. For a moment, they were all so shocked that they couldn’t even speak. Adam had just repeated to all three of them the computer results from his scans of the recently discovered neutron star.

“Adam, this can’t be right!” Pierre protested as he gazed at a computer screen, which was displaying the data that Adam had just spoken of. “You must have made a mistake in your calculations.”

“We’ve done scans of that area of space before,” stated Charles, shaking his head. He wondered if Adam had been putting in too many hours and had just misinterpreted the data. “We have never picked up anything in that area of space before. There is nothing there. There can’t be! A neutron star just doesn’t appear out of nowhere!”

Pierre took a seat in front of the computer screen and began studying the data in earnest. The more of the data he read, the wider his eyes got as he began to realize its significance. He looked up at Adam. “You say you have double checked the array’s coordinates?”

“Yes sir,” Adam replied with a nod of his head. “That’s the first thing I did. I have had the technicians and computer people double check everything. I even had Andrew double check the equipment. We still get the same results. It’s a neutron star where none should be.”

Pierre leaned back in his chair, letting out a deep sigh of concern. He took off his glasses and massaged his brow. Replacing his glasses, he looked at the other three. “The data indeed shows a neutron star at 15 billion miles.”

“How can that be possible?” LeAnn asked her eyes taking on a worried look. “How could a neutron star get that close without being detected?”

This neutron star was almost inside the solar system. LeAnn felt a cold sense of dread pass over her. She knew the neutron star could be a significant danger to the solar system if it came any closer. Even at its present range, it could cause significant problems with planetary orbits due to the influence of its gravity. She found it difficult even to speak as she thought about what all this could mean.

“A dust cloud,” commented Charles with doubt lingering in his voice. He just couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “It would have to be composed of some very heavy elements in order to hide the neutron star’s emissions. That’s the only explanation there can be. A small dust cloud that has hidden this neutron star from our detection instruments all this time!”

“But we have never detected a dust cloud in that area of space. If it’s that close to the solar system, we should have,” LeAnn spoke her voice indicating doubt. “It would have to be composed of a lot of heavy metals and dense gases to hide a neutron star.”

Pierre looked over at LeAnn and reached a quick decision. “Use the Albertson reflector and scan that area of space.

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