I’m going to need to take some time off, a decision prompted by responsibilities outside the interstellar community that have grown to the point where I lack the time to maintain a consistent schedule on the site. I’ll keep moderating comments as usual, and I have some first-rate essays coming up from other authors, but my own writing is going to have to be sporadic for the time being.
Long-term, I plan to keep Centauri Dreams active for a long time, so bear with me. As soon as I can do it, I will get back to a more consistent schedule. For now, though, expect a slower pace of new posts from me.
Normally, elsewhere I’d just give a ?? emoji below a post like yours today. That means things like: you’re appreciated or sending love, wishing you good luck with your activities, thanks for being you, hope you come back soon fresh and sparkly! Take one or all!
A nice cap to the day, John. Thank you!
We all need personal time Paul. We’ll miss your insights but the site has many contributors and with Alex helping it will work out fine. All the best.
Yes, the site will keep percolating. I’ve got some things from other writers coming along right now, and a wonderful Larry Klaes movie essay.
All the best to you Paul, I hope you will find the time and rest that you need. You more than deserve it.
We go back a long way on the site, don’t we Ronald? Thanks for your input over the years.
Yes, we do indeed, and though other busy occupations and obligations have kept me from inputs for a while, I have always been following your site, always one of my very favorite, you can be sure of that.
I wish you very well and thank you for this astronomical pied-à-terre through the years.
Always glad to be able to provide an astronomical pied-à-terre!
I hope everything works out for you IRL!
Much appreciated!
Looking forward to having you back to more frequent posting. One of the first websites I visit each early morning is Centauri Dreams. You and Centauri Dreams are having a profound effect on the growing movement to go interstellar. This is especially important now that NASA’s stated focus with Artemis is going back to the Moon to stay, onward to Mars, and beyond. The space programs of other nations are taking note as well.
Kind words! Thanks, Jim. I figure going interstellar is going to take a lot of time and sustained effort, but it’s an exciting project along the way, and I think we’ll ultimately make that interstellar crossing.
Paul, as they used to say at the end of The Beverly Hillbillies each week: “Y’all come back now, ya hear?!” Or words to that effect.
When I was growing up, interstellar travel was confined to Star Trek and its ambiguous warp drive with its make-believe dilithium crystals.
Then in the 1970s, the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) gave us our first glimmer of hope with Project Daedalus. Sure, it required fusion power which we are still waiting for in any serious way outside of a hydrogen bomb, the need to mine the atmosphere of Jupiter for the fuel (no biggie there), and AI of the semi-intelligent variety, which we still don’t know when that will happen (sorry Google and HAL). Nevertheless, it was still a real plan designed by people who were not part of Hollywood. They even said it could be ready to fly by circa 2050! Back when that wasn’t less than thirty years from now.
At one time I thought robot cars were the stuff of the distant future. Now they are happening. And now people are finally getting really serious about interstellar travel. It too has its issues, such as a gigawatt laser, but they are taking a different approach and even setting semi-realistic deadlines. I would like to live to see a real interstellar probe actually launch, but I will also be happy to know such vessels are at least being built.
And oh yeah, we could still do Orion, which could have gotten us (and still could) to Alpha Centauri in just over one century using technology we have now and had 60 years ago.
https://centauri-dreams.org/2016/09/16/project-orion-a-nuclear-bomb-and-rocket-all-in-one/
It is nice to know that Paul is actually helping to make interstellar exploration happen and that we mere mortals can participate in one form or another through here.
Ad Astra Per Facilis!
Talk about another long-term guy. I think you were there back in 2004 when the site went live, Larry, or not long afterwards. Anyway, making interstellar flight happen is something we’re all trying to engage in, so maybe all of us are building momentum in ways that will help down the line. I hope so!
Warm wishes to all.
That goes from me to all of you as well. And thanks especially for all the camaraderie.
Project Daedalus still seems the way to go.
Hi Paul
Thanks for letting us all know. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is humbled by how much superbly written material you give the world. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for all the enjoyment and knowledge you have given me. My admiration for you is boundless, and I sincerely hope that you are able to continue writing for us at a pace and volume that matches your other needs and commitments.
With every best wish to you
Yours
Steve (Clark)
Very kind of you, Steve. Thanks. I hope to be back at my normal pace before too long. I plan to keep Centauri Dreams going for many years.
We all appreciate what you do here Paul, both providing the content and keeping discussion civil. We’ll be here when you get back.
Much appreciated, my friend. Thanks for being part of Centauri Dreams.
Dear Paul, good luck on whatever ventures you need to attend to.
Always looking forward to your next essays, even as the burden of everyday mundane life sometimes makes it a challenge to keep up with them in required detail. And fingers crossed, one of these days one of your essays will be about first tentative biosignatures in atmosphere of some far away exoplanet…
A biosignture in an exoplanet atmosphere. Now that’s an outcome I’d like to see!
In my part time duties as an adjunct teaching some basic astronomy or elective astronomy, I often recommend this site as a resource to students.
Because of the many resources off to the right of this page, of course.
They can find a link to almost any stellar or exoplanet related topic.
But ALSO on account of the wonderful survey articles that Paul Gilster has composed over the years. I can well imagine those students who are attracted to the subject as we are saying to themselves after reading a few paragraphs: “Had I only known!” And then going off to explore some of the implications and wanting to get back with someone to discuss it.
In the meantime, until you have the spare time, we will all try to mind the fort you constructed.
Kind words, Wes. Thank you. I always wanted an inspirational dimension to run through the site, and if it’s helping bring a few students into the field, I’m delighted. That’s a very cheering thought for me.
Paul, I’m with James M. Essig in that Centauri Dreams is an essential part of my day. Please keep well, keep safe and take the time you need. In the spirit of Wojciech’s post, here’s to Alpha Centauri and to your well-being.
Very kind, David. I’m already plotting my return to greater activity.
Paul, I’m sorry to see you go even if partially and temporarily. My best wishes to you and yours. I look forward to your full return. We need to meet again in person to enjoy an evening of superb wine, food and interstellar flight-related conversation. I’m working to finish my draft chapter on general relativistic FTL propulsion for volume 2 of a forthcoming 3-volume series on interstellar flight science to be published by the Elsevier Press. So hopefully we can talk about that after the series gets published.
Yes, it’s been too long since our last meal together, Eric. I’ll look forward to that. Is that three-volume Elsevier effort the same one that Les is involved in? I just finished the foreword to the book he edited, and am pleased to see these coming out.
Hi Paul
Yes give your self a break, with work, family, I sometimes wounder how I myself keep up with all the interesting news.
If your to busy just place my emails in your junk folder :)
Cheers Edwin
Edwin, no junk folder for your emails. I wouldn’t think of it!
At the risk of overburdening you with praise (lest it go to your head!) I’ll add my voice to the plaudits. I’ve been visiting CD for many years, Paul. Only occasionally in the early days and more now that I have the time. I don’t even remember how I found my way here. It was probably while searching for something or other and finding an article here.
I know how much work is involved in sustaining the quality and quantity of the articles, and keeping the discussions relevant and civil. I will happily wait for the return of your attention to CD.
Much appreciated, Ron. I’ve been benefiting from your insights for years now, and I hope you’ll keep the comments coming for a long time in the future.
Hope all is well!
Thank you, Patrick. This will be a temporary absence, and the site will continue. Lots of good things ahead.
Grazie di tutti i meravigliosi articoli, che hai postato, in così tanti anni.
Spero, che in un tempo, che riterrai opportuno, Paul, tu possa tornare, a pubblicare, i tuoi, interessantintissimi articoli.
Sperando, che la difficile situazione internazionale, e il cambiamento climatico, non faccia evaporare i nostri sogni, per un futuro migliore, magari, tra le altre stelle. Un saluto, da Antonio Tavani
Via Google Translate:
Thanks for all the wonderful articles you have posted over so many years.
I hope that in a time that you think fit, Paul, you will be able to go back to publishing your very interesting articles.
Hoping that the difficult international situation, and climate change, does not destroy our dreams, for a better future, perhaps, among other stars. Greetings, from Antonio Tavani
For my part, Antonio, I hope we can renew the conversation we had in the Italian Alps all those years ago. It will be a great pleasure to see you again when that happens, and thank you for the email updates.
I will be missing you.
I love the way you open new doors to my mind.
So glad to hear that the site is doing this for you, Janine. It’s a privilege to have such good readers.
Do what you need to do. The Internet can wait.
Thanks, Steve. I do hope to be back in regular action before too long.
Hi Paul,
I might not be commenting much anymore, but I still look at this site every day, with great pleasure. Hopefully the interruption won’t be too long.
Cheers
And you are another of those long-term readers whose comments I remember from years back. Thanks for sticking around, Enzo!
Hi Paul
I hope Real Life settles down or at least becomes manageable. I know my own situation means fluctuating energy levels and time-squeezes I’d rather not have!
Rest or action, do what you need to do for you.
regards,
Adam
I hope we can pick up in person on some of the conversations we had when we last met, Adam. I guess that was at 100 Year Starship’s first meeting. Seems a long time ago now, but thanks for always being a trusted friend.
Hi Paul,
I need to say thank you for all the time you have spent working on making this website alive, a place that for me has been a light into the tunnel of space exploration.
Since the end of cold war, it seems that Space has been somehow left aside of the public agenda. So for us, Carl Sagan´s and Apollo missions‘ sons it has been heartbreaking to see how the human been has stopped looking up to the sky. This is the tunnel I am talking about.
People like you make a difference brining the light of hope to us, children of the 70´s and 80´s on a future on which starring at stars, as we did one million years before, and where our future as species is, we will be less worried about our vain everyday stressful life.
After having the time you deserve, please return fresh for the fight of carrying the torch.
Thank you very much
I’ve often felt the kind of heartbreak you describe,Javier, when I think back to my own childhood and where it seemed we would be by now in space. But good things are worth fighting for, and I’m pleased to be a part of the community here that is advocating deep space with patience and persistence. It thrills me to think of some of the things the younger members of this forum will see in their lifetimes.
“Do what you have to do” was my instructions to the experienced staff when they came asking for permission to proceed. Announcing expected hiatuses is part of doing what one has to do.
Centauri Dreams remains based in science even in its jaunts into fiction: I have come to be on the lookout for new content (including comments).
So “do what you have to do”; and all the best to you and yours!
I’ve drawn a lot of good content ideas from you, Robin. Thanks for those emails as well as comments!
I am certain we all agree on sending a thank you for all your work Paul Gilster, and take whatever time you need. We’ll be all happy for whatever essays by others that’s brought here meanwhile.
And thank you for your participation here, Andrei. Your comments are always of high value.
Best wishes Paul, thanks for everything you do
Thanks, Will! It’s a pleasure to work on these issues and interact with an audience like this. Looking forward to more soon.
This is the site I visit every day, possibly the best site ever for a astronomi lurker like me :).
Paul, take your time, and huge thanks for all this, now and in the future.
Always feel free to lurk or jump into the discussion. Either way, thank you, Martin. I’m glad you’re here.
Thank-you for this web site!
ad astra Frank Drake!
Ah, another Frank Drake fan. I remember so vividly my first chance to shake his hand. A hero of mine.
Thank you Paul for all of your incredible work. This is my favourite website, and it never ceases to amaze me, although I’m usually a silent visitor. It’s a fantastic feeling to hear from the scientists and enthusiasts looking at interstellar distances.
Take care!
Feel free to be a silent visitor, Ignacio, but also to join in any discussion you choose. It’s a pleasure to have you here, and I’m glad you’re finding the site helpful.
I only started reading your articles recently. All have been excellent. Many thanks for the time and effort you’ve put in to make this an outstanding site. LOL, at least now I can try and catch up on some of your older posts.
Yes, enjoy the older stuff. It goes back to 2004 so there’s no shortage!
Paul: Take all the time you need, of course. At our time in life there are always these circumstances that require us to take extra care of ourselves so we can keep on keeping on. Centauri Dreams is the site I visit most often, at least once a day. Of course your interview of me in your book Centauri Dreams was the start of our fruitful interaction. That’s 20 years ago now! I’ve written about 20 pieces for this site, usually a summary of my scientific work on interstellar matters or an extended comment on the ongoing discussion. I hope you continue this song-of-the-stars for many years to come! And I hope to see you sometime in the future when our paths will again intersect.
Yes, it’s been too long since we’ve talked in person, Jim. I hope we have the chance again soon. Thanks for all your contributions to Centauri Dreams and, of course, to the larger interstellar effort. And thank you as well for our long and productive friendship.
Thanks Paul for this great website, which I visit nearly every day.
I enjoy the conversations here with you and everybody else.
I hope you get whatever you need to do, done successfully and come back on full steam!
I’ll be back, Michael. Count on that.
All the Best Paul.
I am just a tourist who contributes little but enjoying the inspiration, science and warmth of a close knit community of hardheaded optimists.
Thanks and looking forward to whatever is next.
Looking forward to whatever is next from you as well, Patient Observer. I’ve appreciated your many comments here; keep them coming!
when you returning ?
Soon, I hope. In the meantime I’m working with several other authors to get articles ready.
Since we are in a hiatus, perhaps some relevant thoughts may be entertained…
The latest episode of the Cool Worlds podcast:
Does Quantum Entanglement Allow for Faster-Than-Light Communication?
More Hiatus News…
Every Saturday morning, when my alarm clock radio goes off, the NPR station I am tuned to runs a debate show called “Intelligence Squared”.
Today’s debate topic was “Should We Search for Extraterrestrial Life?”, and it featured SETI researcher Jill Tarter and cosmologist Paul Sutter.
You can listen to this debate at
https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/
A bit more accessible.
In effetti… Non so, se sia davvero intelligente, cercare altre “menti” di altri mondi lontani…
Già, tra di noi, umani, c’è tanto razzismo, per il colore della pelle, o per le differenze economiche, sarà una cosa intelligente, o meno, cercarli, se questi extraterrestri, avessero, un aspetto mostruoso, e orripilante, ai nostri occhi?
Ricordo, un racconto di Arthur C. Clarcke, che raccontava, proprio di questo. Creature, buone e intelligenti, che, però, avevano il “torto” di assomigliare, ai demoni, della nostra tradizione medioevale.
Un saluto, a tutti voi, dall’Italia.
Via Google Translate:
In fact … I don’t know, if it is really intelligent, to look for other “minds” from other distant worlds ..
.
Already, among us, humans, there is so much racism, for the color of the skin, or for the economic differences, it will be a smart thing, or not, to look for them, if these extraterrestrials, had a monstrous and horrifying aspect to the our eyes?
I remember, a story by Arthur C. Clarcke, who told, just about this. Creatures, good and intelligent, who, however, had the “wrong” of resembling the demons of our medieval tradition.
Greetings, to all of you, from Italy.
If we waited for the human race to get “better”, we never would have accomplished anything. Plus we seem to automatically assume that ETI, especially the advanced kind, are somehow better than us. Who can really claim that to be the case? If we are mortal then we have flaws. How bad these flaws are is what matters.
It depends on how one defines better. The value of life is always the same, the highest value. I do think ET’s who are millions of years more advanced than us would know how to handle their problems and flaws better than we handle ours since they’ve worked at them for a lot longer time than us. We will get there and we can’t take any shortcuts, We can compare ourselves to two millennia ago and see our progress today and expect more in the future.
Geoffrey – Advanced ETI may be better with themselves, but how will they treat others who are not them? I am not talking invasion here, I am talking the really ancient and advanced kind might treat us like we treat an ant colony at a construction site. No deliberate attacks but if the colony is in the way of the building project, then bye-bye ants – and not because anyone meant them ill will, but because they barely mattered to the construction team.
Not saying this is a definite, but we need to stop thinking that alien species are going to recognize us as fellow intelligences, or care.
Agree , ljk !
Flaws identified in societal terms (sociology, political science, culture, religion, etc.) will adversely affect the species if they impact the biological imperatives: survival, growth and replication. Growth of the individual is limited by physical constraints to the largest examples: the forest mycelium, the giant sequoia and the blue whale. In most cases growth is rolled into replication. Growth does demand more space… habitable space.
Sadly virtually all space off-planet fails that criterion. Carrying or creating habitable bubbles of one kind or another is one option. The search for habitable planets is another. Both presume the persistence of our species which indeed is a sine qua non.
That is a very good question but one that any advance race would be well aware of and know what works best with encounters with more immature civilizations. This is one reason the UFO/UAP enigma may be the way super civilizations do such unusual activities to reassure us that they mean no harm but know of our problems. A prime example of this is a very good book by Robert Hastings on “UFOs & Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites” that details the keen interest UFOs have had over nuclear sites and the early development of the nuclear A Bomb. Any advance civilization would know that large rocky planets like earth would have radioactive elements available to intelligent beings to make weapons with. Their big concern is when elements like plutonium, that are not naturally occurring are used to make such bombs. They would have an understanding from their own experience and possibly encounters with many other rocky planet civilizations how quickly this could spell disaster for them. Since the upturn in sightings started during WWII it would seem they where monitoring such developments.
Weapons-grade plutonium
Pu-239 is produced artificially in nuclear reactors when a neutron is absorbed by U-238, forming U-239, which then decays in a rapid two-step process into Pu-239.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons-grade_nuclear_material
Another bone to chew on: is there a free will?
Science’s perspective: “No!”, and Religion’s perspective:
also a “No!”; (
or in brief).
However, without at least the presumptiion of a free will the structure of society and community would fall apart.
Daniel Dennett’s “Freedom Evolves” walks through his logic to demonstrate that determinism, even if true, does not restrict open-ended outcomes. He acknowledges that this is contrary to the arguments of other philosophers.
I would also note that a deterministic, Laplacian, universe does not exist in the analog, quantum world. Indeterminacy is part of the structure of the universe.
Gentlemen,
I need a second opinion on this paper. I will make no comment on it in order not to bias you, one way or the other.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.11215.pdf
Just taking the description of the 3 dark objects (Swifts) in figure 13. estimated to be at 6 km altitude, of a size of 12m, traveling at 15 km/s.
6 km is just 6000 meters, well within the troposphere. 15 km/s is greater than the 11 km/s escape velocity from Earth.
So we have apparently 3 objects able to travel in the air at faster than escape velocity without leaving any other sign of their passage. A physical object, even made of unobtanium, would be creating a plasma as it plowed through the thick air, as well as sonic booms, shockwaves, and a host of other atmospheric phenomena even if the object itself was apparently able to stay dark[ish].
My sense is that their “colorimetric” calculation of distance is just wrong. They use stellar brightness as their calibrating method. It would have been far better to use aircraft overflights to calibrate the colorimetric method as the flight details and aircraft type are readily available from several websites that track aircraft.
My guess is that they are seeing much smaller, closer, smaller objects, like birds, maybe even swifts, for the dark objects. Bright objects are likely shiny, unpainted, metal hulls of commercial aircraft. I have seen just such an effect on a misty day at sunset in the UK when I was younger. What looked like a lenticular orange light resolved itself as it got closer to an airliner following the flight path to Heathrow airport.
The authors have no discussion about their technique’s robustness, nor the many objects they were able to identify. They just select the ones they assume are “ships” and make the claim that this is what they are in the conclusion.
In summary, at best, a faulty experimental method.
I like the idea of using the light of reflected solar radiation off the atmosphere to track a UAP because it shields radiation in the atmosphere due to Rayleigh scattering. I’ve never seen that idea. It’s a is an original, good one. The size of the object might be difficult to determine accurately with a kind of parallax. How can one differentiate these objects from birds and balloons is my only question. I admire any scientific attempts at UAP research which I include this paper.
This is what I commented on the article on Twitter.
“Kyiv is just 60 miles south of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor and the Duga 3 over the horizon radar • The Russian Woodpecker. The aliens seem to be keenly interested in our atomic mistakes and what we do about them… Interesting, 3 degrees a second 1 minute to cross the sky. Faster then commercial jet aircraft and satellites. 15 degrees a second equals 12 seconds to cross the sky. Would be nice to know the time period these observations were made.”
This has been something I’ve been planning on doing for a very long time but most projects that have done of these kind of observations do not have much to show for it. This project is different in that they found a way to pick up both very fast bright objects and black objects that are completely black body and do not emit but absorbs all the radiation falling on it. This is significant and new to the UFO/UAP studies.
I really appreciate their in depth explanation of the equipment and procedure to capture these images. Using relatively inexpensive planetary lucky imaging cameras that can be bought on line through such companies as ZWO, QHYCCD or Rising Cam they found a method to track extremely high speed unknown objects. This is also new and significant in that repeating such observations should not be difficult and apparently has no need for AI!
https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asi178mc-color
https://www.qhyccd.com/qhy294-astronomy-cooled-camera/
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32918018747.html
TL;DR: just jumped to the conclusion.
If there are (super?)intelligent meat- or machine-folks out here, they have been watching us as adults may watch a bunch of toddlers in a playpen, fighting wars, making discoveries, etc. Perhaps for amusement. Or to study evolution of culture, technology et cetera. Good reasons for them to continue incognito.
They might have surreptitious feeds from the internet for data collection with quantum computers cracking all encryption. Their technology must allow travel well beyond our present means, from an elsewhere that must also remain speculation for now. Where they get matter and energy resources is yet another question.
It’s an interesting read, short as it is. As presented, it is not a complete manuscript as there is no discussion section and almost no conclusion section. I can’t comment on the technical details as I’m not trained in the field but some form of proof of concept should be included surely? For example how do aircraft show up as detected by these two stations? We have some observations here and a very basic attempt to classify these phenomena into two main groups. It needs a lot of fleshing out by these authors Henry.
Thank you for the comments, gentlemen.
My own take on this is that the “paper” is completely bogus. My opinion is more in line with Mr Tolley’s.
I suspect (although I certainly can’t prove) that what we are seeing here is a form of espionage, that it isn’t about UFOs at all, but about some technical system, such as radar, electronic counter-measures or communications tech. The graphs and charts are about the technical parameters and capabilities of military equipment, and convey detailed classified information on these systems. The intended recipient would know this and interpret the information appropriately. The UFO context is camouflage, designed to get the material past censors, who presumably would not have the appropriate technical background to recognize it as disguised confidential tech data (or whose first language was not English). By publication as a “scientific paper”, it allows the military secrets to be communicated without encryption, in the clear, hidden in plain sight.
Look carefully at the text. There are only two references cited, and one of them is a basic desk reference.. Many of the graphs and figures’ axes are unlabeled! What are the units? Just what is being compared, or what is a function of what? And just how can you determine distance from color? The objects observed have multiple order of magnitude ranges in speed and distance. What experimental technique could possibly encompass such a range? The correct reference to astronomical (B-V) color indices is included to divert a superficial background check, but stellar color index is used for stellar temperature comparisons on time exposure astronomical film emulsions, it is never used in terrestrial atmospheric physics. And what about that camera objective with a 6mm focal length? Most of my telescope eyepieces have longer focal lengths than that.
I did look up the source institute for the paper, and it appears to be legit, but it is highly possible their cooperation was never solicited for this publication, they are only included as part of the smokescreen. All misinformation contains sufficient truth to get past a superficial verification procedure, but not any form of rigorous peer review.
Remember, there is a war going on in that part of the world.
Something similar to the publishing of thermonuclear calculation work in astronomy journals papers during the Cold War? [I think Freeman Dyson was the source for this recollection.] Interesting idea.
Years ago,, I worked with a physicist who was developing mathematical techniques for the perspective transformation of aerial photo imagery (how to resample a digital image of a piece of ground so it appears to be viewed from a different point in space). I was assigned to this project because of my astronomy background–I was asked to code up a series of mathematical equations from a paper published in the late 1930s by a Polish astronomer who was working with the perspective transformations onto the celestial sphere of randomly oriented binary star orbits.
This paper had been translated and republished in an American journal during WWII with this note from the editors (I paraphrase):
“We publish this paper because we believe the work is important and useful, and deserves wider circulation. We regret we have been unable to contact the author for his permission and comments due to the current situation in Europe.”
I’ve often wondered if that Polish astronomer was Jewish…
So now it’s all espionage, What ever the latest is what we think can explain UFOs, Drones, Missiles, radar balloons. The scientific establishment use a hundred foot stick to keep their distance from UFOs/UAPs. You can not understand because you do not study it! 6mm security camera lenses have a field of about 50 degrees on a planetary camera, I know because I have one along with the IMX178 Sony camera. If this was the Neptune picture from the JWST you guys would be saying how great it is, what a miracle it is. This System they are talking about seems to work on bringing some new details about UFOs/UAPS but instead you follow the rules set down by the military in 1951 when they knew they could not get rid of the subject deny, ridicule and character assassination. The concept is solid the equipment is cheap and you and every denier should say lets go out and do it and PROVE them wrong! That is scientific investigation…
You have that backward. The onus on proof is on those putting forward the science. It needs to be replicated by others with the proper controls just to show their technique works as they claim. Even if it does, there is no reason why an unidentified aerial object should be classified as a spaceship, rather than an object that needs to be identified. This leap of logic without evidence is a giveaway.
Sorry, Henry you are wrong:
Boris Ephimovich Zhilyaev
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine | ISP · Laboratory for Transient Phenomena in Stars
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=flkABV8AAAAJ
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Boris-Zhilyaev
V. N. Petukhov’s
https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/V-N-Petukhov-2090777913
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=Sergii%20Pokhvala&sort=date%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0
Volodymyr M. Reshetnyk
https://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/13405/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Volodymyr-Reshetnyk
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225046484_High-speed_multicolor_photometry_with_CMOS_cameras
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258564270_Astroclimate_parameters_of_the_Kyiv_observatories
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237842975_Performance_of_commercial_CMOS_cameras_for_high-speed_multicolor_photometry
Shavlovskij, V. I.
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=author%3A%22Shavlovskij%2C%20V.%20I.%22&sort=date%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0
I think there is a war going on in this world to keep UFO/UAP out of the average person’s mind because the Industrial Military Complex is scared to death of them.
You guys need to be a little more considerate and open minded, oh and this is just the first part of what will be two or more publications on this material…
You are trying to make an argument based on authority, not the quality of the science.
The history of science is littered with statements from science authority figures that later proved to be incorrect. It was not so long ago that the late Thomas Gold stated that solar sails would not perform as they should operate like the vanes in a radiometer – non-reflective surfaces generate more thrust than reflective ones. While one can see what he was thinking for sails in LEO, he was wrong.
Gold was perhaps most famously wrong about his idea that fossil fuels were not fossil but created by a deep crustal biosphere that resulted in the continuous formation of oil to coal. He argued well and clearly was not a crank. However, he was wrong, at least as far as a test drilling in Sweden turned up nothing, and AFAIK, there has been no further evidence to support his theory, and that he also dismissed the evidence supporting the conventional theory of fossil fuel formation. OTOH, he was correct about the crustal biosphere, so there is that.
Relax, Michael.
As a card-carrying, dues-paid, member of the Military-Industrial Complex Denialist Conspiracy Intent on World Domination, I can reassure you I have complete confidence that any advanced alien civilization will have ample technical means to announce their presence peacefully to the whole world, unambiguously, whenever and wherever they choose to do so. No cabal of sinister orthodox denialists will be able to stop them.
And if ETs choose NOT to reveal themselves, they will not. No frantic effort by starry-eyed messianic zealots will be able to see through their camouflage and expose them.
There is no THEY maliciously trying to hide the truth from US. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Note to Moderator: Doesn’t Centauri-Dreams have access to a sarcasm font?
As I said before read this;
A prime example of this is a very good book by Robert Hastings on “UFOs & Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites” that details the keen interest UFOs have had over nuclear sites and the early development of the nuclear A Bomb.
You can stick your cigar where the sun does not shine!