Astronomy researcher: UFOs not rare but regular and other astronomer sightings

Well it looks like China's jumping onto the UFO bandwagon.

At least one astronomer researcher in China according to this article. I was wondering when astronomers would start speaking out, since I am sure they have a better chance at seeing UFOs then non astronomers



news.xinhuanet.com...

[edit on 29-6-2008 by LateApexer313]

[edit on 29-6-2008 by LateApexer313]

A some one who regularly sits out on starry nights with scope and bins, I applaud him for being honest.

I have seen many thinks that have made me pause and go 'wtf!?!' .

I know high altitude aircraft, i know satellites, i seen thousands of meteors and even rarer fireballs in the dozens.

I have also seen 'ufo' like occurences that have left me totally stumped.

[edit on 29-6-2008 by Dan Tanna]

reply to post by Dan Tanna


Hiyah Dan Tanna,

You got me curious about astronomers and amateur astronomers and why don't they see more UFOs or is it just that they don't report them etc and I found this site....Goes back to early astronomers 1700's or so up until 2000

A LIST OF SIGHTINGS BY ASTRONOMERS

August 28th, 1999: Bronx, New York, USA; 10pm. '..I had decided I was going to try to video tape the moon thru my Meade ETX90 telescope.. I was looking thru my 8mm camcorder, which is looking thru the scope at 48X.. The moon was East/SouthEast at the time.. approximate point in the sky.. was Right Angle 0hr15.0m and Declination -3*37 degrees.. I then see a round object with no lights or distinguishing marks move across the face of the moon in a straight type of motion. It made no sound, no strange anything at all, just a round/disclike object going across the moon.. I was recording, so I have it on tape..' Witness continued to observe the moon, and saw the same thing or an identical object cross the moon in the same direction. Both were '..round, black..' and recorded on tape. Stated the witness - '..I do not claim this to be a spacecraft, or meteor, or satellite.. or anything else. I am just a amatuer astronomer who saw something weird. I have tried to use some deductive reasoning to come to some conclusion. And my conclusion is that it simply is a UFO. No doubt about it.' (NUFORC)

October 11th, 1999: due south of Kirbyville, USA; 8.35-10.35pm. A detailed sighting by a very serious amateur astronomer; his friend with years of shared stargazing - who called from 60 miles distant; (the reporting witness's) daughter, and at least five others. (NUFORC)

October 12th, 1999: Three Rivers, Michigan, USA; 7.40pm. The witness has been an amateur astronomer since 1970. Saw two 'jet contrails,' then spotted 'two round star like objects about 10 or 20 degrees above the horizon.' They had the same colour - 'pinkish orangeish' - as the jets. Witness does not believe they are stars or planets and took photos. (NUFORC)

www.xdream.freeserve.co.uk...

[edit on 29-6-2008 by LateApexer313]

Another article here, very interesting, about the astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1957....

The one below is from 1957, and the observer was a famous astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto. Tombaugh was an avid sky watcher as well as an acute telescopic observer. He was very familiar with atmospheric phenomena. His experience belies the common assertion of UFO skeptics that "professional astronomers never see UFOs."

An Unusual Aerial Phenomenon
by Clyde W. Tombaugh

I saw the object about eleven o'clock one night in August, 1949, from the backyard of my home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I happened to be looking at zenith, admiring the beautiful transparent sky of stars, when I suddenly spied a geometrical group of faint bluish-green rectangles of light similar to the "Lubbock lights". My wife and her mother were sitting in the yard with me and they saw them also. The group moved south-southeasterly, the individual rectangles became foreshortened, their space of formation smaller, (at first about one degree across) and their intensity duller, fading from view at about 35 degrees above the horizon. Total time of visibility was about three seconds. I was too flabbergasted to count the number of rectangles of light, or to note some other features I wondered about later. There was no sound. I have done thousands of hours of night sky watching, but never saw a sight as strange as this. The rectangles of light were of low luminosity; had there been a full moon in the sky, I am sure they would not have been visible. (Signed August 7, 1957)

www.science-frontiers.com...

Many 'Pro' astronomers are all computer bound these days, with rarely any 'scope time at all. Its left to the amature field alot of the time to actually sit under the skies and actually watch the heavens with the naked eye.

Also, pros' are funded by universities - so what pro will risk funding to go on record and say 'we see these things and we cannot explain them'.

Add to this the ego is involved. They will not admit to seeing things they cannot explain.

[edit on 29-6-2008 by Dan Tanna]

reply to post by LateApexer313

An astronomy researcher reckons UFOs have been visiting Nanjing

An astronomy researcher is a new title to me, is that the same as an astronomer or something different.

The thing is any phenomena seen through a telescope especially a large professional one would be focussed on space so any near earth objects would not be noticed, as Zeroghost a friend of mine has said in the past it is like looking at the sky through a straw.

That being said maybe he does turn his attention on more local airspace from time to time with a pair of binoculars.

So I wonder if he has any cool photos he is going to share or even better video.

The UFO phenom is definitely coming into play all over. On the average forums (not related to the unknown/theories etc) i am a member on there are people talking about strange things way above the norm. Two of them have started sticky threads where people can post their experiences already, strangely both are UK based sites.

I had my first sighting about 30 years ago and that big orange ball will always be with me, and so it has made the worst skeptic i know.. my mother.. still scratching her head.

One thing i must say is that everyone should invest in a decent camera. I only woke up in 2005 after catching pics from my cell, great experience but crappy proof. So with me i can say i get to spot something strange every 25+ years, that is just bloody sad. Well i am ready, got my cameras with me whenever i travel, i will get them one day


** Tanna you are 100% imo, you hit it spot on, would they risk their reputation or funding, maybe their life? I wonder.


[edit on 6/29/2008 by qonone]

Wow! Found another gem...GET this...NASA actually agrees that this WASNT a satellite...shocking!

An unidentified streak moving through the night sky above Hawaii has sky watchers puzzled.

The streak, which can be viewed in motion on a NASA website page, was captured on film by a camera positioned on a volcano in Haleakala, Hawaii. It moves from southwest to northeast.

According to the NASA site, the streak was spotted on the night of Dec. 17. Another camera trained on the night sky in Hawaii, in Mauna Kea, also captured the image.

While the streak may have been disregarded as a satellite, NASA says no record of a satellite in that position exists on a website that documents bright satellite events.

NASA includes an online discussion board for people to speculate about what the streak might have been.

One poster wrote: "What is truly bizarre is that this object is visible for a good 55 minutes at Haleakala and close to 30 minutes at Mauna Kea. Usually, satellites take a few dozen seconds or, at the most, a couple of minutes to cross the entire sky.

www.worldnetdaily.com...

[edit on 29-6-2008 by LateApexer313]

reply to post by sherpa


Yes it would have been nice if he had given more information and of course, photos to prove the 7 shapes he describes that might well be from out in space.

It would be nice too to get the photos and videos from the amateur astronomers on the one site I also posted where they actually say they have photos and videos

I remember that 2004 sighting as it hit a few lines in some of the online blogs and ufo sites at the time.

I also have a sneaky feeling that it was said at the time no images were caught of it... Ill have to have a dig about for that see if its as i remember it.



[edit on 29-6-2008 by Dan Tanna]

Fantastic thread LateApexer! Starred and Flagged!

We get a couple of posts per week here it seems, from people asking "how come astronomers never see UFOs?" Here's your answer folks-THEY DO!

My guess is that most of these top level astronomers are studying under government grants, and therefore have to follow a protocol and set of rules under them---Which we know equals keeping mum.

But as we see, SOME of them are coming forward!

Exciting!

If they are coming regularly and to the same place, as he said, that's a good thing to know because one can set up the scopes, radars and cameras of various kind well in advance to study them.
Its a big thing if we know the approx time of arrival of ufo's.

Its even possible to arrange something to make a contact and surprise them

reply to post by LateApexer313


Hawaii is a great place to see celestial objects in the night sky. I've seen dozens and dozens of satellites streak through the sky (all visible at the same time) as well as some relatively slow moving large balls of fire light up the sides of hotels in Waikiki (media said it was a "satellite re-entry" though it didn't look like it, nor a typical meteor). In any case, some awesome stuff.

Dr J Allen Hynek risked his professional reputation when he went from skeptic to wondering what was really out there. He wanted the astronomers to study the phenomena and was ridiculed by people like Dr Carl Sagan.

Yes, Dr. Hyneck of the infamous "swamp gas" line...wasn't he the one that coined that often repeated phrase He sure did his penance though, the skeptic turned believer

Hiyah - gorecki - I have never been to Hawaii but I have heard that it's a great place to sky watch for sure! Did you live there when this event happened in 2004 I believe? And if you did...did it make the newspapers etc? I'd love to hear about what you remember, if you'd care to share

DimensionalDetective - Thanks And yes I too have always wondered why astronomers don't see more things but then as Sherpa pointed out they are focused on far away things such as the moon and planets etc...If I lived in a better city for sky watching I'd get a telescope of some sort.

I then see a round object with no lights or distinguishing marks move across the face of the moon in a straight type of motion. It made no sound, no strange anything at all, just a round/disclike object going across the moon..

Uhhh, if hes looking at it through a telescope it seems sound would be a non-issue.

These are usually natural phenomena or man-made objects, Wang said.

But another seven shapes including spirals, fans, circles, spindles and V-shaped objects remain inexplicable, he said.

These UFOs may well hail from outer space, Wang said.

Very well said by Wang. You can't discount the real possibility of visitation considering all the sightings and reports by reputable people who often have more to lose than gain by going public. We have been a technological civilization for a few decades. You can't be naive and underestimate what a million year old civilization could do.. Or discount the possibility of interaction with higher dimensional beings.