-
- NASA LOSES CONTACT WITH SOHO
SPACE OBSERVATORY
-
- On Wednesday, June 24, 1998, at 7:16
p.m., flight controllers at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland lost contact with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
satellite. Launched on December 2, 1995, SOHO is an orbiting satellite
of the "Great Observatories" program and is jointly operated
by NASA and the European Space Agency. According to the NASA press release
of June 26, 1998, "SOHO went into emergency sun reacquisition mode,
and ground controllers lost contact with the spacecraft at 7:16 p.m....This
mode is activated when an anomaly occurs and the spacecraft loses its orientation
towards the Sun. When this happens, the spacecraft automatically tries
to point itself toward the Sun again by firing its attitude control thrusters
under the guidance of an onboard Sun sensor." The NASA press release
did not describe the nature of the "anomaly." "Efforts to
re-establish contact with SOHO did not succeed, and telemetry was lost.
Subsequent attempts using the full NASA Deep Space Network capabilities
have so far also not been successful." "Engineers at NASA and
ESA are attempting to re-establish contact with the spacecraft." (Many
thanks to Kent Steadman of the CyberSpace Orbit for forwarding the NASA
news release.) (Editor's Note: SOHO is the second major satellite to go
haywire in orbit recently. Last month, the communications satellite Galaxy
IV rotated out of position and lost contact with Earth. Also, on January
10, 1997, SOHO photographed a mysterious object between Earth and the Sun,
which NASA subsequently identified as a sun-grazing "proto-comet."
See UFO Roundup, Volume 2, Number 3 for more details.)
-
- MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSION IN NORTHERN
CHILE
-
- Early Sunday morning, June 14, 1998,
at 4:30 a.m., two men were driving a truck from the Andes west to La Serena,
a city in northern Chile, when "a huge explosion of light" lit
up the sky. The two drivers were employed by the copper mine in the Valle
del Elqui, near Vicuna, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of La Serena. Both
communities are in the province of Coquimbo about 380 kilometers (240 miles)
north of the national capital, Santiago de Chile. According to ufologist
Luis Sanchez Perry, the explosion was heard within a radius of 200 kilometers
(120 miles). The truck was "near a place called Chapilco, when he
was blinded by the brilliant white light. He couldn't see anything for
a few seconds." "He was with his partner" at the time, and
"everything lighted up like it was a summer day (11 a.m.)." (Editor's
Note: Late June is a winter month in Chile and the other countries of the
southern hemisphere.) "The white burst of light had a duration of
eight seconds approximately." The case is being investigated by ufologist
Patricio Diaz of La Serena. (Muchas gracias a Luis Sanchez Perry para
esas noticias.)
-
- UFOs REPEATEDLY VISIT CHILE'S
BIGGEST DAM
-
- A very large, dark, disc-shaped UFO visited
the huge hydroelectric dam at Lago (Lake) de Colbun in southern Chile on
May 16, 1998. The UFO was witnessed by over 30 people, who described it
as a a gigantic disc, "dark (not black), with a big orange light on
the bottom (middle) and small lights that moved around on the outer part
(rim) of the object." Lago de Colbun is Chile's biggest hydroelectric
dam and one of the largest in South America. It's located 200 kilometers
(120 miles) south of Santiago de Chile. The UFO hovered at 1,000 meters
(3,300 feet) above the ground and remained in view for 20 minutes before
flying across the lake and into the Andes. Witnesses described the object
as "so big that it seemed to cover the whole valley." According
to ufologist Luis Sanchez Perry, Lago de Colbun has seen many UFO visitations
in recent months. "They call the UFOs robones (thieves) because that
they say they steal electricity," Luis reported. "Before they
had the high-tech plant, they didn't have many blackouts (one or two in
a month), but now they have three in a week." "UFOs have been
seen coming out of Lake Colbun near the high tension wires, absorbing electricity,
absorbing water, and some of them have gone at high speed through the valley
towards the hydroelectric plant," coming within a few hundred meters
of the dam before disappearing. (Otra vez, muchas gracias a Luis Sanchez
Perry para esa historia.)
-
- BLUE FIREBALL IN DAYLIGHT
STARTLES ARIZONANS
-
- A blindingly-bright blue fireball shot
across the sky south of Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday afternoon, June 18,
1998, and was seen by hundreds of amazed onlookers. Witnesses from the
Phoenix suburbs of Chandler and Ahwatukee south to Tucson reported seeing
the object pass over, heading west. Some witnesses reported seeing "a
blue fireball," others "a reddish or orange streak." According
to the Arizona Star, the event "followed a much-publicized exploding
meteor seen by hundreds of Arizonans June 7 and news accounts of meteorites
that hit a New Mexico barn and a Tennessee home on June 13." "'I
was sitting on the back porch, and I saw the long, red streak coming down
from the sky,' said John Botimer of Ahwatukee." "Carleton Moore,
director of Arizona State University's Center for Meteorite Study, said
his office received more than 90 calls Thursday and Friday about the daytime
fireball seen south of the Phoenix area." "Astronomers say an
asteroid named Oljato may be responsible." "Swarms of asteroid
chunks strung along the orbit of a large asteroid could theoretically cause
a rush of bright meteors when Earth crosses the orbit, says UA (University
of Arizona) astronomer Dan Durda." "Earth was crossing one of
the orbits of the asteroid Oljato on June 8, he said." "'It's
just conceivably possible that the June 7 fireball may have been associated
with Oljato,' he said, 'But it's more likely just a statistical fluke."
(Editor's Comment: There have been a lot of "statistical flukes"
during the month of June, and not just in Arizona. See UFO Roundup, Volume
3, Numbers 24 and 25 for details on recent sightings in Italy and Argentina.)
Elsewhere in Arizona, a skywatch group led by Rob Meyer encountered a "a
large multi-colored light object" Friday night, June 19, 1998, in
the red rock canyons near Sedona (population 7,920). When one of the party
spotted a strange glow in the canyon, Meyer "picked up the night vision
equipment and asked everyone to observe the phenomenon." He then
began "pulsing his flashlight in the direction the light was coming
from." "As he kept flashing, another light appeared and flashed
back in response...Two in the group saw several Orbs pass by which they
could see with through the night vision equipment." Minutes passed
and more bright spherical UFOs appeared. "As the evening ended,"
the group all "faced the area where the lights were coming from and
observed another sequence of pulsed flashes." Meyer then "asked
the group to send Love telepathically to where the light was, and all of
a sudden, the most spectacular flashing of multi-colored lights appeared
in the same sequence Rob had flashed with his flashlight." (See the
Arizona Star for June 21, 1998. Many thanks to Errol Bruce-Knapp for forwarding
the Sedona story.)
-
- ANOTHER GLOWING UFO SIGHTED
IN FIRENZE, ITALY
-
- Late Saturday evening, June 20, 1998,
"a strong white light" moved into position above Monte Morello,
a peak south of Firenze (Florence), Italy "and remained visible for
more than half an hour." The UFO was first reported near the city's
international airport in nearby Peretola, where it "was observed by
dozens of eyewitnesses and by airport personnel." The object was
described as having "a dull white glow." Firenze is 200 kilometers
(120 miles) north of Rome. (See the Italian newspaper La Nazione for June
21, 1998. Grazie a Renzo Cabassi, Nico Montigiani e Edoardo Russo di CISU
per questo rapporto.)
-
- SQUADRON OF V-SHAPED UFOs
SEEN OVER MONTREAL
-
- Late Saturday night, June 20, 1998, Kayla
S. and her husband "were sitting in our backyard and watching the
stars because it was unusually clear and the visibility was great. I was
'hoping' to see a UFO but did not really expect it." The couple, who
live in a suburban neighborhood between Dorval and Lachine, just south
of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, watched the sky for a while. "Then,
at around midnight," Kayla reported, "I screamed, 'UFO, UFO!
It looks like something weird, honey.'" "My husband was also
watching the strange sight. We both saw an L-shaped formation that seemed
to be made up of about five different V-shaped objects. It could have
been a flock of birds except for the fact of the speed they were going
at. It traversed the sky in about four seconds." (Editor's Note:
Four seconds from horizon to horizon equals 3,600 miles per hour.) "We
lost sight of it because of the trees and the houses and the speed of it.
The color of each of the separate V-shaped objects was a kind of opaque
grey, translucent almost. If it hadn't been so crystal clear that night,
then there was no way we would have ever been able to see this."
She added that the UFO formation was "traveling due south" towards
the Adirondack Mountains of the USA's northern New York state. (Email
Interview)
-
- GREEN FIREBALL AND BLACK
HELICOPTERS SIGHTED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
-
- On Wednesday, June 17, 1998, at 9:30
p.m., a waitress, her son and her boyfriend were driving on California
Highway 330 from the city of San Bernardino (population 164,164) to the
ridgeline town of Running Springs (population 4,195) when a strange green
glow illuminated the sky. "She stated, 'The sky literally lit up,'
and about 5,000 feet (1,515 meters) above the mountain road, and 200 yards
to the right of her car and over a building with a flagpole hovered a huge
'fireball.'" According to Jerry Glass of Southern California MUFON,
subsequent investigation by members of his group determined that the building
was the Running Springs Fresh Water Plant. The waitress stated, "The
fireball was green, luminescent," describing the glow as "forty
times brighter than the brightest flashlight I've ever seen, with rays
of light shooting out." According to Jerry Glass, "Her boyfriend
was in the passenger seat and he saw the object for 30 seconds while the
car continued to drive." The woman's attention returned to the road
as their vehicle rounded a sharp turn and nearly "rushed off a cliff.
She said two other cars were following closely. One was a California
Highway Patrol vehicle, which after the curve raced by her car." The
woman reported her encounter to the local sheriff's department, the Federal
Aviation Administration and the National UFO Hotline. Running Springs is
eight miles (11 kilometers) northeast of San Bernardino, a city approximately
63 miles (102 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. Earlier that afternoon,
on June 17, 1998, a woman psychologist from Running Springs was returning
home from her office in Redlands when "she observed black military
helicopters taking off from Norton Air Force Base at the junction of Highways
30 and 330, traveling up Highway 330 and flying over her jeep." According
to Glass, Norton Air Force Base was reportedly closed during a recent Defense
Department phaseout of military bases. The following day, Thursday, June
18, 1998, at about 3 p.m., the same woman passed "a convoy of six
military vehicles carrying troops" on the same road. SoCal MUFON
continues to investigate these reports. (Many thanks to Jerry Glass of
MUFON for this news story.)
-
- MORE UFO ACTIVITY IN MARLETTE,
MICHIGAN
-
- On Wednesday, June 17, 1998, at 11 p.m.,
Michigan ufologist Jeff Westover spotted "five star-like objects in
the sky moving very fast, three moving due north and two to the south-
southeast. One of the southerly-moving objects intersected with a westbound
jet. This particular object had a veering movement to it. The other four
seemed to go very fast on a straight path." On Saturday, June 20,
1998, at 11 p.m., Westover was driving into Marlette (population 1924)
when he spied "a brilliant reddish-orange light" just above the
southern horizon. "I hurriedly made it through town, past the bright
street lights and through heavy cruising traffic, and out into the south
end of town," Jeff reported. "It was still there, 20 degrees
above the horizon, almost directly in front of me and bobbing like a boat
on choppy seas. The single light was jumping around slightly. Then it
happened. I pulled off onto a side road on a slight hill and parked the
car, waiting to see if the light would reappear...binoculars ready."
"Sure enough, it reappeared within two minutes and was flying bright,
although not giving off any glow or halo. It seemed to be like a ball
of fire, concentrated and bright. Through the binoculars it was a bright
ball of reddish orange light, brighter than any star in the sky, and seemed
to have a bobbing motion to it. And then it simply vanished before my
eyes...It suddenly reappeared at 20 degrees and then dropped to the ground.
I lost sight of it at that point." (Many thanks to Jeff Westover
of MUFON for this news story.)
-
- TWO GIRLS SEE A UFO IN VALPARAISO,
INDIANA
-
- On Saturday, June 20, 1998, just after
midnight, two junior high school girls, aged 12 and 13, "observed
two UFOs" in the sky over their hometown of Valparaiso, Indiana (population
24,414), a city located 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Chicago,
Illinois. The girls described the UFO as "a 'star-like' object without
running lights." The UFO "was moving gradually in a southerly
direction before making an abrupt turn upward and to the north." At
12:10 a.m., the girls saw a second object that "appeared to consist
of three star-like lights flying line-abreast. The speed of the second
object was said to be much faster than the first, and it was moving west
and rising in an abrupt turn towards the south, finally disappearing from
sight." According to Mike Caldwell, father of the 12-year-old girl,
his daughter is a National Junior Honor Society student and "knows
quite clearly what an airplane looks like, both in daytime and night conditions.
She has stated emphatically that this was not an airplane." (Many
thanks to Kenneth Young of Tri-States Advocates for Scientific Knowledge,
T.A.S.K., for this report.)
-
- GAS GIANT FOUND IN NEARBY
SOLAR SYSTEM
-
- Astronomers this week found a large planet
similar to Jupiter in a neighboring solar system. The yet-unnamed gas giant
is "three times closer" to Earth "than any of the 11 other
'extrasolar' planets that have been found in the past two years,"
according to the report in USA Today. "'This has astronomers bristling
and squirming in their seats,' says astronomer Geoffrey Marcy of San Francisco
State University, whose team has found seven of the twelve known planets
beyond Pluto." "Marcy's team used telescopes last week to detect
a telltale wobble in the parent star, called Gliese 876, that was caused
by the gravitational tug of a planet." "Two teams of Europeans
independently confirmed the find," according to the June 27, 1998
edition of Science News. "The newly found planet is nearly twice the
mass of Jupiter and the first extrasolar planet that orbits its star in
an elongated loop rather than a circle. It takes 61 days to orbit the
star at an average distance of about 18.5 million miles, one fifth the
distance between the sun and Earth." "'We don;t know what it's
made of, but we'd guess it's like our own Jupiter, a big ball of hydrogen
and helium gas with some methane and ammonia thrown in,' Marcy says."
"Gliese 876, in the constellation Aquarius, is about 15 light years
or 87 trillion miles (139 trillion kilometers) away. With a weight of
just a third of the sun, it is the smallest and lightest star known to
have a star around it. The star has just one percent of the sun's brightness."
"Since most stars in our 100-billion-star Milky Way galaxy belong
to this lighter class, astronomers suspect there may be many more planets
awaiting discovery." "'We're seeing these Jupiters in 10 to 15
percent of the stars we're studying. We'll eventually get to the point
where maybe we can find Earthlike planets around other stars,' says Charles
Beichmann of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif."
(See USA Today for June 25, 1998, "Scientists find closest-yet new
planet," by Paul Hoversten.) (Editor's Comment: Twice the mass of
Jupiter, eh? I've got an idea. Why don't we call this newfound gas giant
Krypton?)
-
- WRITERS EXPLORE SECRET PROJECT
AT EGYPT'S GREAT PYRAMID
-
- A team of three investigators, including
Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince and Simon Cox, infiltrated Egypt's Great Pyramid
on March 31, 1998 and found evidence of a secret archeological project
underway, according to their report in the July 1998 issue of Fortean Times.
Picknett and Prince wrote, "There is secret tunnelling in the Great
Pyramid. We should know. We found evidence for it--and secretly captured
it on camera and video." Just before the Pyramid closed April 1 for
renovations, Picknett, Prince and Cox entered the Pyramid and "were
about to duck down the small entrance into the King's Chamber, Simon (Cox)
pointed out an anomalous feature. There in the wall was an old, padlocked
metal grille where-- just a few months before--there was a solid stone
block." The trio found "fresh cement" around the grille,
proving that it had been installed recently. "Shining a torch (flashlight)
through the grille, we could see the electric cable installed by (German
archeologist) Rudolf Gantenbrink in the early 1990s, and we could hear
the noise of a nearby generator or possibly drill." "Simon says
that this tunnel connects up with the northern 'air shaft' that comes out
of the King's Chamber. And up the shaft there's a heap of rubbish--including
plastic water bottles--that's too far up to have come from tourists in
the King's Chamber, but which has obviously been dropped from the other
side by workers in the new tunnel." "They're also doing other
things in the Great Pyramid. A month before (February 28), Simon had managed
to get down to the pit in the Subterranean Chamber beneath the pyramid
and found that there was a false floor covered with sand and debris to
conceal the evidence of recent digging." "Interestingly, the
gaffir (attendant) of the Second Pyramid, after finding out that Simon
had already spotted the cover-up, told us that three new chambers had been
discovered behind and above the walls of the King's Chamber, which is obviously
where the tunnel now leads." (See Fortean Times #112 for July 1998,
"Flex, Lies and Videotape" by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince,
page 37.) (Editor's Comment: Ever since the Great Pyramid closed for renovations
back on April 1, rumors have been flying of new chambers discovered, secret
UNESCO digs, and a convoy of military vehicles loaded with soldiers in
"desert cookie" camoflauge uniforms with no national or unit
insignia. My favorite is the story of the life-sized statue supposedly
discovered in one of the alleged new chambers--a statue of a man with unmistakably
African features sitting in the lotus position and gazing up an 'air shaft'
at the star Sirius.)
-
- from the UFO Files...
-
- 1947: FORGOTTEN FLIGHT
-
- Nearly all ufologists are aware of the
fact that pilot Kenneth Arnold was out searching for a missing U.S. Marine
Corps transport plane on June 24, 1947 when he spotted his "flying
saucers." But few remember the other plane that went missing the same
week a UFO crashed at Roswell. On Thursday morning, July 3, 1947, a C-54
cargo plane with four propellor engines took off from Kindley Field on
Bermuda--destination Florida. Aboard was a U.S. Army Air Corps crew consisting
of six men. Pilot: Major Ralph B. Ward of Concord, New Hampshire. Co-Pilot:
Major Clyde R. Inman of Boise, Idaho. Navigator: Major John R. Sands Jr.of
Jacksonville, Florida. Radio Operator: S/Sgt. Ernest D. Fey of New Orleans,
Louisiana. Plus S/Sgt. Andrew S. Bagacus of Townsend, Wisconsin and Sgt.
Fred E. Fricks of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The C-54 was scheduled to touch
down on the runway at Morrison Army Air Field in Palm Beach, Florida at
around 2:30 p.m. By 6 p.m., Ward's plane was listed as "overdue."
"Ships and planes raced out to play their role in the by now all-too-familiar
search pattern extending from the coast of Florida to Bermuda. Hunters
scanned the seas all night for a glimpse of light. By dawn the air-sea
rescue operation was in full swing, with hopes high of finding the fliers
alive." "Early Friday morning, July 4 (1947), a large Army transport
C-74 reported sighting wreckage on the sea 300 miles northeast of West
Palm Beach, Florida." The USS Orion was sent to investigate. Hours
later, Major L.R. Humphreys, commanding the 5th Air Rescue Squadron, told
newsmen that the Orion "found an oxygen bottle, two yellow seat cushions
and some aircraft plywood--all believed to be Army aircraft equipment,
but none of it identified as belonging to the plane." "Air Transport
Command (ATC) headquarters announced that the search for the C-54 and its
crew was officially abandoned as of Tuesday, July 8, 1947. According to
the statement, the only wreckage found in the course of the 100,000-square-mile
search by Army,. Navy and Coast Guard planes and surface vessels was that
picked up by the Orion. No other debris, bodies, oil slick or clues turned
up. The ATC alone flew 52 sorties involving 422 hours of flight."
The C-54 disappeared fifty-one years ago, the day before the UFO crash
at Roswell. Major Ward and his crew are still missing. (See LIMBO OF
THE LOST by John Wallace Spencer, Bantam Books, New York, N.Y., 1973, pages
20-22.)
-
- ROUNDUP CORRIGENDA: Daev Walsh of Nua
Blather informs me that the country's proper name is Republic of Ireland,
not "Eire" as reported in last week's issue. I stand corrected,
Daev. Thanks for writing.
-
- ______________________
-
-
- UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1998 by Masinaigan
Productions, all rights reserved. Readers may post news items from UFO
ROUNDUP on their websites or in newsgroups provided that they credit the
newsletter and its editor by name and list the date of issue in which the
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