Is it the time of the year for UFOs or something?

If you have been reading this blog, you will remember the posting from a couple of weeks ago where I was interviewed by Mary Lee of KXAN about a UFO sighting. Since that time a couple of things have happened related to this story.

First off, I received an email from Carl who is the guy that shot the actual footage. He stated that he had a lot more and wanted me to see it, plus he stated that he sees UFOs almost every evening, plus his friends see them too. Especially that last statement is especially interesting. If only one person is seeing flying things it can easily be discarded, as the guy must be drunk/stoned/on medication/etc. But if multiple people are seeing things they cannot explain it gains a lot of credence.

So, last week, together with board member Lary Cotten, we decided to head out and meet Carl and his friends, look at the footage and see for ourselves. Carl showed us a lot of very interesting footage (hopefully I will be able to post some of it on this blog in the future) and I honestly have no idea what he captured on camera. Two stood out, the first where he is following this light and all of the sudden you see an airplane crossing his field of view. This was quite spectacular, but more importantly it proved that it was not an airplane that he was following. The other was where he followed one of the objects on another evening and it came so low that it was actually between the trees. At that point you can see that the camera is in focus and you get a much better perspective of scale etc. Then all of the sudden the object makes a movement in the shape of a 'fishhook' or an upside down question mark, and flies off.

Although the footage is interesting, it is not proof of anything. It still can be an elaborate hoax. That evening we did not see anything interesting or slightly UFO-like. Anything we saw flying was recognized and Identified or therefore an IFO.

Now fast forward to yesterday. I received a call from KEYE news. They had taken a look at some of his new footage (yes, Carl is still filming and still seeing things) and they are very much interested. They asked me if I would like to be there as well and see if we can spot something together. In other words, this story has not ended yet, and I will be cold tonight staring up to see if I see something I do not understand.

And then this morning CNN posted this video with Miles O'Brien. Is there something in the water or something?


... to be continued


UPDATE

Found this TV interview with actual footage from Carl.

Copernicus Found!

Three years ago in northern Poland a skull was found in the cathedral of Frombork and the suspicion was that the skull was that of the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Today the news broke that it is indeed his skull that was found (see reconstruction on the right), because they were able to match DNA form the skull with some DNA located in one of the books he owned for many years. Until now we did not know where he had been buried, but now we know: in the cathedral of Frombork, Poland.

Copernicus is the famous astronomer that published "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), which is the book that put the Sun in the center of our Solar System instead of the Earth. For the longest time he did not dare to publish his book because it was not in accordance with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. But eventually he did decide to publish it with a preface where he indicated it was a theory not a fact. (Sound familiar doesn't it??)

Despite this 'disclaimer' the church banned the book after all, and it was placed on the list of 'forbidden books'. He died shortly after the publication of his book in 1543. Copernicus was finally reinstated by the church in 1992. Yes: nineteen ninety two: a full four hundred and forty nine years after the poor guys death the church finally stated: "eehhh yeah he was right... sorry".

You can find the full article on the find here. (Note that the map they use is wrong though; it is Warsaw, not Frombork, that is the capital of Poland)

See the ISS, the Space Shuttle and a toolbag

Tonight we have a wonderful opportunity to see the International Space Station (ISS) from Austin. At 17 past 6, the ISS will rise in the southwest and rapidly travel to almost straight overhead in about 3 minutes. Then 2 minutes later the ISS will set in the northeast and disappear from view.

This viewing will be even better then normal, because as you may have read, the Space Shuttle is currently attached to the station. This makes the station a lot bigger, resulting in more reflected light and increasing the spectacle for us down below.

In addition to the ISS and the Shuttle, there is actually a third object floating around as well: a lost tool bag. This morning one of the astronauts lost hold of a tool bag needed for her spacewalk. Normally, this is not a problem because it should be tethered to the space suit. Unfortunately also that failed, and the bag floated happily off by itself.

Although the bag is quite too small to be seen, the ISS with the space shuttle is definitely worth seeing. Look for the very bright "star" racing across the sky, and feel free to post your thoughts and observations to this blog. I also copied a small star chart from the heavensabove.com website:

Coming Soon: A New Website

Five years ago when I started with the Austin Planetarium project, I started with designing a website. I was working as a computer programmer for UT-System at the time, so that was the logical step for me to take. For five years this website functioned more-or-less OK but it was time for a major overhaul.

The first step in this process was to design a new logo. This logo we have been using now for several months and we received many positive reactions and comments on it. We knew it was working when at the Pecan Street festival people were buying our T-shirts with the logo without knowing who we were or what we are trying to accomplish for Austin. They purely bought it for the cool looking logo.

At the same time, we redesigned the website to look at least a little bit like our brochure. We did not have the time to do this properly, and the current website is a band aid until we are ready to launch the new site. Actually, the current site is identical to the old one, we only removed the old imagery, put in a new logo and menu, et voila! The only truly different thing is the front page, and if you like that, you will be blown away by the new design.

The site is being designed by Jake Maymar, one of the founders of NAKA Media, and I have had the pleasure to look over his shoulder as he has been working on the site for the past weeks, and I can tell you that the result will be incredibly beautiful. Insetad of a simple square image, things will have curves like planetary surfaces, and we will also have a starfield on the top of the screen, plus a much more logical and user friendly layout of the site.

If all goes well, we will launch the new site early December. Stay tuned!