Growing Connections

Despite minor coincidences between the disappearance of SCO-233 and the death of the man known as Alejandro Borges, there is no apparent connection.

Borges was born in 1953 to a United States Postal employee and his wife, while estimates put the age of SCO-233a at around 3 and a half billion years and SCO-233b at around 4 billion years, both of which are extremely rough estimates due to the unknown affects the binary relationship had had on the life of the stars which would have affected the accuracy of the calculations (the age of the relationship between the binary stars is unknown; there is no way to tell how long ago the bond was formed).

Borges was born in Omaha, Nebraska and attended Fullerton High School where he graduated Salutatorian. He attended the University of Lincoln and graduated in 1975 with a B.S. in Physics. The department records show that his test scores were slightly above average. The student records show that in the fall of 1971, while still a freshman, Borges was place on probation for being a minor in possession of alcohol on school property. After graduating, Borges secured a job working at the Sand Hill Observatory in western Nebraska. The observatory, approximately 15.3 km south of Gering, Nebraska was funded privately, and despite court requests no documents have been uncovered that would lead to the source of the funding. Borges had a total of seven colleagues whom he worked with while at Sand Hill; five of whom are deceased due to natural or ordinary causes, the remaining two, Mr. and Mrs. Johnathan Beauvoir, were classified as deceased after a tornado destroyed the observatory, apparently with them in it, on June 3rd, 2009, however their bodies were never recovered. Borges did not marry and did not have children. He published a total of three scholarly papers: “Binary Star Development in Sector SCO-A, H, and E” published inThe Astronomy Journal 1984 vol. 2, “The Gravitational Instability of Class II Binary Stars” published in The UNL Astronomy and Physics Annual 1987, and “Divine Creation in the Chaosmos: Exploration, Duration, and Potentiality” in Process May 2000; and contributed to one book;Concrescence by Reverend Alonzo J. Holladay, published in 2004. He lived in nearby Gering, Nebraska until he died on April 15th, 2009 of a brain aneurysm.

SCO-233 (also named SCO-HH7, the 7th unique binary star combination discovered by Hilbert Haggelmier, an American astronomer) was a binary star combination composed of SCO-233a and SCO-233b, two class II stars in the Scorpius constellation. Since its discovery in 1975, it had been the focus of a single scholarly paper by Haggelmier, “Binary Star Combinations ABA-HH5, ORI-HH6, and SCO-HH7” published in The New England Astronomer 1976. Beyond that, it garnered little attention until its disappearance on April 15th, 2009. There is no evidence that Borges attended to SCO-233, but it is evident that he was aware of its existence. Borges refers to SCO-233 three times in his journal; the first on January 3rd, 1982:

1/3/82 - SCO-233, 4, 17.2.2.3

The second is on August 28th, 1993:

8/28/93 - SCO-233, 4, 17.2.4.9

The third is on March 12th, 2005:

3/12/05 - SCO-233, 4, 17.2.2.9

The impact of the disappearance of SCO-233 had a moderate effect on the astronomy community. This is due in part to the little attention given to SCO-233 in the first place. Of the few people who ever observed SCO-233 and shared in its existence, none remain. Upon the death of Borges and the disappearance of SCO-233, some scientists of a skeptical disposition even question the fact that SCO-233 ever existed. However, there is nothing to prove that SCO-233 was a construction of Haggelmier’s, or that Borges partook in a conspiracy to extend the illusion. From what we can tell, SCO-233 existed as observed and ceased to exist upon the death of Borges. As far as we are able to ascertain, Borges was the last person to observe SCO-233. Additionally, there is not enough factual evidence to design a relationship any more complex between Borges and SCO-233 than what has been presented thus far. In conclusion, there is no apparent connection between the disappearance of SCO-233 and the death of the man known as Alejandro Borges.