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http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/12feb_lunareclipse.htm

Lunar Eclipse

February 12, 2007: Picture this: The year is 2025 and you're on the moon. "Home" is 100 meters away—an outpost on the rim of Shackleton Crater. NASA started building it five years earlier, and it is growing fast. You're one of the construction workers.

As always in these polar regions, the sun hangs low, barely above the craggy lunar horizon. You adjust your visor. It amazes you how bright a low sun can be when there's no atmosphere to dim it.

Suddenly, the lights go out.

Up in the sky, a big black disk covers the sun. A red "ring of fire" appears where the sun was only moments before, and its glow turns the ground red beneath your feet.

You've been waiting for this. It's an eclipse.

Astronauts on the moon are going to experience eclipses typically once or twice a year: Earth glides in front of the sun turning lunar day into a strange kind of ruddy night. It'll be one of the highlights of any lunar tour.

The charm of the eclipse comes from Earth. Our planet is big enough by a factor of three to block the entire sun but, curiously, this doesn't cause complete darkness. Rays of sunlight bend around the edge of Earth, filtering through the atmosphere. As seen from the moon, the edge of Earth lights up like a sunset-red ring of fire—one of the most beautiful sights in the solar system. (A simplified, 1.2 MB animation of the process may be seen here. Credit: Graphic artist Larry Koehn.)

Can't wait until 2025? The next eclipse is right around the corner: Saturday, March 3, 2007. Stuck on Earth, we can't see the ring of fire, but we can see the red glow it produces on the moon. The phenomenon will be visible from parts of all seven continents including the eastern half of North America.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/lunareclipse/LE2007Mar03-Fig1_strip.gif

Larger Image: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/lunareclipse/LE2007Mar03-Fig1.GIF

In the USA, the eclipse will already be underway when the moon rises on Saturday evening. Observing tip: Find a place with a clear view of the eastern horizon and station yourself there at sunset. As the sun goes down behind you, a red moon will rise before your eyes.

Rising moons are often reddened by clouds or pollution, but this moon will be the deep, extraordinary red only seen during a lunar eclipse. As you watch it ascend into the night, imagine what it would be like to stand by Shackleton Crater watching from the opposite direction.

It's not so far-fetched. NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon no later than 2020. From their polar base camp, humans will explore the countryside hunting for resources they can use to "live off the land." They'll study the moon's geology, learning more about the unique potential of the moon to reveal ancient secrets of Earth and the solar system. They'll also evaluate technologies needed for future missions to Mars.

And occasionally when the ground turns red, they'll pause and look up at a glowing ring in the sky.

March 3rd is a good night to imagine that.
 
We had a perfect clear night for it. Best one I've ever seen.
 
Join Rocketry Planet for live webcast of Arianespace launch

System News by Planet News
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

ImageWORLD WIDE WEB — On Saturday, March 10th, 2007 at 5:25PM EST, Arianespace will launch an Ariane 5 rocket with a Skynet 5A and INSAT 4B dual-satellite payload.
Ariane 5 with Skynet5/INSAT4B payload.

Skynet 5A has a liftoff mass of approximately 4,700 kg., and will provide secure communications for the British armed forces, NATO nations and other countries. Built by Astrium, it will be operated by the private company Paradigm Secure Communications for Britain's Ministry of Defence. INSAT 4B weighs approximately 3,000 kg. for launch, and carries a payload of 12 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders for television/telecommunications coverage over India.

Arianespace has completed integration of the dual satellite payload, clearing the way for the launch vehicle's roll-out later this week at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. Liftoff of the Ariane 5 with INSAT 4B and Skynet 5A is set for Saturday, March 10, at the opening of the launch window.

In support of the launch, Rocketry Planet has made arrangements to broadcast the launch live in a sponsored Arianespace-TV webcast in Rocketry Planet's chat rooms. The webcast will begin at 5:00PM EST, with an 33 minute launch window opening at 5:25PM EST.

The webcast is only available to registered users, but registration is easy and free. You must be logged in prior to entering the webcast and you must enter the special Arianespace Live Webcast link to view the webcast. To enter the webcast, simply click the link below:

Enter the Arianespace Live Webcast

The Arianespace Live Webcast is brought to you by Yahoo!

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The article source has a link to the webcast but it's past my computer savy to figure out it out.
 
Welcome back Pluto?

New Mexico Lawmaker Petitions to Restore Pluto's Planet Status
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 09 March 2007
03:15 pm ET

The state of New Mexico could effectively secede from the astronomical community if a resolution to call Pluto a planet is passed.

Joint House Memorial 54 was introduced by representative Joni Marie Gutierrez, who represents Dona Ana County. It states that Pluto, the recently demoted object, "be declared a planet and that March 13, 2007 be declared 'Pluto Planet Day' at the legislature."

Pluto was stripped of its planet status last August when a group within the International Astronomical Union voted to call the diminutive, far-flung world a dwarf planet. The decision was immediately and widely criticized by astronomers, many of whom have said it might not stand over time.

The foundations of planetary science won't likely be shook if the resolution passes, however. A Joint House Memorial "does not have the color of law," explained Peter Hay, a staff member at the New Mexico State Legislature. "It is a feeling of the House."

The resolution is the third item on the agenda "on the Speaker's table" today, Hay said in a telephone interview, and could be called to a vote at any time. If the House passes it, the Senate would then take it up. No vote by the Governor is required.

The reasoning of the resolution:

"WHEREAS, New Mexico state university and Dona Ana county were the longtime home of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto; and
WHEREAS, Pluto has been recognized as a planet for seventy-five years; and
WHEREAS, Pluto's average orbit is three billion six hundred ninety-five million nine hundred fifty thousand miles from the sun, and its diameter is approximately one thousand four hundred twenty-one miles; and
WHEREAS, Pluto has three moons known as Charon, Nix and Hydra; and
WHEREAS, a spacecraft called New Horizons was launched in January 2006 to explore Pluto in the year 2015.​

Tombaugh used the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. to first spot Pluto in 1930. Pluto is now known by a number, 134340.

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Odd rock may have spawned asteroid family
Wed Mar 14, 2007 2:53PM EDT
By Julie Steenhuysen

http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20070314&t=2&i=467270&w=192

CHICAGO (Reuters) - In a solar system of heavenly bodies, scientists have discovered an ugly duckling -- an oblong-shaped rock in the vicinity of Pluto that may one day light up Earth's sky as a giant comet.

The rock, known as 2003 EL61, is one of the strangest objects in the solar system. It is shaped like an American football and completely rotates every four hours.

"Out in space there is this crazy thing spinning end to end that is as big as Pluto," said Mike Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology who discovered the object two years ago.
Reuters Pictures
Photo

Brown and colleagues at Caltech believe it got its odd shape after a collision with another object about 4.5 billion years ago that sent chunks of the rock scattering, creating two moons and a lot of space debris.

"When we tried to find out what it was made of we found that it was mostly rock. Nothing else out there is made out of rock. Everything else out there is made out of ice," Brown said in a telephone interview.

"We thought maybe a long time ago something ran into it and knocked off all of the ice, and hit it so hard it got it spinning -- and the spinning is what made it shaped like a football," Brown said.

Now, the Caltech team has found some proof.

They found a family of five objects that likely are the offspring of this giant spinning rock. The objects were found in an area of the solar system beyond Neptune where no other asteroid families have been found.

"They got blasted off in this big impact," Brown said. "The chunks left the main body but they are still close by in orbit around the sun."

The new findings, reported in the journal Nature, might make 2003 EL61 one of the most important objects in the neighborhood, a region on the outer edge of the solar system known as the Kuiper belt that contains the dwarf planets Eris and Pluto.

The disk-shaped region is about 2.8 billion to 4.6 billion miles from the sun, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "It's on the ragged edge of the solar system," Brown said.

While space collisions are fairly common within the asteroid belt in the inner solar system, they have never been spotted in the region of the solar system beyond Neptune.

Because orbits in that region are not stable, the scientists at Caltech believe some of the fragments from the giant rock may have already made their way to the inner solar system as comets, and some may have even hit Earth.

Brown believes 2003 EL61 might eventually become a comet. If it does, it would be as bright as the full moon and easily visible in the daytime sky.

"It will be something like 6,000 times brighter than Hale-Bopp," he said.

But people shouldn't get out their telescopes just yet. If the giant football rock becomes a comet, it would not be visible from Earth for a billion years.

"It will be the biggest comet anyone has every seen--if there's anyone around to see it," he said.




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Is Space For Sale?
By Gergely, Valer
Moscow and Washington
14 March 2007



Space tourism is no longer science fiction, at least for those who can afford it. Private companies around the world are now competing to become leaders in commercial space activities. For producer Valer Gergely, Jim Bertel reports this space race is creating new industries.

Conquering space was once an ideological contest between two rival world powers during the Cold War. Today, private companies compete to profit from space.

Eric C. Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures, the first company to send paying passengers into space, believes the new space race is a positive development.

"From the first days of spaceflights, of course, the race was between the Soviet Union and the U.S., to be the first to put a person into orbit, to go first to the moon,” he explains. “Now the space race is motivated by profit, which is even better because it means it will sustain itself beyond the ups and downs of politics."

Anderson believes space is an incredible new frontier for business. Space Adventures has earned over $120 million in sales for offering commercial seats to the public.

"When you find millions of people who want to go into space and we find a way to be able to take them there, that creates the opportunity for space entrepreneurs,” he says.

Space Adventures began receiving commercial services from the Russian Space Agency after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "In the early 1990s things changed in the former Soviet Union of course. The motivation of maintaining their space capability had to rely more on commercial activities."

Space Adventures’ clients pay $20 million each for their voyage. Future travelers may even take a spacewalk for an additional $15 million.

U.S. software developer Charles Simonyi will travel to the International Space Station on a Soyuz spacecraft in April. He has been training for his flight in Star City, Russia.

"I think that commercial 'anything' is a good direction,” says Simonyi. “If you are looking at the communication network of the world having cell phones, having the commercial Internet, they increased the capacity of our communication immensely relatively to what governments can accomplish on their own. I think spaceflights will eventually be the same way."

In the past the US space agency, NASA, has not provided much opportunity for commercial activities. That may change under the current administration, says Doug Cooke, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration.

"NASA is not in the position, from the government point of view, to sell opportunities to others. But we have been encouraged to find these opportunities, to find opportunities for international participation, commercial participation, to expand the sphere of influence of commerce from Earth to lower orbit and beyond."

Other companies, such as Virgin Galactic, are trying to gain their share of the market by developing their own spaceship for paying passengers. Virgin Galactic's spaceship designer Burt Rutan believes space should not be accessible only to the elite. "I do want to get to the moon in my lifetime. And I want to see affordable travel to the moon in my lifetime."

Virgin Galactic plans to fly its first passengers on a suborbital flight in the next two years for $200,000 per person and build a spaceport in New Mexico. So far more than 50,000 people have shown interest in becoming space tourists. The competition is a clear sign that a new industry is being created.

Last year Space Adventures participated in the World Travel Market announcing plans to offer private missions to the far side of the Moon -- for $100 million.

"The participants will be able to come within 100 kilometers of the far side of the Moon,” said Anderson. “Replicating the lunar missions that were done in the 1960s -- the Apollo mission, for example. The beauty of this that we are able to use the existing Soyuz spacecraft with very minimum modifications."

Anderson believes that 30 to 40 years from now it will be within the reach for the great percentage of the world population to travel to space. "What we are doing today is much more than just rich people buying trips to space. It is actually the catalyst that will open up the future where all of us will be able to go to space."

Some Russian experts believe the moon could also be a resource for fuel used by nuclear fusion power plants. Based on some estimates, the isotope helium-3 reserve on the moon could provide enough energy for Earth for hundreds of years. The process, however, would take decades to develop.

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Hey NASA, get your head out of your ass.

China's six major goals for space science development


A manned spaceflight and moon exploration; Independent development of HXMT; Launch recoverable space science experimental satellite; Participate in the Sino-Russia Mars space exploration program; Do more research into key technologies for space solar telescope; Begin key scientific and technical research into space science

The China Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense recently released the Space Science Development Plan for the 11th Five-Year Plan, in which it outlined its blueprint for the development of China's space science program. According to the plan, China will continue to work on major space projects such as a manned spaceflight, moon exploration, space HXMT, and a recoverable space science experimental satellite.

The plan outlines six goals in space science development during the 11th Five-Year Plan: firstly, it will implement medium and long-term scientific and technological development programs for a manned spaceflight and exploration of the moon. Chinese aircraft will begin circling the moon this year, so as to obtain three-dimensional images of the moon's surface and begin analysis and content studies. China plans to land and begin an automatic inspection of the moon before 2012, returning to earth by 2017.

Secondly, it plans to independently develop a Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), which would be a major development for China. The country aims to make breakthroughs in the field of black hole physics research and plans to launch its HXMT in 2010.

Thirdly, it plans to launch "Practice-10" recoverable space science experimental satellite and begin experimenting in microgravity science and space life science.

Fourthly, it will take full advantage of international cooperation in space science and participate in the Sino-Russia Mars space exploration program, the World Space Observatory¨CUltraviolet (WSO/UV), and the Sino-France Solar Burst Probe Small Satellite Project.

China will also do more research into key technologies for space solar telescopes and begin preliminary research for the Kua Fu Project.

Finally, it will continue research into key space science technologies.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, China will research and explore three main areas; space astronomy and solar physics, space physics and solar system exploration, and, microgravity science and space life science.

By People's Daily Online
 
"After yesterday's flight readiness review, SpaceX announced they will be attempting the second launch of their Falcon 1 Spacecraft today. The launch is scheduled for 4:00PM Pacific time with a webcast available from T-60 minutes until launch."

http://spacex.com/
 
The big space news is that there is enough water at the south pole of Mars that if melted would cover the planet thirty six feet deep.
 
cool. I had heard water was found. Had not seen any numbers on the estimated amount.
 
Moon and Venus Pair Up May 19
By Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
posted: 11 May 2007
06:11 am ET

Every once in a while, something will appear in the sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Saturday evening, May 19, when a slender crescent Moon, just 15-percent illuminated, will appear in very close proximity to the brightest planet in the sky.

Those who have no advance notice will almost certainly wonder, as they cast a casual glance toward the Moon on that night, what that "huge silvery star" happens to be? Sometimes, such an occasion brings with it a sudden spike of phone calls to local planetariums, weather offices and even police precincts. Not a few of these calls excitedly inquire about "the UFO" that's hovering closely in the vicinity of our natural satellite.

The planet that will keep close company with the Moon on that Saturday evening will be dazzling Venus, which has adorned the western twilight sky since late December. No other star or planet can come close to matching Venus in brilliance. During World War II, aircraft spotters sometimes mistook Venus for an enemy airplane. There were even cases where Venus drew antiaircraft fire. Venus currently is setting about three and a half hours after sunset, which means it's in the sky until past 11 p.m. For some locations it remains visible until after midnight.

But a very close conjunction of the crescent Moon and a bright star or planet can be an awe-inspiring naked-eye spectacle. The English poet, critic, and philosopher, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) used just such a celestial sight as an ominous portent in his epic, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." In addition, there are juxtaposed crescent Moon and star symbols that have appeared on the flags of many nations, including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

Also on May 19, you may be able to see the full globe of the Moon, its darkened portion glowing with a bluish-gray hue interposed between the sunlit crescent and not much darker sky. This vision is sometimes called "the old Moon in the young Moon's arms." Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it as what we now call "Earthshine."

As seen from the Moon, the Earth would loom in the sky nearly 3.7 times larger than the Moon does for us. In addition, the land masses, the oceans and clouds make the Earth a much better reflector of sunlight as compared to the Moon.

In fact, the Earth's reflectivity varies as clouds, which appear far more brilliant than the land and seas, cover greater or lesser parts of the visible hemisphere. The result is that the Earth shines between 45 and 100 times more brightly than the Moon. The Earth also goes through phases, just as the Moon does for us, although they are opposite from what we see from Earth. The term for this is called "complementary phases."

On May 16, for example, there's a New Moon for us, but as seen from the surface of the Moon that day, there will appear in the sky a brilliant Full Earth. A few nights later, as the sliver of a crescent Moon begins to appear in the western twilight sky, its entire globe may be glimpsed. Sunlight is responsible for the crescent, yet the remainder of the Moon appears to shine with a dim blush-gray tone. That part is not receiving sunlight, but shines by virtue of Earthlight: the nearly full Earth illuminating the otherwise dark lunar landscape. So Earthshine is really sunlight which is reflected off Earth to the Moon and reflected back to Earth.

Much of North America will be favored with the best view of this Moon-Venus pairing. Across the northern and central U.S. and southeast Canada, the minimum distance separating the two will be no more than one-degree (the apparent width of the Moon is roughly one-half degree). Keep in mind that this display will be an illusion of perspective: the Moon will be only about 233,000 miles (375,000 kilometers) from Earth, while Venus is nearly 347 times farther away, at 80.9 million miles (130 million kilometers).

And because the Moon is so much closer to us than Venus, it will be possible to see it change its position relative to Venus over a span of just a few hours. From New York City, for instance, at sunset, the Moon will appear to be directly to the right of Venus. But three hours later, the Moon will have moved to a point above and to the right while the gap between the two will have been halved.

For most locations, the moment of closest approach between the Moon and Venus will come after sunset. The exceptions will be over the Pacific Northwest States and western Canada, where the closest approach occurs before sunset; for these regions, the Moon and Venus will be slowly separating during the early evening hours.

In the table below, I have calculated the viewing circumstances for 18 selected U.S. and Canadian cities. The time of local sunset is given, as well as the time when Venus and the Moon will appear closest together (keep in mind the Moon moves in an easterly direction against the star background at its own apparent width per hour). Notice that for eastern locations nearly three hours will elapse between sunset and closest approach, while for some far-western locations these events will nearly coincide. A "D" indicates that closest approach comes before sunset. The minimum separation distance (Sep.) and the Moon's altitude (Alt.) above the horizon are provided as well.

City Time Zone Sunset Closest Sep. Alt.

Montreal EDT 8:21 p.m. 10:56 p.m. 0.9° 9°

Boston EDT 8:01 p.m. 10:56 p.m. 0.9° 6°

New York EDT 8:09 p.m. 11:01 p.m. 0.9° 6°

Washington EDT 8:16 p.m. 11:06 p.m. 0.9° 7°

Atlanta EDT 8:33 p.m. 11:15 p.m. 1.0° 8°

Miami EDT 8:01 p.m. 11:21 p.m. 1.1° <1°

New Orleans CDT 7:48 p.m. 10:26 p.m. 1.1° 9°

Kansas City CDT 8:25 p.m. 10:15 p.m. 1.0° 17°

Chicago CDT 8:06 p.m. 10:06 p.m. 1.0° 15°

Austin CDT 8:19 p.m. 10:28 p.m. 1.1° 15°

Winnipeg CDT 9:12 p.m. 9:55 p.m. 1.0° 26°

Denver MDT 8:10 p.m. 9:15 p.m. 1.1° 26°

Helena MDT 8:59 p.m. 9:00 p.m. 1.1° 34°

Edmonton MDT 9:33 p.m. 8:41 p.m. D 1.0° 38°

Tucson MST 7:16 p.m. 8:28 p.m. 1.2° 26°

San Francisco PDT 8:15 p.m. 8:16 p.m. 1.2° 39°

Los Angeles PDT 7:49 p.m. 8:25 p.m. 1.2° 33°

Seattle PDT 8:44 p.m. 7:50 p.m. D 1.1° 43°

While those using binoculars or a small telescope will enjoy the almost three-dimensional aspect of the Moon, Venus will be rather disappointing, appearing as brilliant blob of light, for right now, Venus appears as a tiny, featureless gibbous disk. That will change in the coming weeks, however, as Venus approaches Earth and the angle it makes between us and the Sun allows it to evolve into a "half-Moon" phase in early June . . . and a lovely crescent phase of its own during July.





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for a little fun

Ten Alien Encounters Debunked


As a longtime investigator of unusual phenomena, I have no doubt that UFOs exist. UFOs, are, of course, Unidentified Flying Objects, and "unidentified" simply means that what the eyewitness saw was not immediately recognized by that person, at that time, under those circumstances. There are many things in the skies that the average person may not be able to identify from a quick look but that a pilot, a meteorologist, or an astronomer might instantly recognize. There are also seemingly unusual experiences that most people may not understand but that a psychologist can explain.

With alien encounters, we find that often an explanation lies not necessarily in the skies but in our minds. Humans are pattern-seeking creatures, and our brains try desperately to make sense of things we don�t immediately recognize. Often we are correct in our assessments of what we see and experience, but many times we simply misperceive, misunderstand, or misremember.

Those who claim to encounter aliens and see UFOs are sometimes ridiculed as crazy, but in fact we are all hardwired with the same fallible brains. While some people seek out the skeptical or scientific explanations, others decide that since they can�t explain something, no one else can either, and therefore that experience is mysterious or inexplicable.

So with that, here are 10 alleged alien encounters�those brushes with aliens (or supposed aliens) that have been definitively debunked over the years.

-- Benjamin Radford

Benjamin Radford is a writer and the managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine; he is also author or coauthor of three books, including Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking.


#10 Alien Engineers
http://www.space.com/images/pyramid_03.jpg

The story:

Science can�t explain how the Great Pyramids of Egypt were constructed; because they are so precisely aligned and designed, aliens must have had a role in creating them thousands of years ago.

The real story:

While many people assume that those living in earlier times (such as the ancient Egyptians) were not resourceful enough to possibly have created impressive engineering feats without extraterrestial aid, this is not true. Actually, the methods by which the pyramids could have been constructed are well documented, and have appeared in many places including National Geographic magazine and Mark Lehner�s book The Complete Pyramids. The only real mystery surrounding the pyramids is why anyone would still think aliens were involved.

Further reading:

Mark Lehner. The Complete Pyramids.


#9 Cattle Mutilations
http://www.space.com/images/060516_cattle_03.jpg

The story:

When alien visitors are not abducting people (see number 2) or implanting things in them (number 3), or making circles in crops (number 7), they butcher cattle, either for research purposes or perhaps sadistic amusement. Since the 1970s, hundreds of animal corpses have been found with unusual or inexplicable features, including being drained of blood and having their organs removed with "surgical precision."

The real story:

Livestock predation has plagued ranchers and farmers for millennia, but it wasn�t until the last few decades (during the public�s peaking interest in UFOs) that anyone thought to attribute the deaths to aliens. Research has shown that the "mysterious" features are in fact quite ordinary and are caused by natural decay processes and scavenger attacks. Curiously, exactly the same phenomena has been attributed to not only aliens but also to Satanic cults and the dreaded chupacabra creature of Hispanic folklore.

Further reading:

Kendrick Frazier, ed. The UFO Invasion.


#8 Area 51
http://www.space.com/images/h_area_51_03.jpg

The story:

Area 51 is where the U.S. government stores and studies extraterrestrial bodies and aircraft, including the unfortunate (and apparently poorly-trained) alien pilots that crashed in Roswell. Some even say that it is an officially-sanctioned landing base for spaceships.

The real story:

The simple fact of the matter is that the public doesn�t really know much about what goes on at the military base near Groom Dry Lake, Nevada (popularly but not officially called Area 51). It is a top secret military base, and there are of course perfectly legitimate government and military reasons for keeping the base�s purposes secret that have nothing to do with aliens or UFOs; 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl suggested that the area may be a dumping ground for toxic waste. There�s no reason to think that anything alien is going on there, but where there is secrecy, there will be conspiracy.

Further reading:

Robert Carroll. The Skeptic�s Dictionary. Available at http://www.skepdic.com/area51.html.


#7 Crop Circles
http://www.space.com/images/ben_joe_steuben_cropped_03.jpg

The story:

Aliens are the most likely explanation for the mysterious circles and other designs that occasionally appear in farmers� fields. They are some sort of sign or message that humans have not yet deciphered.

The real story:

Despite films like Signs, there is no evidence that crop circles are made by alien intelligences. Hoaxing is by far the best explanation for crop circles�far more so than aliens who supposedly travel across the vast universe to reach Earth, only to flatten wheat in rural English and American farms as some sort of information. (You�d think that aliens with superior intelligence would realize their messages aren�t getting through, and be a little more direct.)

Further reading:

Kevin Christopher. "CSICOP Crop Circle Experiments." Available at http://www.csicop.org/hoaxwatch/cropcircles.html.


#6 The Face on Mars
http://www.space.com/images/mars_face_03.jpg

The story:

Proof that intelligent alien life exists in the universe can be found on Mars�or so claims Richard Hoagland, author of the book The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever. According to Hoagland, NASA photographs of the Cydonia region of Mars show a human-like face. According to Hoagland, this must have been constructed by intelligent beings and indicates that there are (or were) alien cities on Mars.

The real story:

The "Face on Mars" is an example of imagination and wishful thinking. The photographs that show an area vaguely resembling a face on Mars were taken by the Viking 1 Orbiter in 1976. Since then, far better photographs have been taken of Mars (for example, by the Mars Global Surveyor in 1998). They show that the area is heavily eroded, and the "face" was simply a combination of low image resolution and tricks of light and shadow.

Further reading:

Phil Plait�s Web site Bad Astronomy.com. Available at: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/hoagland/index.html.


#5 The Alien Autopsy Film
http://www.space.com/images/alienautopsy_03.jpg

The story:

The 1947 "Roswell Incident" (see number 1) got a boost of credibility in 1995 when a grainy, black-and-white film surfaced. The top-secret film (shot by the military and showing a post-mortem dissection of an alien body) was touted as evidence of what some UFO buffs had claimed all along: that alien bodies had been recovered by the U.S. government.

The real story:

Soon after the alien autopsy footage was broadcast on Fox television, serious doubts were raised about the authenticity of the film. Skeptics (and even many UFO researchers) branded the film a hoax, pointing out anachronisms and inconsistencies in the film. Yet because the Roswell story is so short on evidence, others clung to the autopsy footage as real. Earlier this year, the special effects artist who created the alien confessed that it was in fact a hoax.

Further reading:

Joe Nickell. "Alien Autopsy Hoax." Skeptical Inquirer, November/ December 1995.


#4 Flying Saucers
http://www.space.com/images/ufo_craft_03.jpg

The story:

On June 24, 1947, the modern UFO era began when a man named Kenneth Arnold saw nine �flying saucers� moving at high speed near Mount Rainer, Washington. Soon others began reporting seeing similar UFOs, spawning a �flap.�

The real story:

The phrase "flying saucer," so familiar to Americans and UFO buffs, is the result of a reporter�s error. After interviewing Arnold about his sighting, a reporter from the Eastern Oregonian newspaper reported that Arnold saw round, aerial objects (in fact he said they were "crescent shaped"). Arnold stated that the objects "flew erratic, like a saucer if you skip it across the water"�not that what he saw resembled an actual saucer. Yet that "saucer" interpretation stuck, prompting many eyewitnesses to repeat (and hoaxers to duplicate) Arnold�s nonexistent description. This strongly shows the role of suggestion in UFO sightings; as skeptic Marty Kottmeyer asks, "Why would extraterrestrials redesign their craft to conform to [the reporter�s] mistake?"

Further reading:

Robert Carroll. The Skeptic�s Dictionary. Available at http://www.skepdic.com/saucers.html.


#3 Alien Implants
http://www.space.com/images/h_spacealien_mom_02.jpg

The story:

As part of nefarious experiments, aliens have implanted various objects in human abductees. Victims have found small foreign objects in their bodies and come to realize they had been abducted. Several alien implants have been recovered, and when they are scientifically tested, they are found to be indestructible or of materials not found on Earth.

The real story:

Joe Nickell, a columnist for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, noted that �Since 1994 alleged implants have been surgically recovered but they�ve become remarkably diverse: one looks like a shard of glass, another a triangular piece of metal, still another a carbon fiber, and so on. None was located in the brain or nasal cavity, instead being recovered from such extremities as toe, hand, shin, external ear, etc.; some were accompanied by scars while others were not. As physicians know, a foreign object can enter the body unnoticed, as during a fall, or while running barefoot in sand or grass�even as a splinter from a larger impacting object.� People find all sorts of weird things in their bodies, but so far none are of alien origin.

Further reading:

Joe Nickell. "Alien Implants: The New �Hard Evidence." Skeptical Inquirer, September / October 1998.


#2 Alien Abductions
http://www.space.com/images/alienabduction_03.jpg

The story:

Hundreds of people claim to have been abducted by aliens, especially during in the 1980s. They were subjected to rape, experiments and implantations (see number 3), and other bodily intrusions. Several prominent researchers, including Harvard�s John Mack, supported the claims and wrote books about these victims.

The real story:

There may be several causes of the alien abduction experience. Many of these experiences are only recovered years later, during psychological treatment for other issues. Research has proven that false memories can be created in the course of therapy by careless psychologists. People can actually come to believe they were abducted or abused when they were not. Other researchers have shown that a common psychological process called sleep paralysis may be misinterpreted as an alien abduction.

Further reading:

Susan Blackmore, Abduction by Aliens or Sleep Paralysis? Available at: http://www.csicop.org/si/9805/abduction.html.


#1 The Roswell Incident
http://www.space.com/images/roswell_03.gif

The Story

The most famous UFO crash in history occurred in 1947, on a ranch just outside of Roswell, a dusty New Mexican town. Mysterious debris and alien bodies (see number 5) were recovered, spirited away in a government cover-up.

The real story:

There was indeed a cover-up of what crashed outside Roswell, but authorities were hiding not a crashed alien saucer but a weather balloon from a secret spy program called Project Mogul. The debris described by the original eyewitnesses exactly matches the balloons used in the program; the fanciful stories of alien bodies did not appear until much later. The Roswell Incident was in fact only one of many similar (and clearly folkloric) stories of crashed vessels containing alien bodies and debris�some dating back nearly 100 years earlier.

Further reading:

Philip J. Klass. The Real Roswell Crashed-Saucer Coverup.

Robert Bartholomew and Benjamin Radford. Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking.




source




*******

Robert Bartholomew and Benjamin Radford. Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking., we won't see LN reading that.
 
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