Paranormal Magazine

The chance of discovering life on other worlds is greater than ever, according to Britain’s leading astronomer.

Lord Rees, the president of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal, said such a discovery would be a moment which would change humanity.

It would change our view of ourselves and our place in the cosmos, he said.

His comments come as scientists gather in London for an international conference to discuss the prospect of discovering extra-terrestrial life.

Scientists have been scanning the skies for radio broadcasts from intelligent life for 50 years, and so far they have only heard static.

But the chances of discovering life now were better than ever, Lord Rees said.

He said: “Technology has advanced so that for the very first time we can actually have the realistic hope of detecting planets no bigger than the earth orbiting other stars.

“(We’ll be able to learn) whether they have continents and oceans, learning what type of atmosphere they have.

“Although it is a long shot to be able to learn more about any life of them, then it’s tremendous progress to be able to get some sort of image of another planet, rather like the earth orbiting another star.”

The recent deployment of space telescopes capable of detecting earth-like planets around distant stars now make it possible to focus the search.

“Were we to find life, even the simplest life, elsewhere that would clearly be one of the great discoveries of the 21st Century.

“I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms that we can’t conceive.

“And there could, of course, be forms of intelligence beyond human capacity, beyond as much as we are beyond a chimpanzee,” he added.

[via: news.bbc.co.uk]

Hundreds of pages of secret files on New Zealand UFO sightings will be released by the military this year.

The files include reports of UFO sightings from 1979 to 1984 and references to the Kaikoura sighting of December 1978.

The files are held by Archives New Zealand and were to have been made public this month, but the Defence Force is removing personal information from them to comply with the Privacy Act.

“At the moment we are working on making copies of these files, minus the personal information,” a Defence Force spokeswoman said. “Once this work is completed, we are hoping to be able to release a copy of all the UFO files, including some ahead of their release time, within the year.”

Lights were seen in the sky over Kaikoura in December 1978 and were filmed by an Australian news crew. Aircraft tracked the lights, which were also seen on radar.

A man who worked for the Transport Ministry’s civil aviation division when the Kaikoura lights were seen said he would like to see the government files.

The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he was working at Christchurch International Airport at the time. He saw United States Air Force planes with unusual call signs touring the area and believes the full story about the lights has not been disclosed.

“For the US Air Force to come all that way and spend three days here, there must have been something going on,” he said.

The Press sought any Defence Force files on UFO sightings under the Official Information Act in August last year.

The Defence Force said the request “would require a substantial amount of collation, research and consultation to identify whether any of that information could be released” and it was “not in a position to deploy staff to undertake that task”.

It said public files on UFO sightings were available from Archives New Zealand.

The Press requested access to those files from Archives New Zealand, but was not able to see them as they had been borrowed by the Defence Force.

The director of research group UFOCUS NZ, Suzanne Hansen, said she was frustrated by the delayed release but understood the privacy reasons.

“We have been in discussion with the New Zealand Defence Force for many years … It is frustrating from a research perspective because we would like to collate these sightings with international research.”

She said some sightings could have been alien technology. “There are cases that are certainly not our technology. It has been scientifically proven that this is entirely possible.”

<SCRIPT SRC=”http://inl.adbureau.net/jnserver/acc_random=1966814040/site=s/area=s.stuff.thepress.news/aamsz=300×250/POS=STORYBODY/SOURCEDOMAIN=www.stuff.co.nz/KEYWORD=GOVERNMENT+MILITARY+PAPERS+SECRET+UFO/pageid=6450910796″></SCRIPT>

New Zealand Skeptics chairwoman Vicki Hyde said the secret files would not be as interesting as they appeared. “Governments all around the world have these kind of files and they are not as exciting as you might possibly hope.

“The Government is required to log these things and it can give a false impression that there is a vast amount of activity out there.

“There is probably intelligent life elsewhere, but whether it has come here to play silly buggers with us in a game of cosmic hide and seek is another matter.

“It is a big jump from `there was something in the sky and I don’t know what it was’ to `that was a craft piloted by aliens’.”

She said most sightings could be of mundane things such as satellites and flocks of birds.

[via: stuff.co.nz by Charlie Gates]

THE last ever UFO files have been released by the MoD and they show that sightings of mysterious objects in the sky have almost TRIPLED in a year.

In 2009 there were 643 reports of bizarre lights, strange spheres and curious orbs in our skies — a figure only beaten in 1978.

UFO expert Nick Pope said 31 years ago there were 750 reports from panicked members of the public.

But this is the last time the Ministry of Defence will release these figures. The government closed their UFO hotline just before the end of last year, after it had been running for almost 60 years.

The files contain sightings from military personnel, police officers and air traffic controllers.

Mr Pope, who used to run the MoD’s UFO project, said last night: “This is incredible. Britain is being inundated with UFO sightings.

“I’m sure the record would have been smashed had the MoD not terminated the UFO project late last year.

“These sensational figures just show how wrong that decision was.

“There are sightings here from military personnel, police officers and air traffic controllers.”

[via: thesun.co.uk]

WASHINGTON – A mystery object from space is about to whizz close by Earth on Wednesday. It won’t hit our planet, but scientists are stumped by what exactly it is.

Astronomers say it may be space junk or it could be a tiny asteroid, too small to cause damage even if it hit. It’s 33 to 50 feet wide at most.

NASA says that on Wednesday at 7:47 a.m. EST, it will streak by, missing Earth by about 80,000 miles. In the western United States it may be bright enough to be seen with a good amateur telescope.

[via: news.yahoo.com]

Nanaimo’s Chris Ansell and Kathleen Kirby have crossed Santa Claus off their list as they search for answers after they reported seeing four unidentified flying objects over Mount Benson on Christmas Day.

At 8:29 p.m., while on the deck of Ansell’s parents’ home on King John Way, the couple saw four orange lights the size of stars zip through the sky from four different directions and come together above the mountain.

Ansell, 35, whipped out his Blackberry to catch the action, while Kirby, 23, grabbed a nearby camera.

The four “starlike lights did this weird zig-zag thing and then turned into green glowing spheres and then, poof, they disappeared upwards,” Ansell said, gesturing frantically with his hands.

In less than 40 seconds it was all over, but Ansell and Kathleen captured three images they hope will eventually lead to an explanation of their mysterious sighting.

“We know it wasn’t Santa. He had already come and gone,” said Ansell with a laugh, pointing to his mother.

Paul Greenhalgh, president of the Fraser Valley Astronomers Society, has a few suspicions about what could have caused the extraordinary light show, though he discounts the possibility they were UFOs.

After examining Ansell’s and Kirby’s photos, Greenhalgh believes the “stars” are part of the Big Dipper constellation.

The low horizon of the Earth and thicker density of the atmosphere from the angle the stars were seen caused them to change colour from orange to red to blue and green. Greenhalgh also said the satellite Chandra (an X-ray space observatory) was also moving across the sky at the same time as the couple’s sighting, as were two iridium satellites.

“If they flared, otherwise known as an iridium flare, this could also add to the equation,” added Greenhalgh.

As far as the description of the erratic movements, Greenhalgh has no explanation.

“I have a philosophy about UFO sightings,” he said. “The galaxy is 100,000 light years across. If we were able to send a message from our solar system to another solar system on the other side of the galaxy through the galactic core, without it being disrupted with all the radiation there, it would take 65,000 years for us to say hello and an additional 65,000 years for them to reply. It’s going to be a very boring conversation.”

Greenhalgh has studied and stared into the sky for more than four decades without ever seeing an UFO. Only once in 43 years did he see a flying object he couldn’t explain.

But he uncovered the mystery two years later when he discovered the v-shape formation and central bright light he saw had been U.S. Navy satellites that had been tethered together.

Greenhalgh also pointed out that any aircraft that enters the Earth’s atmosphere would definitely be detected by the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

“NORAD can track anything from the size of a ping pong ball and larger,” he said.

Ansell and Kirby continue to keep a close eye on the night sky above Mount Benson with the hopes of another sighting.

“I just need an explanation. I don’t believe in extraterrestrials or anything like that, but anything is possible,” said Ansell.

“We do live in a huge universe and there could be things out there that just want to observe us.

“All we can hope is someone else saw it, too.”

[via: canada.com]

A giant pyramid which appears to be a UFO hovering over the Kremlin has caused frenzied speculation in Russia that it is an alien spacecraft.

The object has been compared to an Imperial Cruiser in the Star Wars films and witnesses estimated it could be up to a mile wide.

Two film clips exist which appear to show the same object and footage has been repeatedly playing on Russian television news channels.

The shots, one taken at night from a car and one during the day, were both filmed by amateurs.

The ‘craft’ was said to have hovered for hours over Red Square in the Russian capital.

The clips of the ‘invasion’ have gone to the top of the country’s version of YouTube.

The identity of the shape has not been confirmed. Russian reports ruled out a UFO but police refused to comment.

Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defence UFO analyst, said it was “one of the most extraordinary UFO clips I’ve ever seen”.

“At first I thought this was a reflection but it appears to move behind a power line, ruling out this theory.”

A spokesman for aerospace journal Jane’s News said: “We have no idea what it is.”

[via: telegraph.co.uk]

What’s blue and white, squiggly and suddenly appears in the sky?

If you know the answer, pop it on a postcard and send it to the people of Norway, where this mysterious light display baffled residents yesterday.

Speculation was increasing today that the display was the result of an embarrassing failed test launch of a jinxed new Russian missile.

The Bulava missile was test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine in the White Sea early on Wednesday but failed at the third stage, say newspapers in Moscow today.

This emerged despite earlier reports denying a missile launch yesterday. Even early today there was no formal confirmation from the Russian Defence Ministry.

The light appears to be unconnected with the aurora borealis, or northern lights, the natural magnetic phenomena that can often be viewed in that part of the world.

The mystery began when a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain in the north of the country. It stopped mid-air, then began to move in circles. Within seconds a giant spiral had covered the entire sky.

Then a green-blue beam of light shot out from its centre – lasting for ten to 12 minutes before disappearing completely.

Onlookers describing it as ‘like a big fireball that went around, with a great light around it’ and ‘a shooting star that spun around and around’.

Yesterday a Norwegian defence spokesman said the display was most likely from a failed Russian test launch.

Tromsō Geophysical Observatory researcher Truls Lynne Hansen agreed, saying the missile had likely veered out of control and exploded, and the spiral was light reflecting on the leaking fuel.

But last night Russia denied it had been conducting missile tests in the area.

A Moscow news outlet quoted the Russian Navy as denying any rocket launches from the White Sea area.

Norway should be informed of such launches under international agreements, it was stressed.

However this morning media reports claimed a missile had indeed been launched from the White Sea. Test firings are usually made from the White Sea, close to the Norwegian Arctic region.

Kommersant newspaper reported today that a test-firing before dawn on Wednesday coincided with the light show in the northern sky.

It also emerged today that Russia last week formally notified Norway of a window when a missile test might be carried out.

This included a seven hour period early on Wednesday at the time when the lights were seen.

The submarine Dmitry Donskoy went to sea on Monday, ahead of the test, and some reports suggest the vessel is now back in port.

A Russian military source said today that ‘the third stage of the rocket did not work’.

The Russian Defence Ministry, with characteristic secrecy, has so far been unavailable for comment.

The Bulava, despite being crucial to Russia’s plans to revamp its weaponry, is becoming an embarrassment after nine failed launches in 13 tests, prompting calls for it to be scrapped.

In theory, it has a range of 5,000 miles and could carry up to ten nuclear weapons bound for separate targets.

A previous failure in July forced the resignation of Yury Solomonov, the director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology which is responsible for developing the missile.

However, he is now working as chief designer on the jinxed project.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with telephone calls after the light storm yesterday morning.

Totto Eriksen, from Tromsø, told VG Nett: ‘It spun and exploded in the sky,’

He spotted the lights as he walked his daughter Amalie to school.

He said: ‘We saw it from the Inner Harbor in Tromsø. It was absolutely fantastic.

‘It almost looked like a rocket that spun around and around and then went diagonally down the heavens.

‘It looked like the moon was coming over the mountain, but then came something completely different.’

Celebrity astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard said he had never seen anything like the lights.

He said: ‘My first thought was that it was a fireball meteor, but it has lasted far too long.

‘It may have been a missile in Russia, but I can not guarantee that it is the answer.’

Air traffic control in Tromsō claimed the light show lasted ‘far too long to be an astronomical phenomenon’.

[via: dailymail.co.uk]

The Ministry of Defence department that investigated UFOs sightings has been closed after almost 60 years, it has been disclosed.

The MoD department, which has dealt with more than 12,000 reports – including 135 last year – was used to assess threats posed by any Unidentified Flying Objects sightings throughout Britain.

Any reports made would now not be investigated or followed up as the hotline had been closed, a spokesman said.

UFO experts expressed anger at the decision.

MoD chiefs made the decision to close the £50,000 a year department, established in 1950, after deciding there was no benefit investigating sightings which were “an inappropriate use of defence resources”.

It comes after the team was moved from the MoD’s team, similar to the FBI team featured in the TV programme the X Files, was moved a year ago from the Whitehall Headquarters to the RAF Command in High Wycombe, Bucks.

After an application under the Freedom of Information Act, the MoD admitted that responding to every UFO sightings “diverts MoD resources from tasks that are relevant to Defence”.

No decision was announced and the disclosure was instead buried on its website earlier this month.

It said that in more than 50 years “no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom”.

After investigation, around 5 per cent of reports remain unexplained.

“The MOD has no opinion on the existence or otherwise of extra-terrestrial life,” the spokesman said.

“The MOD has no specific capability for identifying the nature of such sightings.

“Accordingly, and in order to make best use of Defence resources, we have decided that from the 1 December 2009 the dedicated UFO hotline answer-phone service and e-mail address will be withdrawn.”

He added: “MOD will no longer respond to reported UFO sightings or investigate them.”

Nick Pope, who ran the Ministry of Defence UFO project from 1991 to 1994, said it was “outrageous”.

“We’re leaving ourselves wide open to terrorist attacks,” he told The Sun.

The spokesman said the programme to release departmental files on UFO matters to the National Archive would continue.

[via: telegraph.co.uk - Andrew Hough]

A former Arizona school district employee is accused of using school computers in an experiment to find space aliens, costing the worker his job and the district more than $1 million.

Schools officials say Brad Niesluchowski, who was Higley Unified School District’s information technology director, downloaded free software on district computers in 2000.

The program, known as SETI(at)home, uses Internet-connected computers worldwide to analyze radio telescope data in an experiment to find extraterrestrial intelligence.

But Superintendent Denise Birdwell told the East Valley Tribune that the program also bogged down the district’s system and interfered with technology use in classrooms.

Birdwell said it will take more than $1 million to fix the problem, including removal of the SETI software. She says police are conducting a broader investigation.

Niesluchowski resigned from the district Oct. 22.

His lawyer did not return calls for comment.

[via: news.yahoo.com]

The Turkish authorities say they are discussing what to do with an Iranian atheist who says she fled persecution in Iran.

Negar Azizmoradi, who is the leader of the Raelian movement in Iran, was arrested after she arrived in Turkey last week.

Supporters say she faces the death penalty for her beliefs if she returns.

Turkey gives only limited recognition to refugees, and has in the past sent back Iranian asylum-seekers.

With their libertarian attitude to sex, and their belief that humans were created by extra-terrestrials, Raelians inevitably fall foul of the religious authorities in Iran.

The crime of apostasy – rejecting religious faith – carries the death penalty there, and supporters of Negar Azizmoradi say that is what will happen to her if the Turkish government sends her back to Iran.

She is being detained in Istanbul for not carrying a proper passport when she arrived in Turkey last week.

The authorities are now discussing her fate. Large numbers of Iranians cross the border into Turkey, many in search of work, but some also fleeing political or religious persecution.

Turkey does not normally recognise asylum seekers from neighbouring countries – thousands are kept in detention centres, pending possible re-settlement in third countries – most are trying to reach the European Union.

Some, including Iranians, have been forced back over the border.

The Raelian movement is now campaigning to prevent that happening to its one-time leader in Iran.

[via: news.bbc.co.uk - by Jonathan Head]

Subscribe to newsfeed:

• Browse features

  • Aliens (3)
  • Black Magic (9)
  • Creatures (10)
  • Ghosts (11)
  • Poltergeists (3)
  • Psychic Powers (1)
  • UFOs (5)

• Browse news items

  • Aliens (38)
  • Black Magic (14)
  • Conspiracy (41)
  • Creatures (45)
  • Entertainment (58)
  • Ghosts & Hauntings (44)
  • Mythology (15)
  • Natural Phenomenon (47)
  • Science & Technology (49)
  • UFOs (57)

• Browse archives

• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008