Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

94
ASTRONOMY
article
on
pages
90-95)
has
pointed
out
that
a
vehicle
100
feet
(30.5
meters)
in
diameter,
at
an
altitude
of
50
miles (80.5
km),
would
leave
a
broad
track
on
photographic
plates
of the
sky
taken
with
large
telescopes.
This
track
could
be
distinguished
easily
from
those
of ordinary astronomical
objects
such
as
stars,
meteors,
and
comets.
Nevertheless,
it
appears
that
such
tracks
or
unam-
biguous
visual
observations
of
classical
UFO's
have
never been
made
by
profes-
sional
astronomers.
For
example,
in
the
Harvard
Meteor
Project
performed
in
New
Mexico
during
the
period
1954-58,
extensive
photographic
observations
were
made
by
Super
-
Schmidt
cameras,
with
a
60
0
field
of
view.
In
all,
a
surface area
of
about
3,000
square
miles (7,700
sq
km)
was
observed to
a
height
of
about
50
miles
(80
km)
for
a
total
period
of
about
3,000
hours.
Visual
and
photographic
observations
were
made
which
could
detect objects
almost
as
faint
as
the
faintest objects
visible
to
the
naked
eye.
These
observations
by
professional
astronomers
were
made
in
a
locale
and
period characterized
by
extensive reports
of
unidentified
flying objects.
No
unexplained
objects
were
detected, despite
the
fact
that
rapidly
moving
objects
were
being
sought
in
a
study of
meteors. Similar
negative
results
have
been
obtained
by
large
numbers
of
astronomers
and
help
to
explain
the
gen-
eral
skepticism
of the
astronomical
community
towards
flying
saucer
reports.
A
series
of
puzzling
and
well
-published
flying
saucer
sightings in
the
mid
-
1960's
again
led
to the
appointment
of
a
government
investigating
panel,
this
time under
the
aegis
of the Air
Force
Scientific
Advisory
Board.
It
is
significant
that
this
panel
was
convened not at the
request
of the
operational
or
intelligence
arms
of the Air Force,
but
in response
to
a
request
by
the Air
Force
public
relations
office.
The
panel,
under
the
chairmanship
of
Brian
O'Brien,
a member
of
the board,
met
in
February
1966,
and
restated
the general
conclusions
of the
Robertson
panel. It
was
recommended
that the
Mr
Force
make
a
more
thor-
oughgoing
effort
to
investigate
selected
UFO
reports
of
particular
interest,
although
the
probability
of
acquiring
significant
scientific
information (other
than
psychological)
seemed
small.
The
O'Brien
-
panel
suggested
that the Air
Force
establish
a
group
of
teams
at
various
points
within
the United
States in
order
to
respond
rapidly to
UFO
reports.
The
panel
recommended
that
each
team
should
consist
of
a
physical
scientist
familiar
with
upper
atmospheric
and
astronomical
phenomena,
a
clinical
psychologist,
and
a
trained
investigator.
In
October
1966
the
University
of Colorado
was
selected
by
the
Air Force
Office
of
Scientific
Research
to
manage
the
program,
and
to
prepare
a
thor-
oughgoing
analysis
of the
UFO
problem.
The
National
Academy
of
Sciences
agreed
to
appoint
a
panel to
review the
report
when
it
is
completed
in
early 1968.
Hypotheses
of
Extraterrestrial Origin.
Repeated
sightings
of
UFO's, and
the
persistence
of the Air Force
and
the
responsible
scientific
community
in explain-
ing
away
the
sightings,
have
suggested
to
some
that
a
conspiracy
exists
to con-
ceal
from
the
public
the
true
nature of the
UFO's. Might
not at
least
a
small
fraction
of
the unexplained
few
percent of the
sightings
be
space
vehicles
of
intelligent
extraterrestrial
beings observing the
earth
and
its
inhabitants?
It
now
seems
probable that the
earth
is
not
the only
inhabited planet in
the
universe.
There
is
evidence that
many
of the
stars
in
the
sky have
planetary
systems.
Furthermore,
research concerning the
origin
of
life
on
earth suggests
that the
physical
and
chemical
processes leading to the
origin
of
life
occur
rapidly in
the
early history
of the majority of
planets.
From
the
point
of viewof natural
selection,
the advantages of
intelligence
and
technical
civilization
are
obvious,
and some
scientists
believe
that
a
large
number
of
planets within
our Milky
Way
galaxy—perhaps as
many
as
a
million—are
inhabited
by
tech-
nical
civilizations
in
advance of our
own.
Interstellar
space
flight is
far beyond our
present technical
capabilities,
but
there
seem
to
be
no
fundamental
physical objections
to
it.
It
would be rash topreclude,
from
our
present
vantage
point,
the
possibility
of
its
development
by
other
civilizations.
But
if
each
of,
say,
a
million
advanced
technical
civilizations
in
our galaxy launched
an
interstellar
spacecraft
each year
(and
even for
anadvanced
civilization,
the launching of
an
interstellar
space
vehicle
would
not
be
a
trivigl
undertaking),
and
even
if all
of
them
could reach our
solar
system
with equal
facility,
our system would, on
the average, be
visited
only once every100,000 years.
UFO
enthusiasts
have sometimes
castigated
the skeptic for his anthropocen-trism. Actually, the assumption that earth
is visited daily
by
interstellar
space-
craft is
far
more
anthropocentric—attaching as
it
does
some
overriding
signifi-
cance to our small
planet. If our views on the frequency of
intelligence
in the