A suggestion on the nature of Odd Radio Circles

Astronomers have discovered a totally new phenomenon in the sky. Circles that do not answer to any theory and do not reject any theory.

They don’t know how far-away these rings are. If they’re very far away but still inside our galaxy, they could still be a few light-years across – or they could be far away in the Universe and millions of light-years across.

They are faint rings of radio waves. This is light with a wavelength so long that it falls outside of the light wave spectrum that we can see with unaided eyes. Until now, they haven’t yet been spotted from space.

After they found one, they found half a dozen. And now they imagine that there might be a thousand of them.

Before going public, the scientists were so good to investigate and tell us already which ideas about them are likely incorrect:

Imaging artifact. Unlikely. ORCs have been observed independently.
Radio emission from distant radio galaxies? ORCs are too neat.
Supernova remnants? Too far away to be seen here so large.
Einstein rings? Too symmetrical and no cluster at their center.
Openings to wormholes? These connections have never been sighted.
Never-seen vast shockwaves from some distant galaxy explosion?
The erudite list goes on.

Even after a year, dozens of our smartest are not having a bloody clue.

Propositions are welcome. But they should not only say how these circles come about but also give ways to check such explanations.

***

Not inhibited by too much knowledge, here’s my two cents. The fantasy to outsmart with minimal knowledge the smartest is too much fun to forgo.

If I turn out to be right, I want to share in the Nobel Prize with the astronomers who work out the rest of the puzzle. But my explanation makes the circles much ado about nothing, so, probably no Prize anyway.

All these rings face earth. If they were not related to earth, we should also see some of such rings sideways. They have not been seen by any space telescope. However, because the earth’s atmosphere is transparent for radio waves, almost all radio wave observation is done from earth. The Hubble telescope, for instance, cannot ‘see’ radio waves. Space telescopes must be enormous to see weak formations like the ORCs. So, the fact that they haven’t been detected from space does not prove anything too much.

Yet, I want to suggest that this phenomenon we observe is not ‘from out there,’ but a reflection of our planet that projects out there. How so?

When a very powerful light source shoots waves toward earth, then on the sides of our planet (seen from the source’s point of ‘view’), these waves will travel the earth’s 1 km thick atmosphere for many kilometers, and then appear on the other side of our planet as gazing light, forming a ring in the sky, opposite the source that lies at the other side of earth than where we see the ring. All the other wavelengths are filtered out by the long path the rays traveled through our atmosphere, so only radio waves are left. The ‘hole’ in the circle is the earth’s shadow, so to speak.

If every eye and every light-sensitive receptor on earth can see the same star, that means, an enormous amount of radiation is coming our way.

The part of that huge emission that gazes earth will appear on the shadow side (seen from the star) as a ring in the sky.

I propose the hypothesis that every ORC has one of our brighter stars as its source, exactly, on the other side of earth. The ten brightest stars will give the ten clearest ORCs. The weaker ones will give even more vague ones.

My layman’s brain still says: But how can we see rays that go away from us? Maybe we can. How? The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is accepted to be a relic of an early stage of the Universe. But such waves ray away from us, I would say. Apparently not all of them, or we could not detect them. So maybe also here, in vacuum space, part of the radiation running away from us is running toward us? A Quantum effect?

Or, could the ORCs be our striking radar wave light reflected by the Inner or Outer Van Allan Radiation Belt of energetic charged particles?

Anyway, to test my hypothesis, the question to answer is, are the brightest stars we see and the clearest ORCs on each other’s exact opposite side of the earth? A question any astronomer could answer in minutes.

I invested in my ‘solution’ less than three seconds of thinking so, if it’s deemed nonsense or untrue, I’m not insulted or devastated.

That the authors did not see my idea as an option indicates either that I have successfully thought outside the box or that it makes no sense at all.

If you have a better idea, speak up. It’s fun. It’s for free. They call it: WTF.

On 12.11.2020, first day of Chanukah, I posted my initial idea on websites.

If you got disappointed from a lack of astronomical news, look here for an announcement of upcoming news: Japan delights in asteroid soil samples.

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POSTSCRIPT: I wrote the main author on this discovery, Prof. Ray Norris: “May I hope that you will find something worthwhile or amusing in this blog post.” On January 4, 2021 he responded: “Sorry to disappoint you but we now have good evidence these circles are about a billion light years away. Cheers, Ray.” My reaction: “Thank you. I’m happy for you and science.”

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1