The Cygnus Key: The Denisovan Legacy, Göbekli Tepe, and the Birth of Egypt

My special guest tonight is Andrew Collins who's here to discuss the astonishing evidence of an previously unknown ancient human population of humans and the of Gobekli Tepe. 

JOIN OUR NEWLY REOPENED PATREON COMMUNITY FOR ACCESS TO OVER 750 EPISODES AND MIND-BLOWING BONUS CONTENT!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

New evidence showing that the earliest origins of human culture, religion, and technology derive from the lost world of the Denisovans • Explains how Göbekli Tepe and the Giza pyramids are aligned with the constellation of Cygnus and show evidence of enhanced sound-acoustic technology • Traces the origins of Göbekli Tepe and the Giza pyramids to the Denisovans, a previously unknown human population remembered in myth as a race of giants • Shows how the ancient belief in Cygnus as the origin point for the human soul is as much as 45,000 years old and originally came from southern Siberia Built at the end of the last ice age around 9600 BCE, Göbekli Tepe in southeast Turkey was designed to align with the constellation of the celestial swan, Cygnus--a fact confirmed by the discovery at the site of a tiny bone plaque carved with the three key stars of Cygnus. Remarkably, the three main pyramids at Giza in Egypt, including the Great Pyramid, align with the same three stars. But where did this ancient veneration of Cygnus come from? Showing that Cygnus was once seen as a portal to the sky-world, Andrew Collins reveals how, at both sites, the attention toward this star group is linked with sound acoustics and the use of musical intervals “discovered” thousands of years later by the Greek mathematician Pythagoras. Collins traces these ideas as well as early advances in human technology and cosmology back to the Altai-Baikal region of Russian Siberia, where the cult of the swan flourished as much as 20,000 years ago. He shows how these concepts, including a complex numeric system based on long-term eclipse cycles, are derived from an extinct human population known as the Denisovans. Not only were they of exceptional size--the ancient giants of myth--but archaeological discoveries show that this previously unrecognized human population achieved an advanced level of culture, including the use of high-speed drilling techniques and the creation of musical instruments. The author explains how the stars of Cygnus coincided with the turning point of the heavens at the moment the Denisovan legacy was handed to the first human societies in southern Siberia 45,000 years ago, catalyzing beliefs in swan ancestry and an understanding of Cygnus as the source of cosmic creation. It also led to powerful ideas involving the Milky Way’s Dark Rift, viewed as the Path of Souls and the sky-road shamans travel to reach the sky-world. He explores how their sound technology and ancient cosmologies were carried into the West, flowering first at Göbekli Tepe and then later in Egypt’s Nile Valley. Collins shows how the ancient belief in Cygnus as the source of creation can also be found in many other cultures around the world, further confirming the role played by the Denisovan legacy in the genesis of human civilization.

Cygnus is a northern constellation on the plane of the Milky Way, deriving its name from the Latinized Greekword for swan.[1] Cygnus is one of the most recognizable constellations of the northern summer and autumn, and it features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross (in contrast to the Southern Cross). Cygnus was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.

Cygnus contains Deneb (ذنب, translit. ḏanab, tail) – one of the brightest stars in the night sky and the most distant first-magnitude star – as its "tail star" and one corner of the Summer Triangle the constellation forming an east pointing altitude of the tringle.[1] It also has some notable X-ray sources and the giant stellar association of Cygnus OB2.[2] Cygnus is also known as the Northern Cross. One of the stars of this association, NML Cygni, is one of the largest stars currently known. The constellation is also home to Cygnus X-1, a distant X-ray binary containing a supergiant and unseen massive companion that was the first object widely held to be a black hole. Many star systems in Cygnus have known planets as a result of the Kepler Mission observing one patch of the sky, an area around Cygnus.

Most of the east has part of the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall in the deep sky, a giant galaxy filamentthat is the largest known structure in the observable universe, covering most of the northern sky.

A very large constellation, Cygnus is bordered by Cepheus to the north and east, Draco to the north and west, Lyra to the west, Vulpecula to the south, Pegasus to the southeast and Lacerta to the east. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the IAU in 1922, is "Cyg".[7] The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined as a polygon of 28 segments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 19h 07.3m and 22h 02.3m , while the declination coordinates are between 27.73° and 61.36°.[8] Covering 804 square degrees and around 1.9% of the night sky, Cygnus ranks 16th of the 88 constellations in size.[9]

Cygnus culminates at midnight on 29 June, and is most visible in the evening from the early summer to mid-autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.[9]

Normally, Cygnus is depicted with Delta and Epsilon Cygni as its wings. Deneb, the brightest in the constellation is at its tail, and Albireo as the tip of its beak.[4]

There are several asterisms in Cygnus. In the 17th-century German celestial cartographer Johann Bayer's star atlas the Uranometria, Alpha, Beta and Gamma Cygni form the pole of a cross, while Delta and Epsilon form the cross beam. The nova P Cygni was then considered to be the body of Christ.[10]

Bayer catalogued many stars in the constellation, giving them the Bayer designations from Alpha to Omega and then using lowercase Roman letters to g. John Flamsteed added the Roman letters h, i, k, l and m (these stars were considered informes by Bayer as they lay outside the asterism of Cygnus), but were dropped by Francis Baily.[10]

V1331 Cygni is located in the dark cloud LDN 981.[11]

There are several bright stars in Cygnus. Alpha Cygni, called Deneb, is the brightest star in Cygnus. It is a white supergiant star of spectral type A2Iae that varies between magnitudes 1.21 and 1.29,[12] one of the largest and most luminous A-class stars known.[13] It is located about 2600 light-years away.[14] Its traditional name means "tail" and refers to its position in the constellation. Albireo, designated Beta Cygni, is a celebrated binary star among amateur astronomers for its contrasting hues. The primary is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 3.1 and the secondary is a blue-green hued star of magnitude 5.1.[15] The system is 430 light-years away and is visible in large binoculars and all amateur telescopes.[16] Gamma Cygni, traditionally named Sadr, is a yellow-tinged supergiant star of magnitude 2.2, 1800 light-years away. Its traditional name means "breast" and refers to its position in the constellation.[17] Delta Cygni (the proper name is Fawaris[18]) is another bright binary star in Cygnus, 166 light-years with a period of 800 years. The primary is a blue-white hued giant star of magnitude 2.9, and the secondary is a star of magnitude 6.6. The two components are visible in a medium-sized amateur telescope.[19] The fifth star in Cygnus above magnitude 3 is Aljanah,[18] designated Epsilon Cygni. It is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 2.5, 72 light-years from Earth.[20][21]

There are several other dimmer double and binary stars in Cygnus. Mu Cygni is a binary star with an optical tertiary component. The binary system has a period of 790 years and is 73 light-years from Earth. The primary and secondary, both white stars, are of magnitude 4.8 and 6.2, respectively. The unrelated tertiary component is of magnitude 6.9. Though the tertiary component is visible in binoculars, the primary and secondary currently require a medium-sized amateur telescope to split, as they will through the year 2020. The two stars will be closest between 2043 and 2050, when they will require a telescope with larger aperture to split. The stars 30 and 31 Cygni form a contrasting double star similar to the brighter Albireo. The two are visible in binoculars. The primary, 31 Cygni, is an orange-hued star of magnitude 3.8, 1400 light-years from Earth. The secondary, 30 Cygni, appears blue-green. It is of spectral type A5IIIn and magnitude 4.83, and is around 610 light-years from Earth.[22] 31 Cygni itself is a binary star; the tertiary component is a blue star of magnitude 7.0. Psi Cygni is a binary star visible in small amateur telescopes, with two white components. The primary is of magnitude 5.0 and the secondary is of magnitude 7.5. 61 Cygni is a binary star visible in large binoculars or a small amateur telescope. It is 11.4 light-years from Earth and has a period of 750 years. Both components are orange-hued dwarf (main sequence) stars; the primary is of magnitude 5.2 and the secondary is of magnitude 6.1. 61 Cygni is significant because Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel determined its parallax in 1838, the first star to have a known parallax.[23][24]

Located near Eta Cygni is the X-ray source Cygnus X-1, which is now thought to be caused by a black hole accreting matter in a binary star system. This was the first X-ray source widely believed to be a black hole.[25][26] It is located approximately 2.2 kiloparsecs from the Sun.[27] There is also supergiantvariable star in the system which is known as HDE 226868.[28]

The two component stars of Albireo are easily distinguished, even in a small telescope.

Cygnus also contains several other noteworthy X-ray sources. Cygnus X-3 is a microquasar containing a Wolf–Rayet star in orbit around a very compact object,[29] with a period of only 4.8 hours.[30] The system is one of the most intrinsically luminous X-ray sources observed.[31] The system undergoes periodic outbursts of unknown nature,[32] and during one such outburst, the system was found to be emitting muons, likely caused by neutrinos.[33] While the compact object is thought to be a neutron star or possibly a black hole,[34] it is possible that the object is instead a more exotic stellar remnant, possibly the first discovered quark star, hypothesized due to its production of cosmic rays[35] that cannot be explained if the object is a normal neutron star. The system also emits cosmic rays and gamma rays, and has helped shed insight on to the formation of such rays.[36] Cygnus X-2 is another X-ray binary, containing an A-type giant in orbit around a neutron star with a 9.8-day period.[37] The system is interesting due to the rather small mass of the companion star, as most millisecond pulsars have much more massive companions.[38] Another black hole in Cygnus is V404 Cygni, which consists of a K-type star orbiting around a black hole of around 12 solar masses.[39] The black hole, similar to that of Cygnus X-3, has been hypothesized to be a quark star.[40] 4U 2129+ 47is another X-ray binary containing a neutron star which undergoes outbursts,[41] as is EXO 2030+ 375.[42]

Cygnus is also home to several variable stars. SS Cygni is a dwarf nova which undergoes outbursts every 7–8 weeks. The system's total magnitude varies from 12th magnitude at its dimmest to 8th magnitude at its brightest. The two objects in the system are incredibly close together, with an orbital period of less than 0.28 days.[43] Chi Cygni is a red giant and the second-brightest Mira variable star at its maximum. It ranges between magnitudes 3.3 and 14.2, and spectral types S6,2e to S10,4e (MSe) over a period of 408 days;[44] it has a diameter of 300 solar diametersand is 350 light-years from Earth. P Cygni is a luminous blue variable that brightened suddenly to 3rd magnitude in 1600 AD. Since 1715, the star has been of 5th magnitude,[45] despite being more than 5000 light-years from Earth. The star's spectrum is unusual in that it contains very strong emission lines resulting from surrounding nebulosity.[46] W Cygni is a semi-regular variable red giant star, 618 light-years from Earth.It has a maximum magnitude of 5.10 and a minimum magnitude 6.83; its period of 131 days. It is a red giant ranging between spectral types M4e-M6e(Tc:)III,[47] NML Cygni is a red hypergiantsemi-regular variable star located at 5,300 light-years away from Earth. It is one of largest stars currently known in the galaxy with a radius exceeding 1,000 solar radii.[48] Its magnitude is around 16.6, its period is about 940 days.[49]

The star KIC 8462852 (Tabby's Star) has received widespread press coverage because of unusual light fluctuations.[50]

Cygnus is one of the constellations that the Kepler satellite surveyed in its search for exoplanets, and as a result, there are about a hundred stars in Cygnus with known planets, the most of any constellation.[51] One of the most notable systems is the Kepler-11 system, containing six transiting planets, all within a plane of approximately one degree. It was the system with six exoplanets to be discovered.[52] With a spectral type of G6V, the star is somewhat cooler than the Sun. The planets are very close to the star; all but the last planet are closer to Kepler-11 than Mercury is to the Sun, and all the planets are more massive than Earth, and have low densities. The planets have low densities.[53][52] The naked-eye star 16 Cygni, a triple star approximately 70 light-years from Earth composed two Sun-like stars and a red dwarf,[54] contains a planet orbiting one of the sun-like stars, found due to variations in the star's radial velocity.[55] Gliese 777, another naked-eye multiple star system containing a yellow star and a red dwarf, also contains a planet. The planet is somewhat similar to Jupiter, but with slightly more mass and a more eccentric orbit.[56][57] The Kepler-22 system is also notable for having the most Earth-like exoplanet when it was discovered in 2011.[58]