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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 19, 2018 15:24:47 GMT
Crystal
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Post by HAL on Sept 19, 2018 20:21:36 GMT
Crystal,
One has to wonder why we seem to be locked-in to this era.
Come on, it's 2018. Is there nothing more up to date that is worthy of discussion ?
unfortunately, the answer to that question appears to be 'no'.
The internet has killed ufo study.
HAL.
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Post by swamprat on Sept 19, 2018 21:20:10 GMT
"Project Blue Book: The Stunning True Cases Behind History's New UFO Show - IGN First"
Aah! J. Allen Hynek! My Illinois hero! I first met him in the late 60s.
During World War II, Hynek was a civilian scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he helped to develop the United States Navy's radio proximity fuze.
After the war, Hynek returned to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio State, rising to full professor in 1950. In 1953, Hynek submitted a report on the fluctuations in the brightness and color of starlight and daylight, with an emphasis on daytime observations.
In 1956, he left to join Professor Fred Whipple, the Harvard astronomer, at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which had combined with the Harvard Observatory at Harvard. Hynek had the assignment of directing the tracking of an American space satellite, a project for the International Geophysical Year in 1956 and thereafter. In addition to over 200 teams of amateur scientists around the world that were part of Operation Moonwatch, there were also 12 photographic Baker-Nunn stations. A special camera was devised for the task and a prototype was built and tested and then stripped apart again when, on Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched its first satellite, Sputnik 1.
After completing his work on the satellite program, Hynek went back to teaching, taking the position of professor and chairman of the astronomy department at Northwestern University in 1960.
Skepticism
In response to numerous reports of "flying saucers", the United States Air Force established Project Sign in 1948 to examine sightings of unidentified flying objects. Hynek was contacted to act as a scientific consultant to Project Sign. He studied UFO reports and decided whether the phenomena described therein suggested known astronomical objects.
When Project Sign hired Hynek, he was skeptical of UFO reports. Hynek suspected that they were made by unreliable witnesses, or by persons who had misidentified man-made or natural objects. In 1948, Hynek said that "the whole subject seems utterly ridiculous," and described it as a fad that would soon pass
For the first few years of his UFO studies, Hynek could safely be described as a debunker. He thought that a great many UFOs could be explained as prosaic phenomena misidentified by an observer. In his 1977 book, Hynek admitted that he enjoyed his role as a debunker for the Air Force. He also noted that debunking was what the Air Force expected of him.
Change of opinion
Hynek's opinions about UFOs began a slow and gradual shift. After examining hundreds of UFO reports over the decades (including some made by credible witnesses, including astronomers, pilots, police officers, and military personnel), Hynek concluded that some reports represented genuine empirical evidence.
Another shift in Hynek's opinions came after conducting an informal poll of his astronomer colleagues in the early 1950s. Among those he queried was Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the dwarf planet Pluto. Of 44 astronomers, five (over 11 percent) had seen aerial objects that they could not account for with established, mainstream science. Most of these astronomers had not widely shared their accounts for fear of ridicule or of damage to their reputations or careers (Tombaugh was an exception, having openly discussed his own UFO sightings) Hynek also noted that this 11% figure was, according to most polls, greater than those in the general public who claimed to have seen UFOs. Furthermore, the astronomers were presumably more knowledgeable about observing and evaluating the skies than the general public, so their observations were arguably more impressive. Hynek was also distressed by what he regarded as the dismissive or arrogant attitude of many mainstream scientists towards UFO reports and witnesses.
Early evidence of the shift in Hynek's opinions appeared in 1953, when Hynek wrote an article for the April 1953 issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America titled "Unusual Aerial Phenomena," which contained what would become perhaps Hynek's best known statement:
"Ridicule is not part of the scientific method, and people should not be taught that it is. The steady flow of reports, often made in concert by reliable observers, raises questions of scientific obligation and responsibility. Is there ... any residue that is worthy of scientific attention? Or, if there isn't, does not an obligation exist to say so to the public—not in words of open ridicule but seriously, to keep faith with the trust the public places in science and scientists?"
In 1953, Hynek was an associate member of the Robertson Panel, which concluded that there was nothing anomalous about UFOs, and that a public relations campaign should be undertaken to debunk the subject and reduce public interest. Hynek would later lament that the Robertson Panel had helped make UFOs a disreputable field of study.
When the UFO reports continued at a steady pace, Hynek devoted some time to studying the reports and determined that some were deeply puzzling, even after considerable study. He once said, "As a scientist I must be mindful of the lessons of the past; all too often it has happened that matters of great value to science were overlooked because the new phenomenon did not fit the accepted scientific outlook of the time."
In a 1985 interview, when asked what caused his change of opinion, Hynek responded, "Two things, really. One was the completely negative and unyielding attitude of the Air Force. They wouldn't give UFOs the chance of existing, even if they were flying up and down the street in broad daylight. Everything had to have an explanation. I began to resent that, even though I basically felt the same way, because I still thought they weren't going about it in the right way. You can't assume that everything is black no matter what. Secondly, the caliber of the witnesses began to trouble me. Quite a few instances were reported by military pilots, for example, and I knew them to be fairly well-trained, so this is when I first began to think that, well, maybe there was something to all this."
SOURCE: Wikipedia
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 20, 2018 11:57:21 GMT
Good morning lovely UFOCasebookers!
Geekwire.com Search warrant links evacuation at solar observatory to child porn investigation
by Alan Boyle on September 19, 2018 at 11:08 pm
A federal search warrant indicates that the Sunspot Solar Observatory in New Mexico and surrounding homes were evacuated this month not because of alien visitation, but because of a child pornography investigation.
The warrant and an accompanying affidavit lays out the details of an FBI investigation that came to focus on a janitor who worked at the observatory atop Sacramento Peak, which serves as America’s national center for ground-based solar physics.
The details make for a story that has more in common with the police blotter than with the UFO tales and solar doomsday warnings that were spawned by the observatory’s previously puzzling 10-day closure.
During a search through a child protection database in July, federal agents reportedly identified child porn that was downloaded to IP addresses on the observatory’s wireless network. An affidavit from the FBI said the facility’s chief observer discovered a laptop that appeared to contain pornography. The time frames for the downloads were found to match times when the janitor was on the premises, the affidavit said.
After the laptop was seized, the janitor began making comments to the effect that “security was so lax” at the facility, according to the affidavit.
“I should be able to throw a laptop down in a room and not have to worry about someone stealing it,” the janitor was quoted as saying.
Then, on Sept. 5, the chief observer told a federal agent that he was concerned about his personal safety. According to the observer’s account in court filings, the janitor said he believed there was a serial killer in the area, and that the killer “might enter the facility and execute someone.”
Representatives of the National Science Foundation, the National Solar Observatory and the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which manages the Sunspot Solar Observatory, decided to evacuate the premises on Sept. 6. That decision was taken “without advice from the FBI,” the affidavit said.
The FBI continued its investigation during the closure, and executed the search warrant at the janitor’s home on Friday. The items seized there included three cell phones, five laptop computers, an iPad tablet, two hard drives, 16 thumb drives, eight compact flash disks and four SD cards, according to the FBI’s filed receipt.
The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, better known as AURA, reopened the observatory and visitors center on Monday with beefed-up security. A statement from AURA said that it was “cooperating with an ongoing law enforcement investigation of criminal activity,” and that the facility was evacuated because “a suspect in the investigation potentially posed a threat to the safety of local staff and residents.” AURA did not provide further details as to the nature of the case, however.
The janitor is named in the warrant, but his name is not being published because he has not been charged.
www.geekwire.com/2018/search-warrant-links-evacuation-solar-observatory-child-porn-investigation/
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 20, 2018 12:03:43 GMT
Scott Waring Published on Sep 20, 2018
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Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 20, 2018 12:08:36 GMT
Smithsonian Channel
Published on Sep 19, 2018
For over 50 years, countless eyewitnesses claim to have seen the creature we've dubbed Bigfoot. So who, or what, is this mythic creature? Scientists examine the facts, use rigorous analysis, and pull together missing evidence to find the truth.
From the Series: The Missing Evidence: Bigfoot bitly.com/1ixuuqU
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Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 20, 2018 23:39:05 GMT
MUFON
Cases of Interest: Shapeshifting UFOs by Roger Marsh 9/20/2018
Witness image from Idaho Case 88223. Credit: MUFON
UFO encounters may be frightening as witnesses observe never-before-seen objects moving in incredible ways. But some sightings are further stressed when the object morphs into different shapes.
Four shape-shifting UFO sightings were listed in the recently-released book, UFO Cases of Interest: 2018 Edition, by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).
A New Mexico witness at Albuquerque reported watching a boomerang-shaped object just 500 feet away that hovered and seemed to change shape while moving, according to testimony in Case 82456.
The witness was outside walking north on a lunch break at 12:30 p.m. on March 2, 2017.
“A light gray shape caught my eye,” the witness stated. “The object was approximately 500 feet away, and about 50 feet in the air over a building. At first, I thought it was a flock of birds, and I said, ‘That's interesting. What kind of birds would those be?’ It seemed to be moving east in a slow flutter. Then it disappeared, like it folded back into the sky.”
The witness thought that was strange.
more after the jump:
www.mufon.com/ufo-news/cases-of-interest-shapeshifting-ufos
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 21, 2018 10:36:20 GMT
Good morning lovely people,
Science Alert
NASA's New Planet Hunter Has Already Spotted Two Candidates For Earth-Like Alien Worlds
And what have you achieved in the past couple months?
MICHELLE STARR 21 SEP 2018
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has only been on the job less than two months, and already it's ponying up the planet goods. The exoplanet-hunting space telescope has found two candidate planets, and there are plenty more on the horizon.
The two candidate planets are called Pi Mensae c, orbiting bright yellow dwarf star Pi Mensae, just under 60 light-years from Earth; and LHS 3844 b, orbiting red dwarf star LHS 3844, just under 49 light-years away.
TESS took its first test observations on July 25 (and managed to get some pretty great snaps of a passing comet), and its first official science observations began on August 7.
However, it was observing a large swathe of sky from the moment it opened its eyes - four optical cameras - and both discoveries are based on data from July 25 to August 22.
So far, they are only candidate planets, yet to be validated by the final review process. If they pass that test, they'll go down in history as TESS's first two discoveries. Here's what we know so far about them.
Both planets appear to be Earth-like and rocky, but neither is habitable according to our guidelines - both are too close to their stars for liquid water.
Pi Mensae c, the first planet announced, is a super-Earth, clocking in at just over twice the size of Earth. It's really close to Pi Mensae - it orbits the star in just 6.27 days.
A preliminary analysis indicates that the planet has a rocky iron core, and also contains a substantial proportion of lighter materials such as water, methane, hydrogen and helium - although we'll need a more detailed survey to confirm that.
It also has a sibling - it's not the first object to be found orbiting Pi Mensae. That honour goes to Pi Mensae b, an enormous planet with 10 times the mass of Jupiter discovered in 2001. It's much farther out than Pi Mensae c, on an orbit of 2,083 days.
LHS 3844 b is a little bit smaller, classified as a "hot Earth". It's just over 1.3 times the size of Earth, and on an incredibly tight orbit of just 11 hours. Since the two are so close together, it's highly likely the planet is blasted with too much stellar radiation to retain an atmosphere.
TESS does need a bit of time to collect enough data for identifying an exoplanet. Like its predecessor Kepler, it uses what is known as the transit method for detection - scanning and photographing a region of the sky multiple times, looking for changes in the brightness of stars in its field of view.
When a star dims repeatedly and regularly, that is a good indication that a planet is passing between it and TESS.
By using the amount the light dims, and Doppler spectroscopy - that is, changes in the star's light as it moves ever-so-slightly backwards and forwards due to the gravitational tug on the planet - astronomers can infer details about the planet, such as its size and mass.
Using this method, Kepler has discovered 2,652 confirmed planets to date between its first and second missions, located between 300 to 3,000 light-years away. Kepler is still operational, but barely; it's only a matter of time until it completely runs out of fuel.
TESS's search is happening a lot closer, with targets between 30 and 300 light-years away - stars brighter than those observed by Kepler. Thus, the exoplanets it identifies will be strong candidates to observe using spectroscopy, the analysis of light.
When a planet passes in front of a star, it has an effect on the light from the star, changing it based on the composition of its atmosphere (if it has one). Ground-based observatories and the James Webb Space Telescope (once it launches in 2021) will have to make those follow-up observations.
TESS, meanwhile, has a long way to go. Its mission is scheduled for a two-year period, during which it will survey 85 percent of the sky, divided into 26 sectors. NASA estimates the mission will monitor over half a million stars.
Both Pi Mensae c and LHS 3844 b were discovered in the first sector - a result that bodes well for the rest of the mission. Especially since Kepler, launched in 2009, was only planned for 3.5 years. If we're lucky, TESS will end up chugging along well after 2020.
"The discovery of a terrestrial planet around a nearby M dwarf during the first TESS observing sector suggests that the prospects for future discoveries are bright," the researchers wrote in the LHS 3844 b paper.
"It is worth remembering that 90 percent of the sky has not yet been surveyed by either TESS or Kepler."
Both papers are available on preprint resource arXiv. Pi Mensa c can be found here: arxiv.org/abs/1809.05967 and LHS 3844 b can be found here: arxiv.org/abs/1809.07242
www.sciencealert.com/nasa-tess-two-earth-like-exoplanets-discovered-pi-mensae-c-lhs-3844
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 21, 2018 10:52:29 GMT
NASA Goddard
Published on Apr 10, 2018
TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is NASA's newest exoplanet mission. Led by MIT, TESS will find thousands of new planets orbiting nearby stars. During its two year survey, TESS will watch a wide variety of stars, looking for signs of planets ranging from Earth-size to larger than Jupiter.
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Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 21, 2018 10:55:07 GMT
The Dodo Published on Sep 17, 2018
Woman Falls In Love With Chicken Rescued From NYC Streets | When this woman met a little chick who was found on the streets of NYC, she didn't expect to fall in love. But Bree quickly showed his mom that they were meant to be family 💞
For more of Bree and his adventures, you can check him out on Instagram: thedo.do/bree.
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Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 21, 2018 12:33:33 GMT
South China Morning Post Published on Sep 20, 2018
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KGUN9 posted 18 September 2018
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Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 22, 2018 10:44:07 GMT
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 22, 2018 10:53:12 GMT
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Sept 22, 2018 10:55:21 GMT
Crystal
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Post by swamprat on Sept 22, 2018 17:08:10 GMT
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