Aries on line - Autumn 2000 editorial

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=22 BGCOLOR="#330099" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="040000d2erkqrf.gif"> <div> Derby and District Astronomical Society - Aries Magazine</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=145 BGCOLOR="#333399" TEXT="#080000" background="03fa2c00erkjzj.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aries Astronomy magazine on line Derby a"><U>HOME</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>Aries on line - Autumn 2000 editorial</B></div> <div> <A HREF="double_stars.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Double Stars"><U>Double Stars</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pluto and Back for bed"><U>Pluto and Back for bed</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="vla.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VLA Radio telescope"><U>VLA Radio telescope</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Beginners nebulae"><U>Beginners - nebulae</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Forgotten Astronauts"><U>Forgotten Astronauts</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sky Scene Oct Dec 2000"><U>Sky Scene Oct - Dec 2000</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=458 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="06a92963.gif"> <div> <I>Aries Astronomy magazine on line- Derby and District Astronomical Society</I></div> <div> <IMG SRC="04107040.gif" border=0 width="263" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Editorial</div> <bR> <div> In this issue we have the usual diversity of articles. Steve Parkins has been busy, supplying no less than 3. He educates us about double stars, takes us cycling to Pluto and transports us to the VLA in New Mexico. In addition, Anthony gives us details about some dead astronauts and I have written a beginners guide to nebulae. why not visit the <A HREF="http://www.derby-astro-soc.fsnet.co.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.derby-astro-soc.fsnet.co.uk"><U>Derby and District Astronomical S</U></A><A HREF="http://www.derby-astro-soc.fsnet.co.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.derby-astro-soc.fsnet.co.uk"><U>ociety website</U></A> as well as this, the Aries on line magazine. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <img src="HTMLobj-161/aniGif.gif" alt="Flying Saucer gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="77" height="58">                      <img src="HTMLobj-162/aniGif.gif" alt="Flying Saucer gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="77" height="58">                      <img src="HTMLobj-163/aniGif.gif" alt="Flying Saucer gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="77" height="58">  </div> <bR> <div> Talking of internet access, I have found a huge number of UFO sites over the last few weeks. They make quite amusing reading, especially the ones about how to make UFO’s actually fly. The vogue seems to be based on a 1950’s (I believe) design by someone called Tom Sutter. Unfortunately, this “free thinker” was a Brit. He decided to generate anti gravity by using centrifugal force. It seems that some people have even made models and tried to get them to fly! One chap was really proud when his invention “flew” out of his garage and crashed into a bin across the street. I don’t think that he actually realised that he had not made an antigravity device, just a badly balanced spinning top! I do not think these people have any idea about science, their devices defy Newton's Third Law of motion. If they ever do fly, the laws of physics will need to be re-written! I actually find this very worrying. I am convinced that most people could be taken in by the UFOlogists descriptions. They write in long sentences, this gives the appearance of something very technical because it is harder to read. They pepper their accounts with random scientific words. These are often completely out of context but seem to fit with the waffle that surrounds them. Again, this can fool the unwary – if you can’t understand it, it must be too technical and therefore valid. In reality, it is about as valid as the astrology predictions in magazines and papers. I remember a tale from the early 1990’s. Two UFOlogists claimed to have seen several UFO’s zigzagging across the sky. When asked why and how these violent course changes were made, they claimed it was the aliens signalling to chosen humans. Their technology was apparently thousands of years more advanced that ours. This enabled them to instantaneously change course. They also believed that it was this race of aliens that made corn circles. I believe they used the usual paranoid reply that information suggesting that corn circles are hoaxes is a government cover up. No real evidence is ever offered. UFO sightings seem to have begun when people started writing and reading science fiction. I guess they are here to stay. It seems strange that a highly advanced race would travel the vast distances between the stars just to communicate with a few humans, and why is it usually Americans who are abducted? It seems more likely that aliens would contact governments, I think it is doubtful that they would be able to keep the lid on things for that long. Perhaps the most likely meeting with alien races is going to be via radio transmissions – probably just as well since it avoids the threat of extinction caused by contact with extraterrestrial diseases.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="askjeeves"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#339999" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >If you intend to search the internet for other sites, please use the Ask Jeeves search box below. It costs you nothing but each click through to the Ask Jeeves site helps me to pay for the maintenance of this site. If you use the back button on your browser to come back to this site for each new search, it would be appreciated. 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