The Dogon mythology.

Homburi Mountains is where the DOGON people live, near Timbuktu (in Africa). At the center of their religious beliefs is knowledge of a star that is not visible to the naked eye. It is so far away in fact that it is also difficult to observe with a telescope. No photographs were taken of it until 1970, yet the star in mentioned in Dogon religion for thousands of years. How can this be?. Could this knowledge have come from visitors from another world? How can one "rationally" explain this detail?

Sirius B is the star they describe. In 1844, its existence was first suspected by Western astronomers. They noticed irregularities in the movement of Sirius which suggested that Sirius was not alone, that there may have been a second star.

The companion, "Sirius B" was discovered in 1862, and is a white dwarf star.  Even though it is small and dim, it is very dense and heavy. Because of this, it was powerful enough to influence the gravatational flux of Sirius A.

The name the Dogon people gave Sirius B is "Po Tolo". "Tolo" is the Dogon word for "star". "Po" is the name of the smallest seed known to them. And Sirius B is small, they say it is "the smallest thing there is." The Dogon say that it is "the heaviest star," and white.    The star, Sirius B, has three attributes; small, heavy and white.  The Dogon have, not so ironically, mimiced these attributes in themselves for centuries.

They go on to say in their teachings that it has an elliptical orbit, with Sirius A at one foci of the ellipse (as it is), that the orbital  period is 50 years (the actual figure is 50.04 +/- 0/09  years), and that the star rotates on its own axis. The Dogon also describe a third star in the Sirius system, called "Emme Ya" ("Sorghum Female"). in orbit around this star. They say it is a single satellite. To date, Emme Ya has not been identified by astronomers. 

In addition to their knowledge of Sirius B, the Dogon mythology includes Saturn's rings, and Jupiter's four major moons. They have four calendars, for the Sun, Moon, Sirius, and Venus, and have long known that planets orbit the sun, not the other way around as was long theorized. (Remember Galileo was pursecuted for suggesting just this).

The Dogon say their astronomical knowledge was given to them by the Nommos, amphibious beings sent to earth from Sirius for the benefit of mankind. The name comes from a Dogon word meaning "to make one drink," and the Nommos are also called Masters of the Water, the Monitors, and the Teachers.

The Nommos were more fishlike than human, and had to live in water.  They were saviors and spiritual guardians: "The Nommo divided his body among men to feed them; that is why it is also said that as the universe "had drunk of his body," the Nommo also made men drink. He gave all his life principles to human beings."

The Nommo was crucified and resurrected and in the future will again visit the earth, this time in human form. Later he will assume his amphibious form and will rule the world from the waters. Sounds a little familiar right?

Dogon mythology is known only by a number of their priests, and is a complex system of knowledge. Such carefully guarded secrets would not be divulged to friendly strangers very easily. If the star Emme Ya is eventually discovered in the Sirius system, this would give considerably weight to the Dogon's story.

Galileo, Copernicus, and the ancient Sumerians

In 1543, Copernicus was the first to suggest that the earth was not the center of the solar system. It wasn't till the discovery of the telescope by Galileo in 1610 that this theory was confirmed. Yet Sumerians, whose civilization existed as early as 3,000 B.C., had already depicted a complete Solar System, with the Sun, not the Earth, in the center. The first ring of Saturn was not discovered until 1659 by Christina Huygens, yet an Assyrian clay tablet showed the solar system which included a large ringed  planet--Saturn! You just can't convince yourself this is a coincidence.