Info-ParaNet Newsletters Volume I Number 416 Sunday, June 2nd 1991 Today's Topics: Lunar Transient Phenomena, (Conclusion) Re: So. cal uof bbs Re: (none) Re: (none) green fireballs Solar Eclipse moon's lack of volcanism Re: Here's an Item for Inclusion in Info Re: Greg's Questions Bush and Grey buddy... Miscellaneous Re: FLIGHT 19 Re: GREEN FIREBALLS Re: More on Hoagland's Mars Re: Questions, questions, [...] Bennington AFB UFO, 1975 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm) Subject: Lunar Transient Phenomena, (Conclusion) Date: 30 May 91 00:01:00 GMT <> --The author directs the lunar transient phenomena section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. SOME POSSIBLE CAUSES OF LTP's --The following is a condensation of remarks by J. Hedley Robinson in the December, 1986, Journal of the British Astronomical Association. At least 11 possible causes of lunar transient phenomena (LTP's) have been discussed. As a stimulus to further discussion, it may be helpful to summarize and comment on these. 1. Tidal. There is a greater stress by the Earth when the Moon is at perigee than at other parts of its orbit. The tidal pull may release strains in the crust and permit the release of trapped gases. The tidal effect of Earth on the Moon is 32.5 times greater than the effect of the Moon on the Earth. 2. Albedo changes due to dust movement. There is essentially no atmosphere on the Moon to raise dust, so this does not seem likely as an explanation. 3. Thermal shock. The lunar surface temperature varies from 125 degrees to -80 degrees Celsius during a two-hour period at both sunrise and sunset, and most LTP's occur within three days of local sunrise or sunset. LTP's could be related to the fact that dissimilar materials expand and contract at differing rates. Although the maria heat and cool more rapidly than other parts of the Moon's surface, at a depth of just 10 cm the rock temperature is constant. Thermal conditions may be regarded as incidental to LTP's rather than the main cause. 4. Magnetic. Solar plasma bombards the lunar surface, even when the Moon is in the Earth's magnetic tail, and the movement of the Moon in and out of the magnetic tail changes the field strength. But charged particles penetrate the lunar surface to only one-third the depth reached by the Sun's thermal rays. If thermal shock is considered to be insufficient to cause LTP phenomena, then the much weaker electromagnetic effect below the surface must also be discounted. 5. Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun might cause fluorescence at visible wavelengths, because there is virtually no atmosphere to shield the lunar surface. I doubt that the effect is strong enough to produce visible reactions as bright, or as large, as the usual LTP's. 6. Solar-wind plasma impacting the surface could produce an electric discharge, but I doubt that the energy involved is great enough to cause an effect visible from Earth. LTP's could, however, be caused by the explosion of chemically reactive molecules and free radicals in small hollows; and solar wind plasma may produce such reactive molecules in rocks. But solar-wind plasma hardly looks like a prime cause. 7. Spectral diffraction from surface grains or irregularities too small for telescopic resolution may cause color. The lunar surface presents many angels to the observer, and these vary with libration in both latitude and longitude as well as with diurnal libration. With the varying lunar surface slopes, many simultaneous diffraction angles should be presented. But if this were the cause of LTP's, the effects should show all over the disk from time to time, whereas they in fact show local preferences. 8. Meteor strikes. These have been claimed frequently. One of the best observed was reported by the Smithsonian Institution near the Apollo 14 site on May 13, 1972, when a meteor impact released an energy equal to that of 1,000 tons of TNT. But meteor strikes cover only a small area on the lunar surface when compared to the size of LTP's. 9. Moonquakes are often deep seated but very weak, with a preference for times of perigee or apogee. There seems to be no obvious connection between the frequency of moonquakes and sightings of LTP phenomena. 10. False color is a regular feature in larger telescopes due to terrestrial atmospheric conditions. This can be guarded against by comparing a suspected LTP event with the appearance of other formations on the lunar surface at the same time, and is well recognized by practiced observers. 11. The piezoelectric effect is well known on Earth, for example when rock strain generates a strong electric field that ionizes the air above the rock, causing a glow. The field moves with the strain source. There are Soviet reports that the magnetic field drops suddenly when underground tension is released. Conclusion. The foregoing indicates courses that our thinking and research might follow. I am of the opinion that tidal strain or thermal shock causing outgassing and producing a piezoelectric effect might be the most plausible explanation. J. Hedley Robinson Helmington, 21 Inverteign Dr. Teignmouth, Devon TQ14 9AF England END PARANET FILE NAME: LUNAR.TXT -- ParaNet(sm) Information Service - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: ParaNet(sm).Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David.Villa@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG (David Villa) Subject: Re: So. cal uof bbs Date: 29 May 91 17:16:00 GMT Mark, SkyWatch BBS / ParaNet ALPHA-IOTA(sm) is in Santa Barbara, CA. Where are you located? The number is (805)687-0039. P.S. (No, I don't see the stupid soap opera being filmed around town, you guys! :) -- David Villa - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: David.Villa@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Paul.Mcavoy@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Paul Mcavoy) Subject: Re: (none) Date: 29 May 91 21:02:00 GMT Well there is proof that not all life needs the same criteria to live, take for example common life forms that are living in your back yard. These are commonly known as PLANTS! and they don't breathe oxygen, quite the contrary, they breathe carbon dioxide, which is oxygen based, yes, but is not oxygen, Humans as well as the majority of land animals would perish is all we had to breath was carbon dioxide. Also, With Dave's theoryhat life developed at generally the same rate living on planets that were exploded through the big bang theory, is somewhat incorrect. Our own sun for instance is a relativly new sun and our planet is made from the parts of something like the majority of the explosions of something like 4 suns? I am not sure as to the exact amount, but I am well aware of the fact that matter was created through the explosions of suns in supernova's, the extreame heat creates new matter, and more of the lower base forms of matter such as Hydrogen, and Helium. Supposedly the beginning of life on Earth took place with I think it was amonia breathing life forms or soemthing, so there is absolutely no reason whatsoever that life elsewhere has to be anything remotely similar to our lifeforms on this planet, althougha coincidence could be a reality, although a slim one, about as slim as there being life elsewhere nearby to our planet. Who knows, these are just questions to ponder, and keep you from sleeping at night and 'counting those bipedal lambs jumping over a fence'. HAH! -- Paul Mcavoy - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Paul.Mcavoy@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: James.Clark@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG (James Clark) Subject: Re: (none) Date: 29 May 91 22:18:00 GMT I seriously doubt we have been visited by plants, Paul. :) -- James Clark - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: James.Clark@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu Subject: green fireballs Date: 30 May 91 13:46:49 GMT From: chalmers@violet.berkeley.edu (John H. Chalmers Jr.) Re Streve Gresser and the Green Fireball: I have no idea what compounds could be present in the meteor to produce such a show. Elements such as boron, barium and copper just aren't very common, cosmically. We can mine them on the earth because geochemical processes concentrate them. The initial green color may be an optical effect due to light scattering in the atmosphere and the fact that our eyes are most sensitive to green light, but I'm guessing. Another possibility is that the meteors thermally ionize nitrogen and/or oxygen in the upper atmosphere and these gases are fluorescing. After all, the aurora borealis glows green, pink, and white. However, this is a only a guess. I'm not even sure the events take place at the same altitudes and the auroras are electrically excited, of course. The Smithsonian used to run a network of all-sky cameras in the southwest and recorded many meteors. The spectra should have been published somewhere and one might be able identify the chemical species from them. --- John -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: webb@afglsc.span.nasa.gov Subject: Solar Eclipse Date: 30 May 91 15:58:18 GMT From: webb@afglsc.span.nasa.gov Several people have wondered about the locations of the July 11 solar total eclipse. The path of totality is narrow. It will first touch land on the Big Island of Hawaii just after sunrise, cross the lower part of Baja California near midday, cross central Mexico, and end somewhere in South America. It will NOT touch the continental US, where only a partial eclipse may be seen in the southwest. Note that one can safely look directly at the eclipsed sun ONLY during totality, not during any partial phase, even 99%!! That means that NO ONE in the continental US can safely look directly at the sun. You can see the partial phase by viewing through appropriately smoked glass or exposed and developed film, or by viewing the image indirectly through a pinhole camera or a telescope projected onto a piece of cardborad or paper. Such details are in articles in Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines over the past year. I am going to see the total eclipse in Baja. It is a spectacular sight and should be seen at least once in a lifetime! Dave Webb -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: UNHH.UNH.EDU!K_MACARTHUR1 Subject: moon's lack of volcanism Date: 30 May 91 17:15:09 GMT From: K_MACARTHUR1@UNHH.UNH.EDU I'm pretty sure that the moon has no molten core. This is due to the fact that the Apollo and other unmanned probes report very little magnetic field, unlike the Earth and some other planets/moons. The current and most accepted reason for planetary magnetic fields is as a result of a molten core of a conductive metal (iron in our case) that induces magnetic fields as it rotates and flows around. Barring something like pockets of molten silicon at the moon's core (even though there is iron there, too and would be melted in along with it), I sincerely doubt the moon has any volcanic activity at this point in time, though it may have in the past. Any planetary geophysisists out there? Korac MacArthur INTERNET: k_macarthur1@unhh.unh.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jim.Speiser@f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jim Speiser) Subject: Re: Here's an Item for Inclusion in Info Date: 29 May 91 20:30:00 GMT > Hmm, I fail to understand how a document released to the public via > the Freedom of Information Act can still have questionable validity. I > would think our Govt., being so careful and into keeping reccords of > everything, would photograph all their documents on microtape before > releasing them. How are these documents released? Obviously, someone > doesn't show up knocking at MUFON's door saying, "Hey! Look what I just > got from the Govt!" and a Govt. document can't be easy to forge, let > alone have a problem with validity. I guess what I am asking is, > obviously our Govt. knows when a document said to be released under the > FIA turns up, if it is a valid dicument or not. Would then, the reason > its validity is not known to the public be that the Govt. itself claims > it is fake? > David, what document are you talking about? If you're talking about the MJ-12 documents, please be advised they were NOT released through the Freedom of Information Act, they were allegedly obtained from covert sources within the government. There's a BIG difference. Jim -- Jim Speiser - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Jim.Speiser@f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jim.Speiser@f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jim Speiser) Subject: Re: Greg's Questions Date: 29 May 91 22:46:00 GMT > Is there anyone out there reading this that has had an actuall > encounter with alien (or what they thoght to be Alien) life forms? Any > close friends or family members? Let's come out of the closet! That is > waht this conference is here for! Paul: I assume that ALPHA-IOTA is receiving the Abductions Conference (ABDUCT). If so, you are much more likely to get an answer to this last question there. ABDUCT is the only ParaNet conference in which aliases are allowed, and users are encouraged to post their alien contact experiences there, where any ridicule or other vitriolic response is verboten. They find it easier to "come out of the closet" under those circumstances. Jim -- Jim Speiser - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Jim.Speiser@f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Steve.Rose@p1.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Steve Rose) Subject: Bush and Grey buddy... Date: 28 May 91 18:28:36 GMT In a message to Steve Rose <24 May 91 13:25> David Villa wrote: DV> Haha, yes, I saw that picture as well, while standing in line DV> to purchase my groceries. Quite funny. It's amazing what people DV> will read these days. It was even more funny that the "Alien" was DV> obviously just a man in a body stocking, blurred a little bit. Haha. Yeah, I guess if anyone really *pushed* the issue and challenged the validity of the photograph...they would hide by saying, "Oh! That is NOT the actual event taking place...just a photographer's conception!" ;-) -- Steve Rose - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Steve.Rose@p1.f134.n109.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John.Hicks@f29.n363.z1.FIDONET.ORG (John Hicks) Subject: Miscellaneous Date: 29 May 91 07:53:07 GMT > human brain can be stimulated to hallucination with certain > frequencies in the microwave range. Just want to mention, in case you missed it, that John Brandenburg found that microwave energy can cause grasses to lay down flat but still remain alive. Interesting........maybe some connection. jbh -- John Hicks - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: John.Hicks@f29.n363.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Pete.Porro@f414.n154.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Pete Porro) Subject: Re: FLIGHT 19 Date: 29 May 91 16:49:07 GMT I wasn't sure about the rest of the country but here in the Mid-West they say the same thing. We are affected by jet stream currents and alberta clippers and a few others. The funniest one that comes to mind is a guy running a T-shirt booth at the State Fair here. It was sunny and nice, a few minutes we had one of those downpours, followed by sunny again rest of the day. He was from Kansas and said he had never experienced anything that strange before. I guess they know what's going to happen a few days in advance, while here it's a guess until it's over. Giant hail storm Monday about 60 miles North of here. It didn't rain where I live. Last off topic message to Fla. I stood on the road (Collins Blvd?) and it was raining on one side, and dry on the other side, Miami Beach. I have not had time to impliment my "UFO Photos" yet, but came up with a third method last week. As soon as I can make some, I'll try to send them off to you, without telling how it was done. You can see how real they look. (now watch I'll really photograph a UFO and people will say, Oh he wrote that he was going to fake some!) No way Jose' I won't try to say these are anything but frauds, and if I ever get a real one, I hope it's not as hokey as my creations. -- Pete Porro - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Pete.Porro@f414.n154.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Paul.Mcavoy@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Paul Mcavoy) Subject: Re: GREEN FIREBALLS Date: 31 May 91 04:38:00 GMT I have access to large bike boxes if anyone wants them, but you have to come and pick them up yourself.. let me know (those around here) -- Paul Mcavoy - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Paul.Mcavoy@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Paul.Mcavoy@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Paul Mcavoy) Subject: Re: More on Hoagland's Mars Date: 31 May 91 04:43:00 GMT Wow, that is intriguing, any way of getting any more information about that? picutres, documents etc? -- Paul Mcavoy - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Paul.Mcavoy@f2704.n206.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: gateh@conncoll.bitnet Subject: Re: Questions, questions, [...] Date: 31 May 91 23:32:52 GMT From: gateh%CONNCOLL.BITNET@YALEVM.YCC.Yale.Edu > From: lush@ecn.purdue.edu (Gregory B Lush) > > I want to understand what it is that makes people want to discuss UFOs. > Has anyone changed his/her mind about the subject of aliens/UFOs since > participating in this newsletter? Not really, although the stuff from Belgium was pretty interesting. > Why are you reading this newsletter? I'm interested in all kinds of things, ranging from international news to orchids & bromeliads to meteorology to computing to non-rational conceptual frameworks to baseball to astronomy to floating about in bodies of freshwater suspended by floatation devices (aka 'bloating'). A lot of intriguing stuff passes through this discussion group. > Some people have said that they 'saw something' and want to know what it > was. Even the strongest skeptics MUST believe that there is the > possibility of aliens or else they wouldn't waste their time and the > other readers' time as well. Am I correct? Although this may sound pretty darn silly, I try not to _believe_ in anything. Either I know it or I don't; if I know it, I know it, if I don't, I try not to form any opinions, but just keep looking. I think of a belief as a commitment to something that is not known, and IMHO this is not necessary and just not a good idea in general. It's not as if I believe or know that there are no aliens, and the task is to convince me that there are. Even if no one had ever seen a UFO, if the thought had never occurred that there might be other beings from other planets, that wouldn't lead me to say there *aren't* any. It would be just another of an truly infinite number of things I don't know about one way or the other. > I'm asking these questions because I don't see any way to 'scientifically' > PROVE the existence of aliens, short of a personal ride out of the galaxy. While the 'scientific method' can be a darn useful tool, I'm not about to let it get in the way of my 'knowing' about something that might not fit the rules. In the event that I am abducted and transported through time and space in such a way as to violate everything I know rationally, and it turns out that I am not an individual human being but really some small part of a much larger entity, I won't really care if I can prove it scientifically, since I don't need to understand it to know it happened. On the other hand, I can't know something without some type of experience of it, or some evidence of it. If I am abducted, I have evidence, and I then decided whether or not I'm hallucinating or dreaming or really being abducted, and then I decide whether or not I 'know' that there are alien beings. If someone else presents evidence of such an abduction, say a photo, it gets the same scrutiny that the evidence from my own senses gets. Everyone is free to interpret their experiences any way they choose; sooner or later the world catches up with everyone and then you find out how good your analyses were/are. > I believe/know aliens are here. That's my opinion/feeling. It seems to > 'fit the data' better than the idea that there are none here. The problem > is sorting out which data points are valid and which are not. I guess I > believe Billy Meier's contacts are valid, so that is a start for me. My question would be, do you *believe* or do you *know*? And why would you choose to make what appears to be a relatively final decision as to whether or not there are aliens based on opinion/feeling? Is there a need to make that decision? Is it appropriate to make any final decision either way when the evidence is still so scattered and inconclusive, and the integrity of many of the individuals reporting such evidence is questionable? From what I can tell I wouldn't put much weight behind the Meier evidence, but at the same time the interview with Vallee leads me to think that while he on the one hand appears fairly cautious and careful, on the other hand may have some hidden agendas and may be inclined to make some statements which are inappropriate in their own right. Well, I think that's enough babble for one day. Now off to the lake to soak my head ;-). Cheers! - Gregg Gregg TeHennepe | Academic Computing Services | This is the life gateh@conncoll.bitnet | Connecticut College, New London, CT | you have -V. Reid -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rutgers!phri!marob!upaya!tbetz Subject: Bennington AFB UFO, 1975 Date: 1 Jun 91 03:10:37 GMT From: Tom Betz A couple years ago on the old Paranet Alpha I read a text file on the subject of a UFO, if I recall correctly, at Bennington AFB in Texas. In that report, written by a former airman, was something to the effect that after the UFO hovered over the airfield, the defensive missile emplacements along the runways were discovered to have been disabled by forces unknown. A friend visiting one of my housemates told me last night that in 1975, he happened upon a crowd of witnesses to a UFO at a service station near Bennington, just after it had left, and he recounted the sheer terror of their reactions to it. He had not heard any more about the story, as the Air Force had, of course, denied that anything happened. I would be greatly indebted to anyone who could find that file and either post it to the list or email it to me at the address below, so I can share it with this fellow. Thanks. -- -------------- 'Hels' og industri, de gaar haand i haand.' Tom Betz ----------------------------------------------------------------- 914-375-1510 marob!upaya!tbetz@phri.nyu.edu betz@marob.uucp%phri.nyu.edu GBS {att,philabs,rutgers,cmcl2}!phri!marob!upaya!tbetz ********To have your comments in the next issue, send electronic mail to******** 'infopara' at the following address: UUCP {ncar,isis,boulder}!scicom!infopara DOMAIN infopara@scicom.alphacdc.com For administrative requests (subscriptions, back issues) send to: UUCP {ncar,isis,boulder}!scicom!infopara-request DOMAIN infopara-request@scicom.alphacdc.com To obtain back issues by anonymous ftp, connect to: DOMAIN ftp.uiowa.edu (directory /archives/paranet) ******************The**End**of**Info-ParaNet**Newsletter************************