.....continued

November 10, 2004

Hi Uwe,

Thanks for your e-mails..and here is a long overdue response. I've attached a revised paper which deals more explicitly with some of the effects. Responses to your queries are inserted in your text, below.

Cheers,
Reg

Reg - First of all, thanks for your recent paper. I read it with great interest, trying to visualize "absolute motion" as best as I can. Unfortunately, I do not understand the deeper math and physics it involves to see the bigger picture.
Walter had send me a copy of your response regarding "precession axis" and the direction & fluctuations in the direction of absolute motion (AM).
Geometrically, it seems clear that the direction of AM (-67 Dec) is perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, but looking at Fig.4 in your latest paper wouldn't the direction RA 5.2 h produce a different angle relative to the ecliptic plane? Of course, the ecliptic is merely a frame of reference in a 3D universe. Is the direction "v" (south) the actual flow or motion of our solar system through space,

The southerly direction is the direction of motion of the solar system through space. Since that direction is not exactly perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic a RA has to be given as well.

or does it represent the direction of the vector for angular velocitiy and the motion of the solar system is more or less in the plane of the ecliptic? [Given that objects with angular velocity are moving in a circle, the direction of the vector for angular velocity is actually perpendicular to the plane in which the object is rotating.]
I think at one point you mentioned that the flow is a rearrangement of the substratum and not a flow "through" space. What exactly does this mean?

This means that the substratum is not some stuff moving through a space..that would be a dualistic model, and is how the aether has been usually interpreted. Rather the substratum is best thought of as a network, but not embedded in anything. That network is continually reconnecting /rearranging. The overall effect is as though there is a flow of the network towards matter. Such a flow is actually only relative..some feature of the network might `move' but only with respect to other parts of the network.

Does only our solar system experiences this absolute motion or also other neighboring stars (local space or "our sector" of the galaxy)?

The solar system and nearby stars have the same absolute motion...almost.Of course different stars can have different motion through the local space...but in the main they have the same orbits within the galaxy.

I am just trying to come up with a model, sort of a bird's eye view of the sun's motion in space relative to neighboring stars and the distant background of the constellations. Perhaps, my concept of "absolute motion" is completely wrong. But if there is no "binary motion", and our solar system precesses due to influences of fluctuations in the direction of AM wouldn't that involve some kind of a systematic motion, i.e. a regular cycle over a shorter time frame that should be detected?

I suspect, but haven't investigated in detail yet, that the orientation of the plane of the ecliptic is caused by the AM of the solar system. This dynamical effect is expected to cause some wobble or precession of the solar system. In which case this precession is what you and Walter have been proposing.

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Note: Astronomers say our Sun moves towards Vega or the constellation Hercules at a velocity of about 20km/s. The apparent direction is termed solar apex or apex of the Sun's way. Although Sirius would be in the opposite direction (solar ant-apex), observations indicate that Sirius actually moves toward us (or we towards Sirius!). Despite the Sun’s motion the length of the tropical year remains unaffected.