Tag: New York
Top 12 List: 2012 Sky Watching Events
by UFO updates on Jan.02, 2012, under Breaking News
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CSMonitor.com- What lies ahead sky-wise for 2012? What celestial events might we look forward to seeing?
Joe Rao, SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist, selected what he considers to be the top 12 "skylights" for this coming year, and list them in chronological order. Not all these events will be visible from any one locality … for the eclipses, for instance, you'll probably have to do some traveling … but many can be observed from the comfort of your backyard.
And you won't have to wait long for the action to begin. On Jan. 4, the Quadrantid meteor shower will peak with an estimated 100 meteors per hour, according to NASA.
Hopefully your local weather will cooperate on most, if not all, of these dates. Clear skies!
- Joe Rao
1. Quadrantid meteor shower (January 4, 2012)
This meteor shower reaches its peak in the predawn hours of Jan. 4 for eastern North America. The Quadrantid meteor shower is a very short-lived meteor display, whose peak rates only last several hours. The phase of the moon is a bright waxing gibbous, normally prohibitive for viewing any meteor shower, but the moon will set by 3 a.m., leaving the sky dark for a few hours until the first light of dawn; that's when you'll have the best shot at seeing many of these bluish-hued meteors.
From the eastern half of North America, a single observer might count on seeing as many as 50-to-100 "Quads" in a single hour. From the western half of the continent the display will be on the wane by the time the moon sets, with hourly rates probably diminishing to around 25 to 50 meteors.
2. Feb. 20 to March 12: Best evening apparition of Mercury
In February and March, the "elusive" innermost planet Mercury moves far enough from the glare of the sun to be readily visible soon after sunset. Its appearance will be augmented by two other bright planets (Venus and Jupiter), which also will be visible in the western sky during this same time frame.
Mercury will arrive at its greatest elongation from the sun March 5. It will be quite bright (-1.3-to-0 magnitude) before this date and will fade rapidly to +1.6 magnitude thereafter. Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in terms of magnitude, with lower numbers corresponding to brighter objects.
3. March 3: Mars arrives at opposition
On March 3, the Earth will be passing Mars as the two planets wheel around the sun in their respective orbits. Because Mars reaches aphelion — its farthest point from the sun — on Feb. 15, this particular opposition will be an unfavorable one. In fact, two days after opposition, Mars will be closest to Earth at a distance of 62.6 million miles.
Compare this with the August 2003 opposition when Mars was only 34.6 million miles away. Nonetheless, even at this unfavorable opposition the fiery-hued Mars will be an imposing naked-eye sight, shining at magnitude -1.2, just a bit dimmer than Sirius, the brightest star, and will be visible in the sky all night long.
4. March 13: Brilliant "double planet"
The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, team up to make for an eye-catching sight in the western sky soon after sunset. They will be separated by 3 degrees on this evening, Venus passing to the northwest (upper right) of Jupiter and shining nearly eight times brighter than "Big Jupe." Although they will gradually go their separate ways after this date, on March 25 and 26, a crescent moon will pass by, adding additional beauty to this celestial scene.
5. May 5: Biggest full moon of 2012
The moon turns full at 11:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and just 25 minutes later it will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2012, at a distance of 221,801 miles. Expect a large range in ocean tides (exceptionally low to exceptionally high) for the next few days
6. May 20: Annular eclipse of the sun
The path of annularity for this eclipse starts over eastern China and sweeps northeast across southern and central Japan. The path continues northeast then east, passing just south of Alaska's Aleutian Island chain. The path then turns to the southeast, making landfall in the western United States along the California-Oregon coast. It will pass over central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, the extreme southwest corner of Colorado and most of New Mexico before coming to an end over northern Texas.
Since the disk of the moon will appear smaller than the disk of the sun, it will create a "penny on nickel" effect, with a fiery ring of sunlight shining around the moon's dark silhouette. Locations that will witness this eerie sight include Eureka and Reading, Calif.; Carson City, Reno and Ely, Nev.; Bryce Canyon in Utah; Arizona's Grand Canyon; Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico and just prior to sunset for Lubbock, Tex.
A partial eclipse of the sun will be visible over a large swath of the United States and Canada, including Alaska and Hawaii, but no eclipse will be visible near and along the Atlantic Seaboard.
7. June 4: Partial eclipse of the moon
This partial lunar eclipse favors the Pacific Ocean; Hawaii sees it high in the sky during the middle of its night. Across North America the eclipse takes place between midnight and dawn. The farther east one goes, the closer the time of moonset coincides with the moment that the moon enters the Earth's dark umbral shadow.
In fact, over the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada, the only evidence of this eclipse will be a slight shading on the moon's left edge (the faint penumbral shadow) before moonset. Over the Canadian Maritimes, the moon will set before the eclipse begins. At maximum, more than one-third of the moon's lower portion (37.6-percent) will be immersed in the umbra.
8. June 5: Rare transit of Venus across the sun
The passage of Venus in front of the sun is among the rarest of astronomical events, rarer even than the return of Halley's Comet every 76 years. Only six transits of Venus are known to have been observed by humans before: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and, most recently, in 2004.
The next one will occur in the year 2117. When Venus is in transit across the solar disk, the planet appears as a distinct, albeit tiny, round black spot with a diameter just 1/32nd of the sun. This size is large enough to readily perceive with the naked eye. HOWEVER ... prospective observers are warned to take special precautions (as with a solar eclipse) when attempting to view the silhouette of Venus against the blindingly brilliant solar disc.
The beginning of the transit will be visible from all of North America, Greenland, extreme northern and western portions of South America, Hawaii, northern and eastern portions of Asia including Japan, New Guinea, northern and eastern portions of Australia, and New Zealand. The end will be visible over Alaska, all of Asia and Indonesia, Australia, Eastern Europe, the eastern third of Africa, and the island nation of Madagascar.
9. Aug. 12: Perseid meteor shower
Considered to be among the best of the annual displays thanks to its high rates of up to 90 per hour for a single observer, as well as its reliability. Beloved by summer campers and often discovered by city dwellers who might be spending time in the country under dark starry skies.
Last summer a bright moon wrecked the shower by blotting out many of the fainter streaks, but in 2012 the moon will be three days past last quarter phase on this peak morning – a fat waning crescent presenting only a minor nuisance for prospective observers.
10. Nov. 13: Total eclipse of the sun
The first total solar eclipse since July 2010. Virtually the entire path of totality falls over water. At the very beginning, the track cuts through Australia's Northern Territory just to the east of Darwin, then across the Gulf of Carpentaria, then through northern Queensland, passing over Cairns and Port Douglas before heading out to sea.
The rest of the eclipse path, including the point of the maximum duration of totality (4 minutes, 2 seconds) is, unfortunately, pretty much wasted by falling over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.
11. Dec. 13-14: Geminid meteor shower
If there is one meteor display guaranteed to put on a very entertaining show it is the Geminid meteor shower. Now considered by most meteor experts to be at the top of the list, surpassing in brilliance and reliability even the August Perseids.
Bundle warmly against the winter chill; you can start observing as soon as darkness falls on the evening of Dec. 13 as Gemini starts coming up above the eastern horizon and continue through the rest of the night. Around 2 a.m. when Gemini is almost directly overhead, you might see as many as two meteor sightings per minute … 120 per hour! And the moon is new, meaning that it will not be a factor at all.
12. Dec. 25: Christmas evening and Jupiter
On Christmas, many will be looking skyward and wondering what that brilliant silvery "star" is hovering just above the waxing gibbous moon. It's not a star (or Santa returning to the North Pole), but the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, serving as a sort of holiday ornament with our nearest neighbor in space to cap off a year of interesting and predictable sky events that we all can enjoy!
More...
* Special thanks to - Joe Rao , Space.com and the Christian Science Monitor.
** Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.
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Quadrantid meteors and 11 other big skywatching events of 2012
CSMonitor.com- What lies ahead sky-wise for 2012? What celestial events might we look forward to seeing?
Joe Rao, SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist, selected what he considers to be the top 12 "skylights" for this coming year, and list them in chronological order. Not all these events will be visible from any one locality … for the eclipses, for instance, you'll probably have to do some traveling … but many can be observed from the comfort of your backyard.
And you won't have to wait long for the action to begin. On Jan. 4, the Quadrantid meteor shower will peak with an estimated 100 meteors per hour, according to NASA.
Hopefully your local weather will cooperate on most, if not all, of these dates. Clear skies!
- Joe Rao
1. Quadrantid meteor shower (January 4, 2012)
This meteor shower reaches its peak in the predawn hours of Jan. 4 for eastern North America. The Quadrantid meteor shower is a very short-lived meteor display, whose peak rates only last several hours. The phase of the moon is a bright waxing gibbous, normally prohibitive for viewing any meteor shower, but the moon will set by 3 a.m., leaving the sky dark for a few hours until the first light of dawn; that's when you'll have the best shot at seeing many of these bluish-hued meteors.
From the eastern half of North America, a single observer might count on seeing as many as 50-to-100 "Quads" in a single hour. From the western half of the continent the display will be on the wane by the time the moon sets, with hourly rates probably diminishing to around 25 to 50 meteors.
2. Feb. 20 to March 12: Best evening apparition of Mercury
In February and March, the "elusive" innermost planet Mercury moves far enough from the glare of the sun to be readily visible soon after sunset. Its appearance will be augmented by two other bright planets (Venus and Jupiter), which also will be visible in the western sky during this same time frame.
Mercury will arrive at its greatest elongation from the sun March 5. It will be quite bright (-1.3-to-0 magnitude) before this date and will fade rapidly to +1.6 magnitude thereafter. Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in terms of magnitude, with lower numbers corresponding to brighter objects.
3. March 3: Mars arrives at opposition
On March 3, the Earth will be passing Mars as the two planets wheel around the sun in their respective orbits. Because Mars reaches aphelion — its farthest point from the sun — on Feb. 15, this particular opposition will be an unfavorable one. In fact, two days after opposition, Mars will be closest to Earth at a distance of 62.6 million miles.
Compare this with the August 2003 opposition when Mars was only 34.6 million miles away. Nonetheless, even at this unfavorable opposition the fiery-hued Mars will be an imposing naked-eye sight, shining at magnitude -1.2, just a bit dimmer than Sirius, the brightest star, and will be visible in the sky all night long.
4. March 13: Brilliant "double planet"
The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, team up to make for an eye-catching sight in the western sky soon after sunset. They will be separated by 3 degrees on this evening, Venus passing to the northwest (upper right) of Jupiter and shining nearly eight times brighter than "Big Jupe." Although they will gradually go their separate ways after this date, on March 25 and 26, a crescent moon will pass by, adding additional beauty to this celestial scene.
5. May 5: Biggest full moon of 2012
The moon turns full at 11:35 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and just 25 minutes later it will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2012, at a distance of 221,801 miles. Expect a large range in ocean tides (exceptionally low to exceptionally high) for the next few days
6. May 20: Annular eclipse of the sun
The path of annularity for this eclipse starts over eastern China and sweeps northeast across southern and central Japan. The path continues northeast then east, passing just south of Alaska's Aleutian Island chain. The path then turns to the southeast, making landfall in the western United States along the California-Oregon coast. It will pass over central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, the extreme southwest corner of Colorado and most of New Mexico before coming to an end over northern Texas.
Since the disk of the moon will appear smaller than the disk of the sun, it will create a "penny on nickel" effect, with a fiery ring of sunlight shining around the moon's dark silhouette. Locations that will witness this eerie sight include Eureka and Reading, Calif.; Carson City, Reno and Ely, Nev.; Bryce Canyon in Utah; Arizona's Grand Canyon; Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico and just prior to sunset for Lubbock, Tex.
A partial eclipse of the sun will be visible over a large swath of the United States and Canada, including Alaska and Hawaii, but no eclipse will be visible near and along the Atlantic Seaboard.
7. June 4: Partial eclipse of the moon
This partial lunar eclipse favors the Pacific Ocean; Hawaii sees it high in the sky during the middle of its night. Across North America the eclipse takes place between midnight and dawn. The farther east one goes, the closer the time of moonset coincides with the moment that the moon enters the Earth's dark umbral shadow.
In fact, over the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada, the only evidence of this eclipse will be a slight shading on the moon's left edge (the faint penumbral shadow) before moonset. Over the Canadian Maritimes, the moon will set before the eclipse begins. At maximum, more than one-third of the moon's lower portion (37.6-percent) will be immersed in the umbra.
8. June 5: Rare transit of Venus across the sun
The passage of Venus in front of the sun is among the rarest of astronomical events, rarer even than the return of Halley's Comet every 76 years. Only six transits of Venus are known to have been observed by humans before: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and, most recently, in 2004.
The next one will occur in the year 2117. When Venus is in transit across the solar disk, the planet appears as a distinct, albeit tiny, round black spot with a diameter just 1/32nd of the sun. This size is large enough to readily perceive with the naked eye. HOWEVER ... prospective observers are warned to take special precautions (as with a solar eclipse) when attempting to view the silhouette of Venus against the blindingly brilliant solar disc.
The beginning of the transit will be visible from all of North America, Greenland, extreme northern and western portions of South America, Hawaii, northern and eastern portions of Asia including Japan, New Guinea, northern and eastern portions of Australia, and New Zealand. The end will be visible over Alaska, all of Asia and Indonesia, Australia, Eastern Europe, the eastern third of Africa, and the island nation of Madagascar.
9. Aug. 12: Perseid meteor shower
Considered to be among the best of the annual displays thanks to its high rates of up to 90 per hour for a single observer, as well as its reliability. Beloved by summer campers and often discovered by city dwellers who might be spending time in the country under dark starry skies.
Last summer a bright moon wrecked the shower by blotting out many of the fainter streaks, but in 2012 the moon will be three days past last quarter phase on this peak morning – a fat waning crescent presenting only a minor nuisance for prospective observers.
10. Nov. 13: Total eclipse of the sun
The first total solar eclipse since July 2010. Virtually the entire path of totality falls over water. At the very beginning, the track cuts through Australia's Northern Territory just to the east of Darwin, then across the Gulf of Carpentaria, then through northern Queensland, passing over Cairns and Port Douglas before heading out to sea.
The rest of the eclipse path, including the point of the maximum duration of totality (4 minutes, 2 seconds) is, unfortunately, pretty much wasted by falling over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.
11. Dec. 13-14: Geminid meteor shower
If there is one meteor display guaranteed to put on a very entertaining show it is the Geminid meteor shower. Now considered by most meteor experts to be at the top of the list, surpassing in brilliance and reliability even the August Perseids.
Bundle warmly against the winter chill; you can start observing as soon as darkness falls on the evening of Dec. 13 as Gemini starts coming up above the eastern horizon and continue through the rest of the night. Around 2 a.m. when Gemini is almost directly overhead, you might see as many as two meteor sightings per minute … 120 per hour! And the moon is new, meaning that it will not be a factor at all.
12. Dec. 25: Christmas evening and Jupiter
On Christmas, many will be looking skyward and wondering what that brilliant silvery "star" is hovering just above the waxing gibbous moon. It's not a star (or Santa returning to the North Pole), but the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, serving as a sort of holiday ornament with our nearest neighbor in space to cap off a year of interesting and predictable sky events that we all can enjoy!
More...
* Special thanks to - Joe Rao , Space.com and the Christian Science Monitor.
** Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.
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Obama White House Lying About Extraterrestrial Proof?
by Dirk Vander Ploeg on Dec.23, 2011, under Breaking News
NEW YORK , Dec. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A majority of people surveyed believe the Obama White House is lying when it says the government has no evidence that extraterrestrial beings exist.
According to those surveyed, 99% believe that UFO's of extraterrestrial origin have visited earth now or sometime in the past!
Recent Sightings In Virginia
by UFO updates on Oct.23, 2011, under Breaking News
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| Depiction |
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MUFON Case # 32781
Date: 2011-10-14
Time: 19:00
City: Roanoke
State: Virginia
Shape: Unknown
Summary: Lights seen in the sky over Read Mountain, Roanoke VA
Report:
I was in Roanoke VA to visit my family for the weekend and had gone out to my mother's front yard to smoke a cigarette and get some things from my car approximately around 9pm. It was an exceptionally clear night, and i had not trouble seeing many stars as well as aircraft. As soon as I walked out the front door I looked directly ahead approximately NW at an elevation of approximately 24 degrees towards the top of read mountain which was visible between the trees and the neighbor's house across the street.
My attention was immediately directed to a light or cluster of lights that appeared to be just over the top of Read Mountain by a couple hundred feet at best. The best guess at the distance (with my brothers help as well as google maps) was about 2000 ft from where I was standing. From my vantage point you could hold a tablet of aspirin flat at arms length and it would just fit in between the mountain and the lights. The lights were unusually bright for a plane or any other aircraft that I've witnessed, and seemed larger than they should be for the distance. They were flashing and brighter than any star in the same area of the sky, as well as any plane, of which there were many, but certainly not at that low of an elevation. Additionally, there were no planes in that particular part of the sky. They all were off to the east and west flying overhead from E to W, and at no less an elevation of 85 degrees compared to the 20-24 of the lights. It was very clear to me that it was some sort of motionless CRAFT, not a star, street light (it was in the air over a mountain with NO lights) or any other common occurence. I am currently 29 years old, mentally sound, and spend a great deal of time looking at the sky.
The most notable color was a bright VIVID red, which was the first thing that struck me as odd. As I watched for a moment the colors flashed between red, orange, yellow, and white... possibly pale blue, but from the distance it was hard to tell subtle differences in color variation.
I decided to walk up the driveway to the street to my car, thinking it nothing more than unusual. I lit a cigarette and walked down the street till the lights were in view again. From there I had a more clear vantage point than before. The lights were still present and did not appear to move at all, I attempted to hold up my thumb for a reference for size and to gauge the motion, if any, of the lights. I took notice of no discernible movement of the object. I watched the lights attempting to pick out any sort of pattern to the flashing and changing of color, but could not.
I currently live in Brooklyn, NY. I spend a lot of time on my roof at night watching the planes and stars as well as through my windows. Directly over my apartment is a main air traffic pathway and am accustomed to seeing many different types of aircraft and watch their light patterns intensely. To my knowledge there is ALWAYS a very simple pattern to them, and this set of lights that I saw were flashing fairly quickly and at random, save of course if it just happened to be a very LONG sequence.
I stood and watched the object intently for another 2 minutes or so, when my attention was drawn by another plane passing overhead, quite audibly. I looked away for no more than 10 seconds, and when I looked back to the lights, they were simply gone. After 5 minutes of being essentially motionless, they were just gone. Like someone had unplugged a Christmas tree. I said out loud "Oh, you've GOT to be f****** kidding me..."
I stood in the same place attempting to locate them for another 5 minutes, looking all around in the sky... nothing.
At the time, I wasn't at all sure what I had seen. I went back in the house and told everyone about it. It made enough of an impression that I mentioned it, which is in itself unusual. We talked about it for a couple of minutes and then it faded out of conversation.
Just last night I received a call from my eldest brother and mother. One week from the night I saw the lights, and around the same time, they had returned. Both my mother and brother saw them, her from her house and my brother from his. My mother had the longer and more detailed account. The three of us spoke on the phone about it for about half an hour and cross referenced each others sightings. As best as we could tell it was the same or at least similar object in roughly the same location. Her report is on file currently on this very same website, and I urge you to read it. "Long description of sighting report" is the title. It is listed under Roanoke, VA on October 21st. Though it wasn't her first sighting, this is both of our first times reporting the matter. This is my first sighting.
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| Click on map for larger view. |
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MUFON Case # 32789
Date: 2011-10-19
Time: 23:30
City: Richmond
State: Virginia
Shape: Flash
Duration: 00:00:03
Distance: Unknown
Summary: I was driving and all of sudden all was lit by blue/white light -then flash above tree line and then gone. No storms or search helicopter seen.
Report:
I was driving home from my evening job about 11:30pm on 10-19-11. I turned into Pocoshock Dr. from Hull Street Road and about 100 ft after turning in, suddenly everything illuminated with a blueish white light that continued for what seemed about 3 seconds. It was almost as if a light switch had been turned on. I could not see or figure out what was causing such a bright light. There are mature trees on either side of the road so it was difficult to see a large enough portion of the sky. My thoughts were, "Are we being attacked? Is this an explosion?" I braced for a bang but then the night blackness resumed--followed quickly by a flash over the tree tops to my right and then whatever the source it was gone. I did not see any indication of a UFO craft--just the amazingly bright light that I described. I immediately rolled down my windows to listen for thunder--but there was nothing but silence.
I thought at the time that surely lightening that bright and low as to illuminate such a huge area would cause a big bang--but again there was nothing but silence. There were no other cars traveling on the street that could have been shining bright halogen headlights at me. I pulled over on Dell Drive on the Surreywood Subdivision side where I could safely stop and I looked out the car window for signs of storm clouds or for a search helicopter--but neither existed. The sky was silent and filled with wispy clouds--but no storm clouds that I could see.
I was very puzzled, but surprisingly calm. The odd light had been so bright that my eyes slightly ached at the back of my eye balls--but strangely I did not see spots in front of my eyes as would be typical when a bright light was shined in your face. This was definitely a very unique occurrence and has kept me thinking about it and researching similar reports on the internet. I have shared the experience with my family and co-workers--who have listened kindly and considered the event odd as well.
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Latest Science News Links- Sun Mission, Invisibility Cloak, NYC Shuttle Shame, Pop Quiz!
by UFO updates on Oct.05, 2011, under Breaking News
Current NEWS Links
for Star Date 2011.10.5
Europe to lead daring Sun mission
[Europe is to lead the most ambitious space mission ever undertaken to study the behaviour of the Sun.]
Y'all be careful now, ya hear? I hear there is a huge 'mother-ship' lurking near the sun!
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Researchers Create Functional Invisibility Cloak Using 'Mirage Effect'
[Researchers have created a working invisibility cloak using one of nature’s common yet bizarre phenomena -- the “mirage effect.”
The new design from the University of Dallas was demoed on YouTube and even has an on and off switch -- and it's best used underwater.]
How much time do you spend under water?
*
Texans urge NASA to take retired shuttle away from New York
[Houston to New York: Displaying a retired space shuttle near a strip joint is no way to treat a precious space artifact.]
Shame, shame on you, New York!
*
How much do you know?
Quantum Mechanics Theories and Concept
Is this a parallel universe? Take the quiz!
You tell me your score and I'll tell you mine. ;-)
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The Mystery of the Invasive Red Orbs
by Chris Holly on Sep.23, 2011, under Breaking News
Years ago one of the first articles I wrote was about my own strange encounter with a red orb.
This event took place in the early 1970's while I was living in the town of Babylon New York located on the south shore of Long Island New York.
DATA-NET: Now You See Me Now You Don’t.
by UFO updates on Aug.26, 2011, under Breaking News
In a desperate attempt to find something interesting and relatively non-challenging to do, I have temporarily decided that slowly perusing an old UFO newsletter is within my energy level. We'll see how it goes and if anything interesting emerges. DATA-NET was a production of a network of Ham Radio operators in the late 1960s. Before the days of the internet this was a great idea, even though it took a lot of work and coordination. The general idea was that a radio web of independent citizens might operate like a widespread news service about UFO cases, some of which people elsewhere in the country would never hear about. In some cases the local Ham would merely report the story out of the local paper; in rare cases that might have even stimulated a bit of a personal field trip or interview. The internet makes this a bit obsolete today, but it would still be a good way to rescue UFO cases from oblivion if there was an actual network of truly dedicated individuals. Theoretically that's what MUFON is supposed to do, of course, but to my eye it rarely happens, or if it does, the rest of us never see the results.
DATA-NET is a glimpse into the past and is long gone as a newsletter. It was always a rarity, and the only ones that I read were the short stack at the Center for UFO Studies. They, however, began sending Ivan Sanderson their newsletter in late 1969 ["Volume 3, Number 6"], and so that gives me the rare opportunity to read more. So, I am.
These cases are not illustrated. DATA-NET was just typing on a page, so what I'll do here is simply try to thumbnail cases and leave it up to your imagination.
August 7th, 1969; Schenectady, NY. A husband and wife [named in article] reported a "large mass of white light" weaving through the sky. It then separated and became three small disks. After a while the three disks merged back into the large mass form and flew away. Shortly it returned, and .... "just disappeared". The witnesses said several other unnamed motorists stopped to watch this as well. Yep, just another normal day in Schenectady.
August 18th, 1969; Santa Cruz Island, CA. Many witnesses had seen unidentifiable pairs of lights [several pairs] on the 16th. Two evenings later, three members of a family [all named in article] saw pairs of yellow-orange flickering lights high in the sky. They watched sharing binoculars for about three minutes. There were 8 to 10 pairs [people didn't think to count] stretched out side by side [i.e. one pair after the other --- whether the pairs made a straight line isn't stated, but the orientation of the two lights in a pair was the same { i.e. if the first pair was one above the other, the rest were in that exact appearance relative to the other pairs; or, to put it another way: all lines from the pairs would have been parallel in the sky --- the reason why I've belabored this is that if all these orientations were the same, it looks more likely that the things could have been one object}].
As the witnesses, and now another neighbor [also named] watched, the pairs began blinking out one after the other at three second intervals. Finally just one was left. That pair hung there for a bit, changed color, dimmed, and disappeared. Both the husband and the neighbor reported the event to the Coast Guard.
September 12th, 1969; Muldrow, OK. A mother and her 14 year old daughter [named in the article] were sitting on their porch when a very large red ball of light just suddenly appeared [i.e. it didn't "rise" like the Moon]. The sky was clear and moonrise did not occur until much later that evening. The ball did not move nor make any sound, it just perched there in place. The object then faded to pink. Then to white. Then took on a fluffy cloud form. Always unmoving, for about 20 minutes. Then it simply was no longer there. The family tried to find others who may have seen the mystery but could not. That might mean that the phenomenon was actually fairly close by. The more exotic idea is that of the technically-produced "privileged viewing angle" where an object might be seen only along a particular line-of-sight.
So, that will do hopefully to keep our minds spinning a bit. I always am watching for "disappearance" cases. They may just be do to our own visual limitations, but many of them do not seem to fit that mundane hypothesis. Many such cases might just be the advanced technology "Portal" system. Now we see "them"; now we don't.
MY UFO EXPERIENCE | Fiery Sphere Shaped Object Changes Directions Over Shirley, New York
by UFO updates on Aug.24, 2011, under Breaking News
Comments Off :New York, Shirley more...MY UFO EXPERIENCE | Fiery Sphere Shaped Object Changes Directions Over Shirley, New York
by UFO updates on Aug.23, 2011, under Breaking News
Comments Off :New York, Shirley more...Earthquake Hits Eastern United States
by Dirk Vander Ploeg on Aug.23, 2011, under Breaking News
An earthquake with a preliminary magnititude of 5.9 struck in northern Virginia according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake had its epicenter in Mineral, Virginia.
Buildings swayed in New York City, Washington, D.C. and as far north as Buffalo, New York and as far west as Toronto, Canada. The original earthquake was immediately followed by after shocks.
UFO/Abduction Research Pioneer Budd Hopkins Passes Away
by UFO updates on Aug.22, 2011, under Breaking News
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| Budd Hopkins June 15, 1931 - August 21, 2011 |
From Intrudersfoundation.org
I’m very sad to announce that Budd Hopkins died today, August 21, at 1:35 pm. Budd had been under hospice care for about three weeks, at his home in New York. The combination of liver cancer and pneumonia led to his death. His daughter Grace Hopkins-Lisle and I were with him almost continuously during these past weeks. He was not in any pain throughout any of the process, and he received the best possible care and loving support from those closest to him. Today he gradually slipped away, and simply quietly stopped breathing. He died peacefully and without any struggle, with Grace, Grace’s husband Andrew, and me by his side.
Thanks to all of you for being such strong supporters of this extraordinary man, who has contributed so much to our lives, in so many different ways.
- Leslie Kean
Over a decade ago Budd Hopkins founded the Intruders Foundation as a nonprofit organization with four basic goals:
- To provide sympathetic help, understanding and personal investigation for those reporting UFO abduction experiences.
- To carry out systematic research into the abduction phenomenon through a careful study of its patterns and resulting physical and psychological evidence.
- To mount an extensive program of public education about the phenomenon.
- To develop a cadre of trained professionals in various fields to carry out all of these projects.
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Editor's Note: My deepest and most sincere condolences go to Budd's family and friends. He is sorely missed by all. - Sunny
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