Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Oh, lordy... could Nibiru be real after all?
Good grief.
According to a paper submitted to the astronomy journal Icarus, our Sun may have a dark companion.
Physicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette are convinced that cometary deflections and distribution show that there must be a large planet bigger than Jupiter hiding in the Oort Cloud. Matese has been publishing papers on this for decades, and while astronomers aren't completely convinced by his arguments, this latest paper bolsters the probability that there's something big beyond Pluto.
Originally, the premise was that this large companion to our Sun was called Nemesis, but the contactee and ancient astronaut proponents have adopted Nibiru as the name of the rogue planet. If it's only Jupiter-sized, it would barely qualify as a brown dwarf, since those usually are at least ten times the mass of gas giant planets. The only difference is that brown dwarf stars have some degree of fusion going on inside them; Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune radiate more heat than they get from the Sun, but haven't "turned on."
Even if there is a large massive object in the Oort Cloud of comets, it would not be visible to earthbound observers, despite what Nibiru buffs would have you believe. Also, this object would not zip around the Solar System playing billiards with planets a la Velikovsky or Zecharia Sitchin zetatalkers.
The real importance of this paper is that it adds support to the contention that most stars will have planetary systems, bolstering belief that planets are the norm in the universe. And more planets = more possibility of extraterrestrial life.
The Icarus article is viewable at: http://url.ie/5yck
According to a paper submitted to the astronomy journal Icarus, our Sun may have a dark companion.
Physicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette are convinced that cometary deflections and distribution show that there must be a large planet bigger than Jupiter hiding in the Oort Cloud. Matese has been publishing papers on this for decades, and while astronomers aren't completely convinced by his arguments, this latest paper bolsters the probability that there's something big beyond Pluto.
Originally, the premise was that this large companion to our Sun was called Nemesis, but the contactee and ancient astronaut proponents have adopted Nibiru as the name of the rogue planet. If it's only Jupiter-sized, it would barely qualify as a brown dwarf, since those usually are at least ten times the mass of gas giant planets. The only difference is that brown dwarf stars have some degree of fusion going on inside them; Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune radiate more heat than they get from the Sun, but haven't "turned on."
Even if there is a large massive object in the Oort Cloud of comets, it would not be visible to earthbound observers, despite what Nibiru buffs would have you believe. Also, this object would not zip around the Solar System playing billiards with planets a la Velikovsky or Zecharia Sitchin zetatalkers.
The real importance of this paper is that it adds support to the contention that most stars will have planetary systems, bolstering belief that planets are the norm in the universe. And more planets = more possibility of extraterrestrial life.
The Icarus article is viewable at: http://url.ie/5yck
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
UFO over Westlock, Alberta
There is an interesting report out of Westlock, Alberta, from April 18, 2010. A man left a message on a UFO website about a large dark, triangular object that he saw moving slowly over his home. The object emitted a dull reddish glow and had three circular things on its underside. He thought it was only about 500 feet above his home at one point.
The report was on UFOs Northwest, an American site that is very good in its scope and approach, classifying cases by location and doing some preliminary evaluation. In this case, the witness left a message on the webmaster's voicemail, and the audio file is linked on the site as well. The eyewitness testimony gives an interesting perspective of what had been seen.
The link is:
http://www.ufosnw.com/sighting_reports/2010/westlockalbca4182010/witnessreport.mp3
The report was on UFOs Northwest, an American site that is very good in its scope and approach, classifying cases by location and doing some preliminary evaluation. In this case, the witness left a message on the webmaster's voicemail, and the audio file is linked on the site as well. The eyewitness testimony gives an interesting perspective of what had been seen.
The link is:
http://www.ufosnw.com/sighting_reports/2010/westlockalbca4182010/witnessreport.mp3
Labels: Canada, sighting, triangle, UFO
Those Crazy Cosmologists
First Paul Davies, and now Stephen Hawking.
Cosmologists have stated explicitly that extraterrestrial life exists, something that astronomers had speculated about years ago. It's a statistical probability; given that there are billions upon billions of stars out there, it's likely that some have spawned and nurtured life on planets in orbit around them. And at least a small percentage of those planets have advanced life. Hopefully, somewhat more advanced than us.
That's essentially what Hawking asserted. He suggested that aliens likely exist, but that contact with them would be detrimental to our existence. That's because contact between a voyaging race and indigenous entities has always favoured the visitors, at least historically.
What this implies, however, is that Hawking believes interstellar travel is possible, despite apparent limitations of distance and time. Skeptics sometimes argue that aliens could not visit Earth because space travel is prohibitively expensive in terms of time and energy. Therefore, UFOs cannot be spacecraft.
But Hawking, and actually many other scientists, believe that it is possible and practical to travel between the stars. It's an interesting paradox, however, that while they believe aliens exist and have likely developed space travel, few accept the possibility that some UFOs are alien spacecraft.
Davies also acknowledges that we might not recognize alien visitors or their technology because they would be so, well, alien. Yet if that was true, why is the possibility that some odd lights or other objects seen by some Earth observers might be alien visitors seem so ridiculous?
Of course, there is no incontrovertible proof that any UFO sightings were observations of alien spacecraft. But if scientists state that, ipso facto, UFOs are not worth bothering with, then studies of the phenomenon are left in the hands of laypeople.
Cosmologists have stated explicitly that extraterrestrial life exists, something that astronomers had speculated about years ago. It's a statistical probability; given that there are billions upon billions of stars out there, it's likely that some have spawned and nurtured life on planets in orbit around them. And at least a small percentage of those planets have advanced life. Hopefully, somewhat more advanced than us.
That's essentially what Hawking asserted. He suggested that aliens likely exist, but that contact with them would be detrimental to our existence. That's because contact between a voyaging race and indigenous entities has always favoured the visitors, at least historically.
What this implies, however, is that Hawking believes interstellar travel is possible, despite apparent limitations of distance and time. Skeptics sometimes argue that aliens could not visit Earth because space travel is prohibitively expensive in terms of time and energy. Therefore, UFOs cannot be spacecraft.
But Hawking, and actually many other scientists, believe that it is possible and practical to travel between the stars. It's an interesting paradox, however, that while they believe aliens exist and have likely developed space travel, few accept the possibility that some UFOs are alien spacecraft.
Davies also acknowledges that we might not recognize alien visitors or their technology because they would be so, well, alien. Yet if that was true, why is the possibility that some odd lights or other objects seen by some Earth observers might be alien visitors seem so ridiculous?
Of course, there is no incontrovertible proof that any UFO sightings were observations of alien spacecraft. But if scientists state that, ipso facto, UFOs are not worth bothering with, then studies of the phenomenon are left in the hands of laypeople.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
The Man Who Would Know About Alien Contact
In compiling information for my next book (titled The Big Book of UFOs and due out Fall 2010), I collected some trivia for a "Did You Know?" section.
One of the documents I found in going through my files at Ufology Research was the Outer Space Treaty. Not well known, the treaty was drafted by a subcommittee of the United Nations and ratified in 1967, and signed by the USA, Soviet Union and United Kingdom. In other words, it's a document of international law.
Buried in dozens of pages of gobbledygook is the following note, found in Part One, Section E, Article 5, Point 3:
In other words, if anyone finds or contacts aliens (and presumably UFOs of they are spacecraft), the first person to be notified is currently Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Then, the public should be notified, and then the scientific community.
So, the one person who should be informed of any alien contact is Ban Ki-moon. He's the go-to guy.
I don't recall him commenting about evidence for aliens in any of his recent speeches, however.
The good news is that the public is supposed to be informed too.
The text of the complete treaty can be found here:
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/outerspt.html
One of the documents I found in going through my files at Ufology Research was the Outer Space Treaty. Not well known, the treaty was drafted by a subcommittee of the United Nations and ratified in 1967, and signed by the USA, Soviet Union and United Kingdom. In other words, it's a document of international law.
Buried in dozens of pages of gobbledygook is the following note, found in Part One, Section E, Article 5, Point 3:
In carrying out activities under this Agreement, States Parties shall promptly inform the Secretary-General, as well as the public and the international scientific community, of any phenomena they discover in outer space, including the Moon, which could endanger human life or health, as well as of any indication of organic life.
In other words, if anyone finds or contacts aliens (and presumably UFOs of they are spacecraft), the first person to be notified is currently Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Then, the public should be notified, and then the scientific community.
So, the one person who should be informed of any alien contact is Ban Ki-moon. He's the go-to guy.
I don't recall him commenting about evidence for aliens in any of his recent speeches, however.
The good news is that the public is supposed to be informed too.
The text of the complete treaty can be found here:
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/outerspt.html
A "Real" UFO Video
I've talked about this kind of thing before, but this is the best example in a long time.
These days, pictures are not worth 1,000 words. Especially photos or videos of UFOs. It's bad enough that Photoshop and video suites have allowed idiots to fake most of the UFO visuals that are posted, but even when authentic video or a photo is posted, it's just downright sad.
A case in point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mAHLjD0l7A
The title is: White Glowing ORB UFO turns into a fake plane. Windsor Ontario Canada April 2 2010
The video runs about three minutes, and shows a distant light slowly moving low over some houses. During the video, the witness racks his camera's zoom to the max, causing it to overcompensate and make the light seem to become a large mottled balloon, taking on the shape of the internal camera optics. It's an obvious and basic problem with zooming out to the camera limit.
Even while the video is not zoomed, you can see small flashing lights at either side of the main object. It's clearly a plane, and as the video progresses you can see the wingtip lights get wider apart as the plane passes nearer to the witness.
The witness' interpretation? The "glowing orb: UFO takes on terrestrial camouflage and appears to be an aircraft, although it couldn't possibly be an airplane.
Comments on Youtube include things like "definitely not a plane" and "if it was a plane then why was it sitting for 5 minutes before it started moving?"
Well, that's what planes do and look like when they're approaching.
Such videos proliferate on the Net and get hardcore believers excited while at the same time allowing debunkers to use them to show that UFO buffs are unscientific and unreasonable. It's fuel for both sides, unfortunately.
These days, pictures are not worth 1,000 words. Especially photos or videos of UFOs. It's bad enough that Photoshop and video suites have allowed idiots to fake most of the UFO visuals that are posted, but even when authentic video or a photo is posted, it's just downright sad.
A case in point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mAHLjD0l7A
The title is: White Glowing ORB UFO turns into a fake plane. Windsor Ontario Canada April 2 2010
The video runs about three minutes, and shows a distant light slowly moving low over some houses. During the video, the witness racks his camera's zoom to the max, causing it to overcompensate and make the light seem to become a large mottled balloon, taking on the shape of the internal camera optics. It's an obvious and basic problem with zooming out to the camera limit.
Even while the video is not zoomed, you can see small flashing lights at either side of the main object. It's clearly a plane, and as the video progresses you can see the wingtip lights get wider apart as the plane passes nearer to the witness.
The witness' interpretation? The "glowing orb: UFO takes on terrestrial camouflage and appears to be an aircraft, although it couldn't possibly be an airplane.
Comments on Youtube include things like "definitely not a plane" and "if it was a plane then why was it sitting for 5 minutes before it started moving?"
Well, that's what planes do and look like when they're approaching.
Such videos proliferate on the Net and get hardcore believers excited while at the same time allowing debunkers to use them to show that UFO buffs are unscientific and unreasonable. It's fuel for both sides, unfortunately.
