New Space Telescope Launched

[Radar]

COROT is the name of the new space telescope orbiting the Earth.

Its mission is to find small Earth sized planets orbiting other stars.

It will scan 10,000 stars every 512 seconds.

Corot stands for COnvection, ROtation and Transits.

[Astro Dave]

Hi Ray

You weren't far off.

The telescope will evaluate more than 120,000 stars while specifically looking for tiny dips in brightness that are caused by planets passing in front of stars.

The spacecraft will point towards objects near the centre section of the Milky Way ... where all the action is.

The US Kepler mission to follow will build off this data base and try to zero in on another earth, which is almost certainly there.

One day we'll find life on one of these planets - what then?

Its funny you know. I hear a lot of amateur astronomers say how cool SETI is, or how valuable missions like COROT are, or endorse us spending billions sending probes to seek out life in the universe BUT, they will then, almost to a man, smirk at the possibility of anyone visiting earth from 'out there'.

They say reports of things like UFOs are all hooey, delusions or mis-interpretations of natural phenomena or the like. And, they'll dismiss outright the many excellent reports that exist from highly credible people who have seen such things UP CLOSE!

Yet I bet NOT ONE of these yokels have ever investigated ONE single report themselves. Have I then? Yes, in fact I have! Several thousand over a long period of time with some of the largest scientifically run research groups in the world over a 10 year period.

"It can't be, therefore it isn't" is the catch-cry. How many times have you heard this, " Aw, I don't believe in UFOs." Why should it be a belief system?

These same people will then stand out in a field full of members of the public and openly state "there has to be life out there mate, there's too many stars!" They'll then say " but they couldn't be coming here." Why bloody not! Because you said so?

Now, cut me down and call me 'Shorty' BUT - isn't this a contradiction in terms? What is it about most astronomers, amateur and professional, that they dismiss the possibility of anyone except ourselves being able to make the journey across space?

Funny that... make a decision on something without even looking at the evidence, hmm. Its a pointer to how much of a thinker you are... I think.

OK, we don't have a piece of one but why the hell should we. If you were going to travel between the stars would you want things to "fall off"?

The evidence for the reality of UFOs is better than that for most convicted criminals. Its a subject crying out for closer scientific scrutiny.

[Radar]

Couldn't agree more Dave. It is one huge universe. The same physics are everywhere.

I see these documentaries on Discovery Science all the time. Some very creditable witnesses out there that give good accounts of this stuff (lots of crackpots to). Definitely more research is needed on this issue.

Here is a copy and paste from a UFO site. This case was on TV lately.


The Bass Strait Incident
"Frederick Valentich" was a 20-year-old pilot who disappeared in 1978, off the coast of Victoria, Australia.
Why or how he vanished is not known. However, the time of his disappearance coincides with an unusually high number of reported sightings of UFO's in the area. Thanks to the "Victorian UFO Research Society," in excess of fifty reported UFO sightings have been documented during the period from September to late October 1978.

On the evening of October 21, 1978, "Frederick Valentich" left Melbourne's airport and was heading to King Island. While flying over Bass Strait, he and his aircraft vanished completely. To add to the credibility of this event, there are documented Transcripts from communication between "Mr. Valentich" and the "Melbourne Flight Service."

"Mr. Valentich" requested that the flight service check for traffic in his vicinity, below 5,000 feet. He was informed that none existed. This caused considerable confusion, as he could clearly see an aircraft containing bright lights. This craft passed above an estimated 1,000 feet above him, then turned due east, toward him at speeds he could not even begin to estimate.

He described the craft as "a long shape" and moving at great speed. It also was metallic and possessed a green light. He commented that the craft appeared to be "playing games" with him, approaching from various directions, and then would simply hover, then disappear. Suddenly, "Mr. Valentich's" plane, a model 182 Cessna, began to "cough." All during these transmissions, the communication would break up, and the Flight Service had only "dead air." Finally, he advised that he intended to go to King Island and that the craft was hovering above him. Altogether, this communication lasted 6 minutes. At the end of this transmission, an unusual sound was heard, there was 17 seconds of "dead air" and then, nothing.

At the same time as this mystery was being played out in the air, there were at least 20 individuals in the general area around bass Strait who observed a green light at the very same time that this 20 year old pilot was making his report.

As has been known to happen when events like this occur, additional information came to the surface several years after "Mr. Valentich" vanished. Four witnesses confirmed they saw both the Cessna AND the UFO flying above it. Their reason for withholding the information is what you would expect. They feared being teased, and made fun of, but their combined conscience finally persuaded them to admit to their sighting.

Since no evidence was ever found, we will never know what happened on that October evening. "Mr. Frederick Valentich" and his Cessna have been added to the list of unknowns.
Top Of Page



Taken from http://mysticaluniverse.com/index/abductions/abductions.html

[CanisMajorTom]

Wow! I love those kinds of things. :thumbsupmate:

[Robert TG]

First I would like to say how sad it is that Fred Valentich has disappeared.
The report indicates that He was a young and inexperienced pilot who appears to have crashed into Bass Straits and died. The report also indicates that the plane had some problems before the crash. Could the result of these problems caused the light that was interpreted by this pilot as another aircraft or unidentified flying object?
It would seem to me a logical answer to this event than the idea that the lights, because they are from an unknown source, are from extraterrestrials.

There are many people who BELIEVE that life is abundant in the Universe. It certainly is abundant on Earth, but not so in the rest of the solar system.

SETI has just scratched the surface of looking for INTELLIGENT life. After many years of searching, SETI has found nothing, which would only indicate that highly advanced civilizations are not abundant in our "local" group of stars.

To cross the vast distances of space to visit another star would take high intelligence, technology, vast sums of money and effort and a very long travel time. IF mankind developed the technology to travel at close to the speed of light, to launch an expedition to the nearest star would be the most enormous task ever undertaken by mankind. There would be those who would want to go and explore.

The resources of our planet would be called upon with the very best minds put to work on such a project. Technology would have to be very advanced, the problems of speed, life support and fuel being major hurdles. Then there would be the selection of the very best people to crew this voyage, with the many risks involved and the chance of never returning to Earth.

Now, let’s assume we get the technology, can afford to build the craft, and man it with the best of the best and send a crew to our nearest star. A great day indeed.
Now, think of this… Years and years of travel through space and the chosen crew arrive at another planet that has abundant varieties of life, intelligent life, and a technological civilization, similar to our Earth. Wow, We hit the jackpot! All that effort would have been worth it.

Then consider what our intelligent chosen crew would do. Would the crew of our advanced space ship, play at buzzing around a small alien flying object as it crashes into the sea. Would our crew then decide to leave this star system and heads home, mission accomplished. Was that the only reason all the effort was made to make the journey?

Perhaps years later Earth could send a second great expedition to this distance planet and abduct a few of the creatures, do a couple tests, put them back on their planet and then leave again, mission #2 accomplished.

Do these actions sound like the actions of a highly advanced civilization crossing vast distances over a long period of time and effort to reach such an interesting planet?

I think when an alien civilization makes the effort to come here they will make contact. This is why there are many who do believe that there is abundant life in the universe are the same people who disbelieve the UFO reports that we are visited by alien yokels.

[Radar]

Then consider what our intelligent chosen crew would do. Would the crew of our advanced space ship, play at buzzing around a small alien flying object as it crashes into the sea. Would our crew then decide to leave this star system and heads home, mission accomplished. Was that the only reason all the effort was made to make the journey?

Perhaps years later Earth could send a second great expedition to this distance planet and abduct a few of the creatures, do a couple tests, put them back on their planet and then leave again, mission #2 accomplished.

Do these actions sound like the actions of a highly advanced civilization crossing vast distances over a long period of time and effort to reach such an interesting planet?


Any intelligent civilisation would not be just a few years ahead of Earthlings, they would be millions of years ahead of us. Right now, the thought of travelling to another star system may seem like a huge effort (and it is for us), but for a civilisation that is millions of years ahead? Probably not an effort at all.

And why would a civilisation that is so much more advanced than Earth even bother making contact with Earth, when to them, we are still very primitive?

A possible reason for them coming here and not making contact with us is simply that they come here to observe nature (us) like humans do when they go to a zoo or whale watch. They could have an underlying ethic of not interfering with emerging civilisations, just like educated people on Earth have the same ethic of trying not to interfere with parts of the natural world. We let nature take its course. And they probably would to.

Getting from one star to another may take years for us with our current plan of action, but a civilisation that is millions of years (not just hundreds of years) ahead of us cannot be underestimated. We should not say that because we have had technology and physics for around 100 years, that ET would be stuck with the same problems. If ET is millions of years ahead of us, then it is totally plausible that he has technologies that our brains could never envision yet.

Einstein said that the speed of light cannot be broken, he also said that worm hole technology is totally feasible with what is called The Einstien Rosen Bridge.

http://www.krioma.net/articles/Bridge%20Theory/Einstein%20Rosen%20Bridge.htm

Our simple knowledge of physics and technology should not be used to try and paint a picture of Alien technology that is millions of years ahead of us. We simply could never imagine what would be possible.

Aliens could and would be millions of years ahead of us, so not only would it be much easier for them to get here than we suppose, it would be much easier for them to get here than we can suppose.

What are your thoughts on this Dave? And others?

[Robert TG]

I accept that any aliens visiting the Earth would be far more advanced than we can imagine. That is very logical, as they would have to be far more advanced even to get here.

But they would not have to go faster than the speed of light to get here, they could just live for a very long time or simply found a way not to die of old age. Their ships could be their actual home and not any planet in particular and therefore are not in any urgent need to return to their home planet.

So why would advanced aliens come to Earth?

Possibly resupply their ship? But I imagine that such an advance technology would not need to resupply, as they would recycle or manufacture completely what they needed from basic elements. Besides, why would aliens choose Earth for their resupply when all they elements can be found on other planets and moons in our solar system? Not for water, surly advanced aliens know how to melt ice.

What makes Earth unique in our solar system is Life. So, this would probably be the reason to visit here. And if advanced aliens have come to Earth to study us, I’d imagine they would be advanced enough to do not just a good job, but a great job.

So why not make themselves know to us? Aliens could study us better if they communicated with us. If we humans could talk with chimps, we would because we would learn a lot more quickly and easily.

If they do not communicate with us is it because we have nothing to offer them? Then they would not care if they were seen or know to exist.

So, again, the best reason we can think of for them not communicating with us is that they have the belief in "nature running it’s course" and the "Non-interference with emerging civilisations" as you have said. I suspect advanced aliens would be very successful at doing this, and would remain undetected by mankind.

This is why I believe this UFO sighting was not alien in nature.

Would our visiting advanced aliens who wish to remain unknown let a pilot see them, let green lights be seen by 20 people and let the pilot transmit messages to ground control for six minutes? This is a long time for them to be exposed. Could the advanced aliens really have botched up this badly?

Either they are advanced enough not to be detected by mankind or are they a bunch of alien hoons flying about in their glowing spaceship causing havoc with peoples lives.

Really the story gives NO EVIDENCE of Aliens at all. Why not say that the spirits of ghosts and goblins danced about the plane casting a magic green spell bewitching the pilot. Or perhaps it was a green dragon flying around the plane.

Extraordinary claims need extraordinary proof.

Science Fiction is not Science…it is Fiction.

I would like to tell all forum members about, what I believe, is the very best book to read to get an idea of what a scientific mind should be.
The books title is…
“The Demon-Haunted World. Science as a Candle in the Dark”
By Carl Sagan.
First published by HEADLINE BOOK PUBLISHING in 1996.
ISBN 0-7472-1554-5.

Do yourself a favour and order this book from a good book store. You will not be disappointed. The book exposes pseudoscience and superstition and the dangers of these on our society. It cuts through prejudice and hysteria and uncovers the truth at a time when the majority of people are entering a new Dark Age of understanding. It will surprise you how many beliefs in human society are false.

The Demon Haunted World is an excellent book, which I highly recommend to everyone.

[Robert TG]

Perhaps the title of this thread should be edited to add UFO's.

[Radar]

I enjoy alien stories or hearing of sightings, they always get the thought processes going. But as far as treating them as a science and as fact, I don't.

Like Fox Mulder says "I want to beleive", but I probably won't anytime soon. :Chessy_Smile: