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AIR FORCE CADET MANUAL
PHYSICS 370
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY
INTRODUCTORY
SPACE SCIENCE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
BETWEEN EARTH AND THE STARS
xxii. Radio Astronomy............ 281
xxiii. Cosmochemistry............. 301
xxiv. Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites......311
xxv. Micrometeoroids..........................323
xxvi. Luna.....................................333
xxvii. Inferior Planets.........................365
XXVIll. Superior Planets.......................377
XXiX. Comets...................................397
xxx. Cosmic Rays..............................405
MAN'S EFFORTS TO UNDERSTAND
xxxi. Experimental Equipment...........425
XXXII. Biological Detection.....................445
XXXIII. Unidentified Flying Objects..............455
Fig. 26- 1. USAF Lunar Reference Chart......... Last Page
Major Donald G. Carpenter is the principal author of each
chapter, with co-authors and exceptions as indicated below:
Chapter Co-authors
XXii......................................... *Captain John E. Wrobel, Jr.
XXiii........................................ *Major Lowell A. King
xxiv......................................... *Captain John E. Wrobel, Jr.
xxv...........................................*Captain John E. Wrobel, Jr.
XXVi......................................... *Dr. Paul D. Lowman
xxvii......................................... Lt. Col. Edward R. Therkelsen
xxviii....................................... Lt. Col. Edward R. Therkelsen
xxix......................................... Lt. Col. John M. Kirk
xxx.......................................... *Captain John E. Wrobel, Jr.
xxxi........................................ *Captain Warren L. Simmons
XXXii..................................... Major William J. Goodwin
*Principal author
CHAPTER XXXIII
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
What is an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)? Well,
according to United States Air Force Regulation 80-17 (dated 19
September 1966), a UFO is "Any aerial Phenomenon or object which
is unknown or appears to be out of the ordinary to the
observer." This is a very broad definition which applies equally
well to one individual seeing his first noctilucent cloud at
twilight as it does to another individual seeing his first
helicopter. However, at present most people consider the term
UFO to mean an object which behaves in a strange or erratic
manner while moving through Earth's atmosphere. That strange
phenomenon has evoked strong emotions and great curiosity among
a large segment of our world's population. The average person
is interested because he loves a mystery, the professional
military man is involved because of the possible threat to
national security, and some scientists are interested because of
the basic curiosity that led them into becoming researchers.
The literature on UFO's is so vast, and the stories so many
and varied, that we can only present a sketchy outline of the
subject in this chapter. That outline includes description
classifications, operational domains (temporal and spatial),
some theories as to the nature of the UFO phenomenon, human
reactions, attempts to attack the problem scientifically, and
some tentative conclusions. If you wish to read further in
this, area, the references provide an excellent starting point.
33.1 DESCRIPTORS
One of the greatest problems you encounter when attempting
to catalog UFO sightings, is selection of a system for
cataloging. No effective system has yet been devised, although
a number of different systems have been proposed. The net
result is that almost all UFO data are either treated in the
form of individual cases, or in the forms of inadequate
classification systems. However, these systems do tend to have
some common factors, and a collection of these factors is as
follows:
a. Size
b. Shape (disc, ellipse, football, etc.)
c. Luminosity
d. Color
e. Number of UFO's
Behavior
a. Location (altitude, direction, etc.)
b. Patterns of paths (straight line, climbing, zig-zagging, etc.)
page 455
c. Flight characteristics (wobbling, fluttering, etc.)
d. Periodicity of sightings
e. Time duration
f. Curiosity or inquisitiveness
g. Avoidance
h. Hostility
Associated Effects
a. Electro-magnetic (compass, radio, ignition systems, etc.)
b. Radiation (burns, induced radioactivity, etc.)
c. Ground disturbance (dust stirred-up, leaves moved, standing
wave peaks on
surface of water, etc.)
d. Sound (none, hissing, humming, roaring, thunderclaps, etc.)
e. Vibration (weak, strong, slow, fast)
f. Smell (ozone or other odor)
g. Flame (how much, where, when, color)
h. Smoke or cloud (amount, color, persistence)
i. Debris (type, amount, color, persistence)
j. Inhibition of voluntary motion by observers
k. Sighting of "creatures" or "beings"
After Effects
a. Burned areas or animals
b. Depressed or flattened areas
c. Dead or missing animals
d. Mentally disturbed people
e. Missing items
Page 456
We make no attempt here to present available data in terms
of the foregoing descriptors.
33.2 OPERATIONAL DOMAINS-TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL
What we will do here is to present evidence that UFO's are
a global phenomenon which may have persisted for many thousands
of years. During this discussion, please remember that the more
ancient the reports the less sophisticated the observer. Not
only were the ancient observers lacking the terminology
necessary to describe complex devices (such as present day
helicopters) but they were also lacking the concepts necessary
to understand the true nature of such things as television,
spaceships, rockets, nuclear weapons and radiation effects. To
some, the most advanced technological concept was a war chariot
with knife blades attached to the wheels. By the same token,
the very lack of accurate terminology and descriptions leaves
the more ancient reports open to considerable misinterpretation,
and it may well be that present evaluations of individual
reports are completely wrong. Nevertheless, let us start with
an intriguing story in one of the oldest chronicles of India ...
the Book of Dzyan.
This book is a group of "story-teller" legends which were
finally gathered in manuscript form when man learned to write.
One of the stories is of a small group of beings who supposedly
came to Earth many thousands of years ago in a metal craft which
orbited Earth several times before landing. As told in the Book
"These beings lived to themselves and were revered by the humans
among whom they had settled. But eventually differences arose
among them and they divided their numbers, several of the men
and women and some children settling in another city, where they
were promptly installed as rulers by the awe-stricken populace."
"Separation did not bring peace to these people and finally
their anger reached a point where the ruler of the original city
took with him a small number of his warriors and they rose into
the air in a huge shining metal vessel. While they were many
leagues from the city of their enemies, they launched a great
shining lance that rode on a beam of light. It burst apart in
the city of their enemies with a great ball of flame that shot
up to the heavens, almost to the stars. All those who were in
the city were horribly burned and even those who were not in the
city-but nearby-were burned also. Those who looked upon the
lance and the ball of fire were blinded forever afterward.
Those who entered the city on foot became ill and died. Even
the dust of the city was poisoned, as were the rivers that
flowed through it. Men dared not go near it, and it gradually
crumbled into dust and was forgotten by men."
"When the leader saw what he had done to his own people he
retired to his palace and refused to see anyone. Then he
gathered about him those of his warriors who remained, and their
wives and children, and they entered into their vessels and rose
one by one into the sky and sailed away. Nor did they return."
Could this foregoing legend really be an account of an
extraterrestrial colonization, complete with guided missile,
nuclear warhead and radiation effects? It is difficult to assess
the validity of that explanation ... just as it is difficult to
explain why
Page 457
Greek, Roman and Nordic Mythology all discuss wars and conflicts
among their "Gods." (Even the Bible records conflict between the
legions of God and Satan.) Could it be that each group recorded
their parochial view of what was actually a global conflict
among alien colonists or visitors? Or is it that man has led
such a violent existence that he tends to expect conflict and
violence among even his gods?
Evidence of perhaps an even earlier possible contact was
uncovered by Tschi Pen Lao of the University of Peking. He
discovered astonishing carvings in granite on a mountain in
Hunan Province and on an island in Lake Tungting. These
carvings have been evaluated as 47,000 years old, and they show
people with large trunks (breathing apparatus? . . . or
"elephant" heads shown on human bodies? Remember, the Egyptians
often represented their gods as animal heads on human bodies.)
Only 8,000 years ago, rocks were sculpted in the Tassili
plateau of Sahara, depicting what appeared to be human beings
but with strange round heads (helmets? or ii sun" heads on human
bodies?) And even more recently, in the Bible, Genesis (6:4)
tells of angels from the sky mating with women of Earth, who
bore them children. Genesis 19:3 tells of Lot meeting two
angels in the desert and his later feeding them at his house.
The Bible also tells a rather unusual story of Ezekiel who
witnessed what has been interpreted by some to have been a
spacecraft or aircraft landing near the Chebar River in Chaldea
(593 B.C.).
Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations. In the
Speculum Repali in Konungs Skuggsa (and other accounts of the
era about 956 A.D.) are numerous stories of "demonships" in the
skies. In one case a rope from one such ship became entangled
with part of a church. A man from the ship climbed down the
rope to free it, but was seized by the townspeople. The bishop
made the people release the man, who climbed back to the ship,
where the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed out of
sight. In all of his actions, the climbing man appeared as if
he were swimming in water. Stories such as this makes one
wonder if the legends of the "little people" of Ireland were
based upon imagination alone.
About the same time, in Lyons (France) three men and a
woman supposedly descended from an airship or spaceship and were
captured by a mob. These four foreigners admitted to being
wizards, and were killed. (No mention is made of the methods
employed m extract the admissions.) Many documented UFO
sightings occurred throughout the Middle Ages, including an
especially startling one of a UFO over London on 16 December
1742. However, we do not have room to include any more of the
Middle Ages sightings. Instead, two "more-recent" sightings are
contained in this section to bring us up to modern times.
In a sworn statement dated 21 April 1897, a prosperous and
prominent farmer named Alexander Hamilton (Le Roy, Kansas,
U.S.A.) told of an attack upon his cattle at about 10:30 p.m.
the previous Monday. He, his son, and his tenant grabbed axes
and ran some 700 feet from the house to the cow lot where a
great cigarshaped ship about 300 feet long floated some 30 feet
above the cattle. It had a carriage underneath which was
brightly lighted within (dirigible and gondola?) and which had
numerous windows. Inside were six strange looking beings
jabbering in a foreign
Page 458
language. These beings suddenly became aware of Hamilton and
the others. They immediately turned a searchlight on the
farmer, and also turned on some power which sped up a turbine
wheel (about 30 ft diameter) located under the craft. The ship
rose, taking with it a two-year old heifer which was roped about
the neck by a cable of one-half inch thick, red material. The
next day a neighbor, Link Thomas, found the animal's hide, legs
and head in his field. He was mystified at how the remains got
to where they were because of the lack of tracks in the soft
soil. Alexander Hamilton's sworn statement was accompanied by
an affidavit as to his veracity. The affidavit was signed by
ten of the local leading citizens.
On the evening of 4 November 1957 at Fort Itaipu, Brazil, two
sentries noted a new star" in the sky. The "star" grew in size
and within seconds stopped over the fort. It drifted slowly
downward, was as large as a big aircraft, and was surrounded by
a strong orange glow. A distinct humming sound was heard, and
then the heat struck. One sentry collapsed almost immediately,
the other managed to slide to shelter under the heavy cannons
where his loud cries awoke the garrison. While the troops were
scrambling towards their battle stations, complete electrical
failure occurred. There was panic until the lights came back on
but a number of men still managed to see an orange glow leaving
the area at high speed. Both sentries were found badly burned
... one unconscious and the other incoherent, suffering from
deep shock.
Thus, UFO sightings not only appear to extend back 47,000
years through time but also are global in nature. One has the
feeling that this phenomenon deserves some sort of valid
scientific investigation, even if it is a low level effort.
33.3 SOME THEORIES AS TO THE NATURE OF THE UFO PHENOMENON
There are very few cohesive theories as to the nature of
UFO'S. Those theories that have been advanced can be collected
in five groups:
a. Mysticism
b. Hoaxes, and rantings due to unstable personalities
c. Secret weapons
d. Natural Phenomena
e. Alien visitors
Mysticism
It is believed by some cults that the mission of UFO's and
their crews is a spiritual one,, and that all materialistic
efforts to determine the UFO's nature are doomed to failure.
Page 459 Hoaxes and Rantings due to Unstable Personalities
Some have suggested that all UFO reports were the results
of pranks and hoaxes, or were made by people with unstable
personalities. This attitude was particularly prevalent during
the time period when the Air Force investigation was being
operated under the code name of Project Grudge. A few airlines
even went as far as to ground every pilot who reported seeing a
"flying saucer." The only way for the pilot to regain flight
status was to undergo a psychiatric examination. There was a
noticeable decline in pilot reports during this time interval,
and a few people interpreted this decline to prove that UFO's
were either hoaxes or the result of unstable personalities. It
is of interest that NICAP (The National Investigations Committee
on Aerial Phenomena) even today still receives reports from
commercial pilots who neglect to notify either the Air Force or
their own airline.
There are a number of cases which indicate that not all
reports fall in the hoax category. We will examine one such
case now. It is the Socorro, New Mexico sighting made by police
Sergeant Lonnie Zamora. Sergeant Zamora was patrolling the
streets of Socorro on 24 April 1964 when he saw a shiny object
drift down into an area of gullies on the edge of town. He also
heard a loud roaring noise which sounded as if an old dynamite
shed located out that way had exploded. He immediately radioed
police headquarters, and drove out toward the shed. Zamora was
forced to stop about 150 yards away from a deep gully in which
there appeared to be an overturned car. He radioed that he was
investigating a possible wreck, and then worked his car up onto
the mesa and over toward the edge of the gully. He parked
short, and when he walked the final few feet to the edge, he was
amazed to see that it was not a car but instead was a weird
eggshaped object about fifteen feet long, white in color and
resting on short, metal legs. Beside it, unaware of his
presence were two humanoids dressed in silvery coveralls. They
seemed to be working on a portion of the underside of the
object. Zamora was still standing there, surprised, when they
suddenly noticed him and dove out of sight around the object.
Zamora also headed the other way, back toward his car. He
glanced back at the object just as a bright blue flame shot down
from the underside. Within seconds the eggshaped thing rose out
of the gully with "an earsplitting roar." The object was out of
sight over the nearby mountains almost immediately, and Sergeant
Zamora was moving the opposite direction almost as fast when he
met Sergeant Sam Chavez who was responding to Zamora's earlier
radio calls. Together they investigated the gully and found the
bushes charred and still smoking where the blue flame had jetted
down on them. About the charred area were four deep marks where
the metal legs had been. Each mark was three and one-half
inches deep, and was circular in shape. The sand in the gully
was very hard-packed so no sign of the humanoids' footprints
could be found. An official investigation was launched that
same day, and all data obtained supported the stories of Zamora
and Chavez. It is rather difficult to label this episode a
hoax, and it is also doubtful that both Zamora and Chavez shared
portions of the same hallucination.
Secret Weapons
A few individuals have proposed that UFO's are actually
advanced weapon systems, and that their natures must not be
revealed. Very few people accept this as a credible suggestion.
Secret Weapons
A few individuals have proposed that UFO's are actually
advanced weapon systems, and that their natures must not be
revealed. Very few people accept this as a credible suggestion.
Natural Phenomena
It has also been suggested that at least some, and possibly
all, of the UFO cases were just mis-interpreted manifestations
of natural phenomena. Undoubtedly this suggestion has some
merit. People have reported, as UFO's, objects which were
conclusively proven to be balloons (weather and skyhook), the
planet Venus, manmade artificial satellites, normal aircraft,
unusual cloud formations and lights from ceilometers (equipment
projecting light beams on cloud bases to determine the height of
the aircraft visual ceiling). It is also suspected that people
have reported mirages, optical illusions, swamp gas and ball
lightning (a poorly-understood discharge of electrical energy in
a spheroidal or ellipsoidal shape ... some discharges have
lasted for up to fifteen minutes but the ball is usually no
bigger than a large orange). But it is difficult to tell a
swam? dweller that the strange, fastmoving light he saw in the
sky was swamp gas; and it is just as difficult to tell a farmer
that a bright UFO in the sky is the same ball lightning that he
has seen rolling along his fence wires in dry weather. Thus
accidental mis-identification of what might - well be natural
phenomena breeds mistrust and disbelief; it leads to the hasty
conclusion that the truth is deliberately not being told. One
last suggestion of interest has been made, that the UFO's were
plasmoids from space ... concentrated blobs of solar wind that
succeeded in reaching the surface of Earth. Somehow this last
suggestion does not seem to be very plausible; perhaps because
it ignores such things as penetration of Earth's magnetic field.
Alien Visitors
The most stimulating theory for us is that the UFO's are
material objects which are either "Manned" or remote-controlled
by beings who are alien to this planet. There is some evidence
supporting this viewpoint. In addition to police Sergeant
Lonnie Zamora's experience, let us consider the case of Barney
and Betty Hill. On a trip through New England they lost two
hours on the night of 19 September 1961 without even realizing
it. However, after that night both Barney and Betty began
developing psychological problems which eventually grew
sufficiently severe that they submitted themselves to
psychiatric examination and treatment. During the course of
treatment hypnotherapy was used, and it yielded remarkably
detailed and similar stories from both Barney and Betty.
Essentially they had been hypnotically kidnapped, taken aboard a
UFO, submitted to two-hour physicals, and released with
posthypnotic suggestions to forget the entire incident. The
evidence is rather strong that this is what the Hills, even in
their subconscious, believe happened to them. And it is of
particular importance that after the "posthypnotic block" was
removed, both of the Hills ceased having their psychological
problems.
The Hills' description of the aliens was similar to
descriptions provided in other cases, but this particular type
of alien appears to be in the minority. The most commonly
described alien is about three and one-half feet tall, has a
round head (helmet?), arms reaching to or below his knees, and
is wearing a silvery space suit or coveralls. Other aliens
appear to be essentially the same as Earthmen, while still
others have particularly wide (wrap-around) eyes and mouths with
very thin lips. And there Is a rare group reported as about
four feet tall, weight of around
Page 461
35 pounds, and covered with thick hair or fur (clothing?).
Members of this last group are described as being extremely
strong. If such beings are visiting Earth, two questions arise:
1) why haven't there been accidents which have revealed their
presence, and 2) why haven't they attempted to contact us
officially? The answer to the first question may exist partially
in Sergeant Lonnie Zamora's experience, and may exist partially
in the Tunguska meteor discussed in Chapter XXIX. In that
chapter it was suggested that the Tunguska meteor was actually a
comet which exploded in the atmosphere, the ices melted and the
dust spread out. Hence, no debris! However, it has also been
suggested that the Tunguska meteor was actually an alien
spacecraft that entered the atmosphere too rapidly, suffered
mechanical failure, and lost its power supply and/or weapons in
a nuclear explosion. While that hypothesis may seem far
fetched, samples of tree rings from around the world reveal
that, immediately after the Tunguska meteor explosion, the level
of radioactivity in the world rose sharply for a short period of
time. It is difficult to find a natural explanation for that
increase in radioactivity, although the suggestion has been
advanced that enough of the meteors great kinetic energy was
converted into heat (by atmospheric friction) that a fusion
reaction occurred. This still leaves us with no answer to the
second question: why no contact? That question is very easy to
answer in any of several ways: 1) we may be the object of
intensive sociological and psychological study. In such studies
you usually avoid disturbing the test subjects' environment; 2)
you do not "contact" a colony of ants, and humans may seem that
way to any aliens (variation: a zoo is fun to visit, but you
don't "contact" the lizards); 3) such contact may have already
taken place secretly; and 4) such contact may have already
taken place on a different plane of awareness and we are not ye
sensitive to communications on such a plane. These are just a
few of the reasons You may add to the list as you desire.
33.4 HUMAN FEAR AND HOSTILITY
Besides the foregoing reasons, contacting humans is
downright dangerous. Think about that for a moment! On the
microscopic level our bodies reject and fight (through
production antibodies) any alien material; this process helps us
fight off disease but it also sometimes results in allergenic
reactions to innocuous materials. On the macroscopic
(psychological and sociological) level we are antagonistic to
beings that are "different"'. For proof of that, just watch how
an odd child is treated by other children, or how a minority
group is socially deprived, or how the Arabs feel about the
Israelis (Chinese vs Japanese, Turks vs Greeks, etc.) In case
you are hesitant to extend that concept to the treatment of
aliens let me point out that in very ancient times, possible
extraterrestrials may have been treated as Gods but in the last
two thousand years, the evidence is that any possible aliens
have been ripped apart by mobs, shot and shot at, physically
assaulted (in South America there is a well-documented case),
and in general treated with fear and aggression. In Ireland
about 1,000 A.D., supposed airships were treated as
"demon-ships." In Lyons, France, "admitted" space travellers
were killed. More recently, on 24 July 1957 Russian
anti-aircraft batteries on the Kouril Islands opened fire on
UFO's. Although all Soviet anti-aircraft batteries on the
Islands were in action. no hits were made. The UFO's were
luminous and moved very fast. We too have fired on UFO'S.
About ten o'clock one morning, a radar site near a fighter base
Page 462
picked up a UFO doing 700 mph. The UFO then slowed to 100 mph,
and two F-86's were scrambled to intercept. Eventually one F-86
closed on the UFO at about 3,000 feet altitude. The UFO began
to accelerate away but the pilot still managed to get to within
500 yards of the target for a short period of time. It was
definitely saucershaped. As the pilot pushed the F-86 at top
speed, the UFO began to pull away. When the range reached 1,000
yards, the pilot armed his guns and fired in an attempt to down
the saucer. He failed, and the UFO pulled away rapidly,
vanishing in the distance. This same basic situation may have
happened on a more personal level. On Sunday evening 21 August
1955, eight adults and three children were on the Sutton Farm
(one-half mile from Kelly, Kentucky) when, according to them,
one of the children saw a brightly glowing UFO settle behind the
barn, out of sight from where he stood. Other witnesses on
nearby farms also saw the object. However, the Suttons
dismissed it as a "shooting stars," and did not investigate.
Approximately thirty minutes later (at 8 p.m.), the family dogs
began barking so two of the men went to the back door and looked
out. Approximately 50 feet-away and coming toward them was a
creature wearing a glowing silvery suit. It was about three and
one-half feet tall with a large round head and very long arms.
It had large webbed hands which were equipped with claws. The
two Suttons grabbed a twelve gauge shotgun and a 22 caliber
pistol, and fired at close range. They could hear the pellets
and bullet ricochet as if off of metal. The creature was
knocked down, but jumped up and scrambled away. The Suttons
retreated into the house, turned off all inside lights, and
turned on the porch-light. At that moment, one of the women who
was peeking out of the dining room window discovered that a
creature with some sort of helmet and wide slit eyes was peeking
back at her. She screamed, the men rushed in and started
shooting. The creature was knocked backwards but again
scrambled away without apparent harm. More shooting occurred (a
total of about 50 rounds) over the next 20 minutes and the
creatures finally left (perhaps feeling unwelcome?) After a two
hour wait (for safety), the Suttons left too. By the time the
police got there, the aliens were gone but the Suttons would not
move back to the farm. They sold it and departed. This
reported incident does bear out the contention though that
humans are dangerous. At no time in the story did the supposed
aliens shoot back, although one is left with the impression that
the described creatures were having fun scaring humans.
33.5 ATTEMPTS AT SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES
In any scientific endeavor, the first step is to acquire
data, the second step to classify the data, and the third step
to form hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested by repeating the
entire process, with each cycle resulting in an increase in
understanding (we hope). The UFO phenomenon does not yield
readily to this approach because the data taken so far exhibits
both excessive variety and vagueness. The vagueness is caused
in part by the lack of preparation of the observer ... very few
people leave their house knowing that they are going to see a
UFO that evening. Photographs are overexposed or underexposed,
and rarely in color. Hardly anyone carries around a radiation
counter or a magnetometer. And, in addition to this, there is a
very high level of "noise" in the data. The noise consists of
mistaken reports of known natural phenomena, hoaxes, reports by
unstable individuals and mistaken removal of data regarding
possible unnatural or unknown natural phenomena (by
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Figure 33-1. UFO: Distance of observer versus estimated
diameter, for UFO's which are lower than tree height. (omitted)
overzealous individuals who are trying to eliminate all data due
to known natural phenomena). In addition, those data, which do
appear to be valid, exhibit an excessive amount of variety
relative to the statistical samples available. This has led to
very clumsy classification systems, which in turn provide quite
unfertile ground for formulation of hypotheses.
One hypothesis which looked promising for a time was that
of ORTHOTENY (i.e., UFO sightings fall on "great circle"
routes). At first, plots of sightings seemed to verify the
concept of orthoteny but recent use of computers has revealed
that even random numbers yield "great circle" plots as neatly as
do UFO sightings.
There is one solid advance that has been made though.
Jacques and Janine Vallee have taken a particular type of
UFO-namely those that are lower than tree-top level when
sighted-and plotted the UFO's estimated diameter versus the
estimated distance from the observer. The result is shown in
Figure 33-1, and it yields an average diameter of 5 meters with
a very characteristic drop for short viewing distances, and rise
for long viewing distances. This behavior at the extremes of
the curve is well-known to astronomers and psychologists as the
"moon illusion." The illusion only occurs when the object being
viewed is a real, physical object. Because this implies that
the observers have viewed a real object, it permits us to accept
also their statement that these particular UFO's had a
rotational axis of symmetry.
Page 464
Another, less solid, advance made by the Vallee's was their
plotting of the total number of sightings per week versus the
date. They did this for the time span from 1947 to 1962, and
then attempted to match the peaks of the curve (every 2 years 2
months) to the times of Earth-Mars conjunction (every 2 years
1.4 months). The match was very good between 1950 and 1956 but
was poor outside of those limits. Also, the peaks were not only
at the times of Earth-Mars conjunction but also roughly at the
first harmonic (very loosely, every 13 months). This raises the
question why should UFO's only visit Earth when Mars is in
conjunction and when it is on the opposite side of the sun.
Obviously, the conjunction periodicity of Mars is not the final
answer. As it happens, there is an interesting possibility to
consider. Suppose Jupiter's conjunctions were used; they are
every 13.1 months. That would satisfy the observed periods
nicely, except for every even data peak being of different
magnitude from every odd data peak. Perhaps a combination of
Martian, Jovian and Saturnian (and even other planetary)
conjunctions win be necessary to match the frequency plot ... if
it can be matched (Figure 33-2).
Figure 33-2. Cycles of activity, mathematically corrected for
long term "Strong
Trends". (omitted)
Page 465
Further data correlation is quite difficult. There are a
large number of different saucer shapes but this may mean
little. For example, look at the number of different types of
aircraft which are in use in the U.S. Air Force alone.
It is obvious that intensive scientific study is needed in
this area; no such study
has yet been undertaken at the necessary levels Of intense and
support. One thing
that must be guarded against in any such study is the trap of
implicity assuming that out knowledge of Physics (or any other
branch of science) is complete. An example of one such trap is
selecting a group of physical laws which we now accept as valid,
and assume that they will never be superceded. Five such laws
might be:
1) Every action must have an opposite and equal reaction.
2) Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle
with a force
proportional to the product of the masses and inversely as the
square of the distance.
3) Energy, mass and momentum are conserved.
4) No material body can have a speed as great as c, the speed of
light in free
space.
5) The maximum energy, E, which can be obtained from a body at
rest is E=mc2, where m is the rest mass of the body.
Laws numbered 1 and 3 seem fairly safe, but let us hesitate
and take another look. Actually, law number 3 is only valid
(now) from a relativistic viewpoint; and for that matter so are
laws 4 and 5. But relativity completely revised these physical
concepts after 1915, before then Newtonian mechanics was
supreme! We should also note that general relativity has not yet
been fully verified. Thus we have the peculiar situation of
five laws which appear to deny the possibility of intelligent
alien control of UFO'S, yet three of the laws are recent in
concept and may not even be valid Also, law number 2 has not
been tested under conditions large relative speeds or
accelerations. We should not deny the possibility of alien
control of UFO's on the basis of Preconceived notions not
established as related or relevant to the UFO's.
33.6 CONCLUSION
From available information, the UFO phenomenon appears to
have been global in nature for almost 50,000 years. The
majority of known witnesses have been reliable people who have
seen easily-explained natural phenomena, and there appears to be
no overall positive correlation with population density. The
entire phenomenon could be psychological in nature but that is
quite doubtful, However, psychological factors probably do enter
the dam picture as "noise." The phenomenon could also be
entirely due to known and unknown natural phenomena (with some
psychological noise" added in) but that too is questionable in
view of some of the available data.
This leaves us with the unpleasant possibility of alien
visitors to our planer, or
t least of alien controlled UFO's. However, the data are
not well correlated, and
Page 466
what questionable data there are suggest the existence of at
least three and maybe four different groups of aliens (possibly
at different stages of development). This too is difficult to
accept. It implies the existence of intelligent life on a
majority of the planets in our solar system, or a surprisingly
strong interest in Earth by members of other solar svstems.
A solution to the UFO problem may be obtained by the long
and diligent effort of a large group of well-financed and
competent scientists, unfortunately there is no evidence
suggesting that such an effort is going to be made. However,
even if such an effort were made, there is no guarantee of
success because of the isolated and sporatic nature of the
sightings. Also, there may be nothing to find, and that would
mean a long search with no proof at the end. The best thing to
do is to keep an open and skeptical mind, and not take an
extreme position on any side of the question.
REFERENCES
33-1. Davidson, L. Flying Saucers: An Analysis of the Air Porce
Project Blue Book Special Report No. 24. (Third Edition) Ramsey,
New Jersey: Ramsey-Wallace Corp., July 1966.
33-2. Edwards, F. Flying Saucers-Serious Business. New York:
Bantam Press, 1966.
33-3. Fuller, J. "Flying Saucer Fiasco," Look. 14 May 1968, 58.
33-4. The Interrted Journey. New York. Dial Press, 1966.
33-5. Hall, R. (editor). The UFO Evidence. Washington, D.C.:
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, May 1964.
33-6. Jung, C. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in
the Skies. Translated by R.F. Hull. New York: Harcourt, Brace
and Company, 1959.
33-7. Keyhoe, D. The Flying Saucer Conspiracy. New York: Henry
Holt, 1955.
33-8. Flying Saucers: Top Secret. New York: G.P. Pumam's Sons,
1960.
33-9. Lorenzen, C. The Great Flying Saucer Hoax. New York:
William-Frederick Press, 1962.
33-10. Markowitz, W. "The Physics and Metaphysics of
Unidentified Flying Objects," Science. 15 September 1967, 1274.
33-11. Menzel, D. and L. Boyd. The World of Flying Saucers: A
Scientific Examination of a Major Myth of the Space Age. Garden
City, New York: Doubleday, 1963.
33-12. Michel, A. Plying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery.
New York: Criterion Books, 1958.
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33-13. Ruppelt, E. The Report on Unidentified FlybW Objects,
Garden City, New York:
Doubleday, 1956.
33-14. Tacker, L. Flying Saucers and the U.S. Air Force.
Princeton, New Jersey:
D. Van Nostrand, 1960.
33-15. Terry, D. "No Swamp Gas for Him, Thank You," St.
Louis Post-Dispatch.
2 June 1966, 4F.
33-16. VaRee, J. Anatomy of a Phenomenon: Unidentified Objects
in Space-A Scientific Appraisal. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1965.
33-17. Vallee, J. and J. VaUee. flying Saucers a Challenge to
Science. New York: Henry Regnery, 1966.
33-18. Whitney, D. Flying Saucers. New York: Cowles
Communications, 1967.
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For more information contact:
The Extra-Terrestrial Communication Network
23715 West Malibu Road, Suite #330, Malibu, California 90265
phone (310) 456-0654
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