March 2003

The news items below are updated daily and will cover any paranormal and interesting topics we come across. They are written by HUFOS member, Rita A. Jennings, who kindly donates her time and effort in keeping these News In General pages full of upto date information.

Rita Jennings

Hull UFO Society c/o 62, Egton Street, New Cleveland Street, Hull. N. Humberside HU8 7HU Tel: 01482 219887 Mbl: 07754 036536 Email: Hull UFO Society

Don't forget we hold a monthly meeting every second Tuesday
of every month were we read out more interesting news items like these.

(See Monthly Meetings link on the left hand side of this page)

The Far Side Of The Moon - We are all used to seeing pictures of the Moon taken by Apollo 11 astronauts, but this picture is of the far side. Unseen by us on earth, it was one of the first discoveries when the Lunar Orbiters visited it. It has a very different appearance to the near side, which we are all used to seeing. In particular there are almost no Maria on the far side as shown in this image. A number of meteor craters can be seen. The word "Maria" actually means "Seas", the singular is "Mare".

The Maria are lower in altitude than the Highlands, but even though the name means "Seas". there is no evidence to suggest there is water on the moon. Recent evidence from the Clementine spacecraft suggest that there maybe some water on the moon. I think it is time we paid another visit there. Both the Maria and the Highlands show large craters, these are the result of meteor impacts. There are more in the Highlands. What intrigues me about this picture (Above Right), is the cross like structure in the middle of the crater. Does this look like a pipe to you?

Asteroid Discovered Within Earth's Solar Orbit - The first object other than Venus or Mercury to circle the Sun entirely inside Earths Solar orbit has been discovered. Most asteroids, travel in a region between Mars and Jupiter. Literally, hundreds have been found wandering through our inner solar system. These were all on an elongated orbit that took them back out beyond the orbit of the Earth. This new found object, has been named 2003 CP20. This is based on its brightness and it is more than 0.6. miles wide. Apparently, this is the minimum threshold for space rocks that might be of concern to us.

According to experts this one poses no danger to us. It was discovered by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project at MIT. This programme is funded by the US.Air Force and NASA. According to current estimates, 2003 CP20 can't come closer to earth than 17.7.million miles. It will pass however within 4.65 million miles of Venus more than once. Last June an Asteroid passed earth within 75,000 miles and was not spotted until 3 days later. Now that was close.

ET. and Radio Signals - Astronomers who have been searching for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence are studying 150 radio transmissions that have reached earth. SETI since 1999 have been using a huge network of computers and have found millions of strong radio signals. On March 18th. they plan to spend 24 hours on the ARECIBO Radio telescope checking out those which they consider most likely to be radio broadcasts from an Alien Species. If by any chance they do pick up any signal, telescopes in Germany and England would be called up to confirm that they had received a signal and it was not due to an error or bug in the system. Since Seti was launched in l999. 4 million people world wide have joined the scheme. The programme sifts through the data which is gathered and looks for any signals that stand out from the rest. SETI is notified whenever a signal is detected that appears to have been emitted from a single point, such as a planet. The signals last about 12 seconds and have a "bell curve" shape. Over 350 million such signals have been spotted. In the 24 hours available to them, the astronomers will only be able to check 150 of the possible ET. signals.

Mars - If you are interested in Mars, here is a brilliant web-site to explore. Explore Mars Now is a really good web-site with plenty to see and do. If is fully interactive. It has a Mars base, pressurised rover and greenhouse to explore. As the project gathers steam more has been promised to be added. But anybody who is fascinated by Mars will find this site well worth a look.at. It makes a great way to explore Mars.

Continuing The Shuttle Mystery - It has now been disclosed by Nasa, that 16 major pieces of the shuttle fell off the Columbia spacecraft as it streaked across the sky on the 1st February 2003. The debris has not yet been recovered, but using photographic images taken by 19 people on the ground the debris has been documented in a video of the tragedy compiled by Nasa and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. This new video shows that pieces of the Columbia started to fall away as the spacecraft began to pass over Sacramento, California.

It is seven weeks since the Columbia was lost and investigators believe that the problem can be traced to the left wing, where foam from the shuttles fuel tank struck the leading edge of Columbia's left wing on take off. The second of the public hearings is on Monday and Tuesday at the Hilton, Houston, Nasa/Clear Lake. Experts will give their say on the effects of atmospheric re-entry on spacecraft as well as aerodynamics and thermodynamics.

Columbia Crash Latest - According to the latest news item, the mystery of why Columbia crashed may never be found. But that may have altered, as Nasa investigators have recovered a data recorder from the Space Shuttle. This may hold the clue as to why it blew up killing all onboard. The black box in now in Houston, Texas being analysed by experts. A spokeswoman has been quoted as saying "That they have no way of knowing whether the data can be recovered." But if they can recover some of the information, it will help give some idea of what was going on with the orbiter. Up to now 30,000 pieces of the Columbia, a fifth of the shuttle have been recovered.

Unmanned Mission to Mars - An unmanned mission to Mars will be sent in 2009 according to The European Space Agency. It's mission will be to search for evidence of life and to provide new insight into Mars surface and atmosphere The mission will be known as ExoMars. Once there a solar-powered vehicle will take soil samples by drilling into the ground. ESA's hope the site they land on may have been home to primitive life forms. If all goes well there are plans for an eventual manned mission to Mars.

NASA Shuttle Pods - Space safety experts have warned Nasa that unless they have an escape pod system put in the shuttles, it will most probably loose another shuttle crew. They predict that at least 1 shuttle crew will be lost before 2020. A spokesman for Nasa's Aerospace Safety Advisory panel has stated that the 2 disasters had "violated" the agency's safety margins. He added "That only a system that would eject a crew to safety would bring the shuttle programme upto the safety requirements." Nasa had previously tested various methods of getting the crew to safety after the launch of the shuttle but nothing was put into place. They only have a limited amount of time to eject safely, but surely this would be better than no escape route. It remains to be seen, if Nasa will take note of this advice.

Lenticular Clouds - How many times have you seen in the paper clouds which look like a typical flying saucer? This photo (Right) was taken by a couple who stopped their car near Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, USA.

Lenticular clouds can be shaped like a saucer and if you happen to see one, you could easily mistake it for a UFO. The objects below the cloud are windmills.

Columbia - Since the Columbia disaster, the first manned mission into space is planned for next month. If all goes well, a Russian Soyuz craft will blast off from the Bauknur Cosmodrome for the International Space Station on the 26th April,2003. A Russian cosmonaut and a U.S. astronaut will be carried along with a crew to be named on the 18th April. At the moment the current crew onboard the I.S.S. have to rely on Russia to bring them back to Earth after all the shuttle fleet was grounded after the tragedy of the Columbia.

No Evidence for proof of Alien Life Exists - The search for intelligent life in space has drawn a blank. The Seti@home project which is based at the California Unit used the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico and after analysing radio signals collected, it has drawn this conclusion.

It was the worlds biggest distributed computing project using home computers in the process. The project used idle time on a pc. to sift data obtained by radio telescopes for patterns that might identify life. More than 150 heavenly bodies which might have shown life were monitored, but nothing was found. Mind you, that is what we are being told. Would they have told us, if they had found life?

Any bets on that one?

Anyone who wants more information about seti@home visit here Seti@Home