Nothing But the Facts on UFOs or Which Novosti Writer Do You Read? (Wit H 2 Ar

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

First the factor several striking and reliable UFO observations and then conclusions.

## First Account

THE PLACE of observation is Kazakhstan. the field camp of a geophysical expedition from a Leningrad research institute. The nearest populated locality, Koktal, is 11 miles away. The time of observation is August 16. 1964, about 11 P.M. local time.

According to M. of Geology and Minerology Nikolai chevanov, the camp chief, a strange, luminous body suddenly appeared over the mountains on the eastern slope of the valley. It was moving from north to south, and its visible diameter was one and a half times longer than the Moon's. A few seconds later the body disappeared behind a mountain top, reappeared and headed southeast, keeping constant speed and height above the Earth. The mysterious object was lens-shaped and bright, the edges being somewhat less luminous than the center.

The body described an arc in the sky and disappeared behind the mountains, leaving no trace.

The unidentified flying object (UFO) was observed by eight scientific workers, members of the geophysical expedition.

## Second Account

On July 26, 1963, Latvian astronomer Robert Vitehnick, Van Melderis and Emeralda Vitehnick were studying noctilucent clouds at an observation station at Ogra. At 9:35 P.M. they noticed an unusually bright star moving slowly in a westerly direction. Looked at through binoculars with a magnification of eight diameters, the "star" resolved itself into a small flat speak. The telescope then disclosed the following incredible picture.

In the heart of a lens-shaped disc, which the astronomers estimated to be about 125 feet across, was clearly evident a thickened part, a small sphere. Around the disc, at a distance of two diameters, were three spheres resembling the one in the center. The spheres slowly rotated around the disc as the entire system diminished in size, gradually leaving the Earth. Some 15 to 20 minutes later the spheres began to move away from the disc, as if receding in different directions. The sphere in the center also left its place and moved away. Finally at 10 P.M. all these shining emerald green bodies were so far away that the astronomers lost sight of them.

This strange picture was observed in the northwestern part of the sky at about 60 degrees above the horizon. The astronomers estimated that the enigmatic objects were about 60 miles above the Earth.

## Third Account

A long radiogram arrived at the office of the magazine Smena, for which I had written an article on IFOs. It was sent by First Mate Rashuzhin on behalf of the crew of the Soviet ship Icheshk.

On August 2. 1967, at 11:30 P.M. Moscow time, while crossing the Norwegian Sea in a westerly direction, Ishersk sailors witnessed this unusual phenomenon, said the radiogram:

There were three of us in the cabin Captain Markov. Senior Engineer Ivanov and myself. Sysyey. nee on duty. reported a strange phenomenon in the sky. We ran to the bridge and saw a sphere-like whitish spot moving southward.

"A few minutes later a bright spot flared up high in the sky. For a couple of seconds it rushed headlong from west to east at an angle of 45 degrees to the Earth, getting much larger. Suddenly it came to a stop and with a play of bright rainbow colors yellow predominating it began throwing off sparks and became enveloped in a white shroud.

"Once again the sphere-like white nebula began moving south. The procedure was repeated four times. On the fifth and last time the spot's behavior changed. It stopped midway, turned over and assumed the shape of an egg with the thicker end up. Then a powerful white jet squirted from the lower end, after which the 'egg' grew pale, became enveloped in white mist and, with its white tail, began to head southward."

All this strange celestial activity was visible for an hour and then vanished into thin air.

## Fourth Account

Not one but several reports came from astronomers at the Mountain Astrophysical Station, USSR Academy of Sciences, 12 miles from Kislovadsk, Caucasus.

In July 1967 the station received letters from local newspapers reporting the flight of a strange rebellious present across the sky at 9:20 P.M. on July 17.

In the very early morning of July 18. 1967. astronomer H. I. Potter, who was observing the Moon at the Mountain Station, noticed a strange formation against a clear starry sky at 2:50 A.M. Moscow time. A white cloud appeared in the northeast at an elevation of about 20 degrees. Its diameter was twice as long as that of the Moon but its nose was several times less bright.

The cloud itself had a dense milky-white color, with a rosy-red nucleus clearly discernible near its northern end. The cloud expanded and grew paler. A few minutes later the white cloud dispersed completely, but the reddish nucleus remained. Toward daybreak it lost its outlines and then disappeared. Photographs showing its changes were taken.

At 8:10 P.M. on August 28, 1967, at the same Mountain Station astronomer Anatoli Sazanov observed an unfamiliar flying object. It was shaped like an asymmetrical crescent, with its convex side turned in the direction of its movement. Narrow, faintly luminous ribbons resembling the condensation trail of a jet plane followed behind the horns of the crescent. Its diameter was two-thirds that of the Moon, and it was not as bright. It was yellow with a reddish tinge.

The object was flying horizontally in the northern part of the sky, from west to east, at about 20 degrees above the horizon. It covered the distance from Ursa Major to Cassi-

first magnitude was moving at a constant distance ahead of the crescent.

As it moved away from the observers, the crestent dwindled, turned into a small disc and then instantly disappeared.

The mysterious object was seen by 10 of the station's scientific workers. It was also observed in Kielovodsk. According to Saganov, the crescent was 12 miles away, and it was no less than 500 feet across.

## Optical Illusion?

Let us stop here and draw some conclusions. Even if all the UFO evidence amounted to no more than these four accounts, it is clear that the evidence exists. The fact of the matter, is, however, that many thousands of such observations have been documented in the past 20 years. They come from dozens of countries and virtually every corner of our planet, including the Arctic and Antarctic. The UFO phenomenon is too widespread and popularly accepted to be dismissed lightly.

A growing number of serious scientists are not satisfied with explanations characterizing the sightings as visual alterations. It pore without saying that the phenomenon attracts and will unfortunately continue to all sorts of publicity seekers. But we do not stop using money because there are counterfeiters. The task of science is, precisely, the obligation to distinguish between the false and the true. Thus, if science considers flying saucers a hallucination, it still must explain the cause of this global psychic illness. That may well be as difficult to establish as the true nature of IFOs.

The well-known American astrophysicist Donald Menzel says that flying saucers are optical phenomena in the Earth's atmosphere. Because of Professor Menzel's scientific prestige the explanation is generally accepted. But it does not hold water. As soon as we go on from this generalization to concrete interpretations of concrete observations, it becomes evident that UFOs will not reduce themselves to optical phenomena of the mirage, rainbow or halo type. Try the Menzel explanation on the four accounts we cited earlier. Nothing intelligible will emerge. What we seem to be dealing with here is a kind of reality still unexplored.

The appearance of UFOs is almost always accompanied by a luminescence of air and the formation of an atmospheric plasma. This fact is the basis for the "plasma" hypothesis of UFOs as accumulations of atmospheric plasma of the ball lightning type. But this explanation does not hold up either. Ball lightning is always a thunderstorm product, and the appearance of UFOs has no relation to weather. Ball lightning diameters as a rule run four to five inches, no larger; the diameters of flying discs are ten and even hundreds of times that size. The behavior of UFOs, their shapes and other physical properties are quite different from what we know of ball lightning.

## Saucre and Halle

To find a clue to the nature of UFOs, we must study all the reports on these surprising and, to my mind, real objects. Only a scientific analysis will reveal the truth. What is, however, clear already is that UFO phenomena