Andrew Fraknoi (born 1948) is a retired professor of astronomy recognized for his lifetime of work using everyday language to make astronomy more accessible and popular for both students and the general public. In 2017 Fraknoi retired from his position as Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Foothill College . In retirement he continues to teach through the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University , to give public lectures, and to add to his body of written work. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors in his field.
134-483: An unidentified flying object ( UFO ), or unidentified anomalous phenomenon ( UAP ), is any perceived airborne, submerged or transmedium phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. Upon investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained. While unusual sightings have been reported in the sky throughout history, UFOs became culturally prominent after World War II , escalating during
268-549: A Pew research poll found that 51% in the United States thought that UFOs reported by people in the military were likely to be evidence of intelligent life from beyond the Earth. In August 2021, Gallup , with a question not specific to military reports, only found that 41% of adults believed some UFOs involve alien spacecraft from other planets. This Gallup poll showed 44% of men and 38% of women believed this. This average of 41% in 2021
402-507: A 1969 USAF document, known as the Bolender memo, along with later government documents, revealed that non-public U.S. government UFO investigations continued after 1970. The Bolender memo first stated that "reports of unidentified flying objects that could affect national security ... are not part of the Blue Book system," indicating that more serious UFO incidents already were handled outside
536-425: A 1996 poll by Newsweek , 20% of Americans believed that UFOs were more likely to be proof of alien life than to have a natural scientific explanation. In December 2017, a new round of media attention started when The New York Times broke the story of the secret Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program that was funded from 2007 to 2012 with $ 22 million spent on the program. Following this story, along with
670-503: A UFO and reported recovered memories of their experience that became ever more elaborate as the years went by. In 1966, 5% of Americans reported to Gallup that "they had at some time seen something they thought was a 'flying saucer'", 96% said "they had heard or read about flying saucers", and 46% of these "thought they were 'something real' rather than just people's imagination". Responding to UFO enthusiasm, there have always been consistent yet less popular efforts made at debunking many of
804-499: A case to be deemed "identified", two analysts had to independently agree on a solution and for a case to be called "unidentified", all four analysts had to agree. A report classified as "unidentified" was defined as: "Those reports of sightings wherein the description of the object and its maneuvers could not be fitted to the pattern of any known object or phenomenon." Out of 3,201 cases, 69% were judged to be identified , 22% were unidentified , and 9% had insufficient information to make
938-412: A case was lacking in adequate data, it was placed in the insufficient information category, separate from both IFOs and UFOs. The Battelle BBSR study included many internal military reports; 38% of the cases were designated as military. Military witnesses tended to submit better quality reports, had much fewer reports rated as having insufficient information, and had higher percentages of unknowns. As in
1072-741: A chance to write a picture book on astronomy for Disney and the challenge was how can we convey some of these modern ideas, including the Big Bang, to kids who are in 4th or 5th grade." His 2015 book, "Solar Science", published by the National Science Teachers Association, is full of 45 hands-on activities about the Sun, the seasons, the Moon, eclipses, and more. Fraknoi frequently writes articles on interdisciplinary topics, such as using music, poetry, or science fiction to teach science. He has published
1206-519: A clue about the source of some recent UFO sightings by military aircraft". Greg Eghigian writing for the Smithsonian Magazine suggests that, as technology has evolved, so has the nature of the UFO phenomenon. According to Eghigian, "fears of Zeppelins, rockets and drones have replaced the "celestial wonders" of ancient times", and "affairs here on earth have consistently colored our perceptions of what
1340-466: A daily occurrence with one particularly famous example being the Roswell incident in 1947 where remnants of a downed observation balloon were recovered by a farmer and confiscated by military personnel. UFO enthusiasts in the early 1950s started to organize local "saucer clubs" modeled after science fiction fan clubs of the 1930s and 1940s, with some growing to national and international prominence within
1474-554: A decade. In 1950, three influential books were published— Donald Keyhoe 's The Flying Saucers Are Real , Frank Scully 's Behind the Flying Saucers , and Gerald Heard 's The Riddle of the Flying Saucers . Each guilelessly proposed that the extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis was the correct explanation and that the visits were in response to detonations of atomic weapons . These books also introduced Americans to, as Eghanian puts it, "the crusading whistleblower dedicated to breaking
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#17330846247751608-399: A determination. BBSR further broke these results down based on whether the identification was considered certain or merely doubtful. For example, in both the astronomical and aircraft IFO categories, 12% were considered certain and 9% were doubtful. Overall, of the 69% listed as IFOs, 42% were thought to be solved with certainty, while 27% were still considered doubtful. In addition, if
1742-407: A familiar object." The regulation also said UFOBs were to be investigated as a "possible threat to the security of the United States" and "to determine technical aspects involved." The regulation went on to say that "it is permissible to inform news media representatives on UFOB's when the object is positively identified as a familiar object" but added: "For those objects which are not explainable, only
1876-433: A few percent in any given year. When Project Blue Book closed down in 1970, only 6% of all cases were classified as being truly unidentified. UFOs that can be explained are sometimes termed identified flying objects ( IFOs ). The following are some major studies undertaken during the past 70+ years that reported on identification of UFOs: Project Sign lists that "in order to investigate the credibility of their existence
2010-572: A few prank balloons). Hendry also used a case classification system developed by his mentor J. Allen Hynek, who established CUFOS , where the study was carried out. In this summary table: Both BBSR and Hendry found that three classes of objects or phenomena—astronomical, aircraft, or balloons—accounted for a large majority of identifiable UFO reports (referred to as IFOs), 86% and 83% in the two studies. For example, in Hendry's study, bright stars and planets made up 29% of all cases while meteors (and to
2144-524: A frequent radio, television and podcast guest explaining astronomical developments in everyday language. According to his published biography at Wonderfest , the science education organization that awarded him their 2002 Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization, Fraknoi "appeared for over 20 years on the Jim Eason Show on KGO or KSFO radio and [as] a regular guest on both the Pete Wilson Show (later
2278-484: A life-long interest, or even a course-long interest, in science. My philosophy is to show students that science is engaging, human, and part of our cultural heritage." In 2013 Fraknoi received the Faraday Science Communicator Award. Michael Faraday , for whom the award was named, was an influential 19th century scientist and a great advocate for rigorous, skeptical thinking and recognizing how easy it
2412-548: A lifetime of contributions to the intersection of physics and culture). In 2011 he was elected an Honorary Member by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and in 2013 was conferred the Faraday Science Communicator Award. Asteroid 4859 was named Asteroid Fraknoi by the International Astronomical Union "to honor his work in sharing the excitement of modern astronomy with students, teachers and
2546-504: A lifetime of work, his commitment to advancing public understanding of astronomy and science using everyday language. He said in an interview after being named 2007 California Professor of the Year: "I believe that an understanding of our place in the wider universe and the methods of science are part of the birthright of everyone living on our planet... Yet, the way science is taught in this country can often discourage non-science majors from taking
2680-428: A limited degree as can a visual perceptual effect called the autokinetic effect , caused by small, involuntary eye movements after staring at a star-like light against a black background without a frame of reference. To some observers, these may cause stars and planets to appear to start and stop, change direction, or dart around. Hendry and other UFO skeptics attribute complex patterns of apparent motion in UFO reports to
2814-812: A list of science fiction stories using good astronomy, as well as a resource guide to music inspired by astronomy. Fraknoi himself has had eight science-fiction stories published. two of them in anthologies. The story "Cave in Arsia Mons" is in the book "Building Red: Mission Mars," edited by Janet Cannon, and the story "Supernova Rhythm" is published in the book "Science Fiction by Scientists," edited by Mike Brotherton and published by Springer. Two of his stories appeared in Sci Phi Journal, while others can be found on-line in Flash Fiction, Wyldblood, and Theme of Absence magazines; see External Links below. Fraknoi has been
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#17330846247752948-548: A much lesser extent, re-entering space debris) made up 9%. Hovering aircraft such as helicopters or blimps , or aircraft that appear to be hovering, such as airplanes seen at night from the front with their headlights on as they approach for landing can often confuse witnesses, as can aircraft strobe lights. BBSR reported a much higher percentage of balloons than Hendry. Claims of misidentification are after-the-fact analyses, not direct observations, and are often misconstrued by skeptics and UFO advocates alike: They do not suggest that
3082-426: A phenomenon could, in fact, occur". The research was "being conducted with the thought that the flying objects might be a celestial phenomenon," or that "they might be a foreign body mechanically devised and controlled." Three weeks later in a preliminary defense estimate, the air force investigation decided that, "This 'flying saucer' situation is not all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomenon. Something
3216-611: A professor of philosophy and religion at the University of North Carolina, says that what is seen on a screen, "if it conforms to certain criteria, is interpreted as real, even if it is not real and even if one knows it is not real" and that "screen images embed themselves in one's brain and memories" in ways that "can determine how one views one's past and even determine one's future behaviors". The most notable cases of UFO sightings in France include: UFOs have been subject to investigations over
3350-569: A report indicating that many UFO reports in the 1950s were classified aircraft like the SR-71 and U-2. The increase in civilian drone usage and popularity throughout the 2010s may be moving identification of objects away from UFOs and towards drones. These stationary cloud formations often appear above mountains, but can happen when winds and "eddies" help shape clouds into lens shaped clouds and people see these as "flying saucers". Light distortion from air turbulence can cause celestial bodies to move to
3484-471: A role in creating or changing, and then read novels, stories, and poems, and hear music influenced by Einstein's work and ideas. According to Thuy Thi Nguyen, president of Foothill College at the time of Fraknoi's retirement, the college sent a memo to the student body to warn them that spring semester 2017 would be their last chance to attend this very popular course. Fraknoi also created and offered various other courses for non-science majors. In 2007 Fraknoi
3618-467: A series of sensationalized Pentagon UFO videos leaked by members of the program who became convinced that UFOs were genuine mysteries worth investigating, there was an increase in mainstream attention to UFO stories. In July 2021, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb announced the creation of his Galileo Project which intended to use high-tech astronomical equipment to seek evidence of extraterrestrial artifacts in space and possibly within Earth's atmosphere. This
3752-440: A threat to national security. Officials were concerned about the "risk of false alerts", of "falsely identifying the real as phantom", and of mass hysteria caused by sightings. In 1947, Brigadier General George F. Schulgen of Army Air Corps Intelligence, warned "the first reported sightings might have been by individuals of Communist sympathies with the view to causing hysteria and fear of a secret Russian weapon." In November 2011,
3886-475: A trail, occasional formation flying, and "evasive" behavior "when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar", suggesting a controlled craft. It was therefore recommended in late September 1947 that an official Air Force investigation be set up. It was also recommended that other government agencies should assist in the investigation. Project Sign's final report, published in early 1949, stated that while some UFOs appeared to represent actual aircraft, there
4020-507: A year in an Austrian refugee camp and finally resettled in New York City . He entered his first American school at age 11, unable to speak English. Comic books, with their pictures and simple language, became his preferred entry point to learning. His initial interest was superhero comic books , and then comics with outer space themes. "This isn't just comic books – this is real," he recalls thinking about space. Fraknoi graduated from
4154-526: Is Halley's Comet : first recorded by Chinese astronomers in 240 BC and possibly as early as 467 BC as a strange and unknown "guest light" in the sky. As a bright comet that visits the inner solar system every 76 years, it was often identified as a unique isolated event in ancient historical documents whose authors were unaware that it was a repeating phenomenon. Such accounts in history often were treated as supernatural portents, angels , or other religious omens . While UFO enthusiasts have sometimes commented on
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4288-430: Is LESS to these stories than meets the eye". People have always observed the sky and have sometimes seen what, to some, appeared to be unusual sights including phenomena as varied as comets , bright meteors , one or more of the five planets that can be readily seen with the naked eye , planetary conjunctions , and atmospheric optical phenomena such as parhelia and lenticular clouds . One particularly famous example
4422-737: Is also an elected Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences , an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada , and a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry . He has a special interest in debunking astrology and other pseudosciences connected to astronomy. Fraknoi was born in Hungary in 1948. Eight years later, following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 , he and his family fled their home in Budapest . They spent almost
4556-515: Is certainly familiar to historians of religion, a domain of human existence marked by deep divisions over interpretations of belief", and science too has found itself engaged increasing amounts of "boundary work" (which is "asserting and reasserting the borders between legitimate and illegitimate scientific research and ideas, between what may and what may not refer to itself as science") with regard to UFO questions. Eghigian points out our current "stark divide did not happen overnight, and its roots lie in
4690-526: Is going on over our heads". According to sociologist David L. Miller, experts such as Neil Smelser and Orrin Klapp attribute many UFO sightings to social contagion or mass hysteria , and as an overall cause of the UFO phenomenon. Andrew Fraknoi Fraknoi continues to serve on the board of trustees of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ( SETI ) Institute, a scientific and educational organization. He
4824-510: Is really flying around." A further review by the intelligence and technical divisions of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field reached the same conclusion. It reported that "the phenomenon is something real and not visionary or fictitious," and there were disc-shaped objects, metallic in appearance, as big as man-made aircraft. They were characterized by "extreme rates of climb [and] maneuverability", general lack of noise, absence of
4958-447: Is responsible for the majority of all UFO reports The brightest meteors known as bolides are long lasting fireballs that leave a trail in the sky which can be visible for up to an hour after passing. Such events are relatively rare but can be witnessed by a large area of the Earth since most events occur kilometers up in the atmosphere. Those witnessing such events who are not familiar with meteors can be easily fooled into thinking that
5092-600: Is that they cannot discard the possibility that some fraction of the very strange 22% of unexplained cases might be due to distant and advanced civilizations. Identification studies of UFOs Identifying unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is a difficult task due to the normally poor quality of the evidence provided by those who report sighting the unknown object. Observations and subsequent reporting are often made by those untrained in astronomy, atmospheric phenomena, aeronautics, physics, and perception. Nevertheless, most officially investigated UFO sightings, such as from
5226-577: Is the co-author of the richly illustrated 2017 children's book about eclipses "When the Sun Goes Dark", that came out just ahead of the North American solar eclipse in August 2017. In 2007, his first children's book "Wonderful World of Space" was published by Disney. When asked about the book in a 2008 podcast interview, Fraknoi explained, "This has been a fun project. My son, who was 13 at the time, and I got
5360-410: Is the explanation for certain optical mirages, and in particular the arctic illusion called "fata morgana" where distant ocean or surface ice, which is essentially flat, appears to the viewer in the form of vertical columns and spires, or "castles in the air." People often assume that mirages occur only rarely. This may be true of optical mirages, but conditions for radar mirages are more common, due to
5494-578: The AAAS , James E. McDonald said he believed science had failed to mount adequate studies of the problem and criticized the Condon Report and earlier studies by the USAF as scientifically deficient. He also questioned the basis for Condon's conclusions and argued that the reports of UFOs have been "laughed out of scientific court". J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer who worked as a USAF consultant from 1948, sharply criticized
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5628-611: The Brazilian Air Force 's 1977 Operação Prato (Operation Saucer). France has had an ongoing investigation (GEPAN/SEPRA/ GEIPAN ) within its space agency Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) since 1977; the government of Uruguay has had a similar investigation since 1989. On October 31, 2008, the National Archives of Brazil began receiving from the Aeronautical Documentation and History Center part of
5762-715: The Bronx High School of Science in 1966. He earned his A.B. in Astronomy (with a minor in Physics) from Harvard University in 1970, and his M.A . in Astronomy from University of California, Berkeley in 1972. Fraknoi held the position of Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Foothill College from 1992 to 2017. He also taught astronomy and physics at other institutions including San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco , Cañada College , and several campuses of
5896-850: The Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization . In 2007 he was named California Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education . Additionally he was conferred the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's 2007 Richard H. Emmons award and the American Institute of Physics ' 2007 Andrew Gemant Award (given for
6030-837: The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), FBI , CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), as well as military intelligence agencies of the Army and U.S. Navy , in addition to the Air Force. Following the large U.S. surge in sightings in June and early July 1947, on July 9, 1947, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) intelligence, in cooperation with the FBI, began a formal investigation into selected sightings with characteristics that could not be immediately rationalized, such as Kenneth Arnold's. The USAAF used "all of its top scientists" to determine whether "such
6164-752: The Falcon Lake incident in Manitoba and the Shag Harbour UFO incident in Nova Scotia. Early Canadian studies included Project Magnet (1950–1954) and Project Second Storey (1952–1954), supported by the Defence Research Board . U.S. investigations into UFOs include: In addition to these, thousands of documents released under FOIA also indicate that many U.S. intelligence agencies collected (and still collect) information on UFOs. These agencies include
6298-553: The Kenneth Arnold incident . "Unidentified flying object" (UFO) has been in-use since 1947. The acronym, "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt , for the USAF. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO". The term UFO became widespread during
6432-506: The SETI Institute , a scientific and educational organization devoted to the search for life in the universe, since its inception in 1985. From 2010 to 2012, he was vice-chair of the Board and served on the program committee planning the first and second SETIcon , a national weekend public conferences devoted to the scientific quest for our counterparts among the stars. In 2013, he was elected to
6566-764: The Space Age . Studies and investigations into UFO reports conducted by governments (such as Project Blue Book in the United States and Project Condign in the United Kingdom ), as well as by organisations and individuals have occurred over the years without confirmation of the fantastical claims of small but vocal groups of ufologists who favour unconventional or pseudoscientific hypotheses, often claiming that UFOs are evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence , technologically advanced cryptids , demons , interdimensional contact or future time travelers . After decades of promotion of such ideas by believers and in popular media,
6700-485: The U.S. Air Force 's Project Blue Book , have been identified as being due to honest misidentifications of natural phenomena, aircraft, or other prosaic explanations. In early U.S. Air Force attempts to explain UFO sightings, unexplained sightings routinely numbered over one in five reports. However, in early 1953, right after the CIA's Robertson Panel , percentages of unexplained sightings dropped precipitously, usually being only
6834-488: The White House released an official response to two petitions asking the U.S. government to acknowledge formally that aliens have visited this planet and to disclose any intentional withholding of government interactions with extraterrestrial beings. According to the response: The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of
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#17330846247756968-508: The autokinetic effect . Its opposite, autostasis is one of the causes as well. Another type of misperceived motion sometimes occurs when people are driving in a vehicle. Witnesses may believe the "UFO" was following them even though the celestial body was actually stationary. Even police and other normally reliable witnesses can occasionally be fooled by sightings of bright stars and planets. In about 10% of Hendry's cases caused by celestial bodies, witnesses greatly underestimated distances to
7102-470: The "Gil Gross Show") on KGO and Michael Krasny's Forum program on KQED . Nationally, he has been heard regularly on Science Friday and Weekend All Things Considered on National Public Radio . He has given over 400 public lectures on topics ranging from the death of stars to the origin of the universe." His television appearances include The Today Show , CBS Morning News , and Larry King Live . He also posts frequently on his own blog Exploring
7236-443: The '80s and '90s "the floodgates opened, and with them a new generation of UFO advocates". Leaders among them were the artist Budd Hopkins , horror writer Whitley Strieber , historian David Jacobs , and Harvard psychiatrist John Mack . They all defended the "veracity of those claiming to have been kidnapped, examined, and experimented upon by beings from another world", writes Eghigian, as "new missionaries who simultaneously played
7370-404: The 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use. Unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAP) first appeared in the late 1960s. UAP has seen increasing usage in the 21st century due to negative cultural associations with "UFO". UAP is sometimes expanded as "unidentified anomalous phenomenon". While technically a UFO refers to any unidentified flying object, in modern popular culture
7504-551: The 1980s and 1990s, UFO stories featured in such pulp "true crime" serials as Unsolved Mysteries while the 33 Volume Time-Life series Mysteries of the Unknown which featured UFO stories sold some 700,000 copies. Kloor writes that by the late 1990s, "other big UFO subthemes had been prominently introduced into pop culture, such as the abduction phenomenon and government conspiracy narrative , via best-selling books and, of course, The X-Files ". Eghigian notes that, by this point,
7638-501: The Air Force issued a statement to the effect that the book was outdated and cadets instead were being informed of the Condon Report 's negative conclusion. Controversy surrounded the report, both before and after its release. It has been observed that the report was "harshly criticized by numerous scientists, particularly at the powerful AIAA ... [which] recommended moderate, but continuous scientific work on UFOs." In an address to
7772-629: The Arnold incident, reported that over 25% of the U.S. public "believed unidentified flying objects could be from outer space". The cultural phenomenon showed up within some intellectual works such as the 1959 publication of Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky by Carl Jung , a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Starting in 1947, the U.S. Air Force began to record and investigated UFO reports with Project Sign looking into "more than 250 cases" from 1947 to 1949. It
7906-526: The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Additionally, he is the lead author of the 2016 college textbook "Astronomy", published by OpenStax as a free book for college students around the world, part of a project at Rice University (supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ) to make college more affordable. He also authored multiple resources for young people. He
8040-524: The CIA Director (DCI) in December read that "the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention ... Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense installations are of such a nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or any known types of aerial vehicles." The matter
8174-895: The Chilean Committee for the Study of Unidentified Space Phenomena, supported even by the Chilean Scientific Society. Currently, the organization changed its denomination to SEFAA and its a department of the DGAC (Chile) which in turn depends on the Chilean Air Force . In Canada, the Department of National Defence has dealt with reports, sightings and investigations of UFOs across Canada. In addition to conducting investigations into crop circles in Duhamel, Alberta , it still considers "unsolved"
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#17330846247758308-519: The Condon Committee Report and later wrote two nontechnical books that set forth the case for continuing to investigate UFO reports. Ruppelt recounted his experiences with Project Blue Book, a USAF investigation that preceded Condon's. According to a 1979 New York Times report, "records from the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and other Federal agencies" ("about 900 documents—nearly 900 pages of memos, reports and correspondence") obtained in 1978 through
8442-548: The Freedom of Information Act request, indicate that "despite official pronouncements for decades that U.F.O.'s were nothing more than misidentified aerial objects and as such were no cause for alarm ... the phenomenon has aroused much serious behind‐the‐scenes concern" in the US government. In particular, officials were concerned over the "approximately 10%" of UFO sightings which remained unexplained, and whether they might be Soviet aircraft and
8576-532: The Geophysics and Planetary Sciences Department at Tel Aviv University has commented that occurrences of upper-atmospheric lightning such as sprites , elves and blue jets could account for some of the strange reports of UFO sightings. According to New York Magazine writer for the Digital Intelligencer , Jeff Wise, advanced Electronic Warfare techniques similar to early " radar spoofing " used by
8710-493: The Harvard Medical School initiated a review of his position which allowed him to retain tenure. However, after this review, as the review board chairman Arnold Relman later put it, Mack was "not taken seriously by his colleagues anymore". Claims of alien abduction have continued, but no other clinicians would continue to speak of them as real in any sense. Nonetheless, these ideas persisted in popular opinion. According to
8844-554: The International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, or satellites; "flares" of light from "Iridium" satellites; the appearance of typical meteors; and observations of normal, "twinkling" stars, planets, contrails, clusters of balloons, etc. In fact, the overwhelming majority of reports that we receive now are of these normal objects and events, and processing the reports is taking a huge amount of our time... I believe
8978-725: The Mantell UFO Incident, which led to the death of Captain Thomas Mantell . Project Loon was a Google secret effort to bring internet services to isolated areas. Test balloons of different shapes were used and reported as UFOs. The Google Project Manager stated in an article in Wired Magazine that the team used UFO reports to track the balloons progress for one of the launches. Aircraft shapes have radically changed as we continue to develop stealth technologies. These new test designs appear unusual and cause reports. The CIA released
9112-576: The SETI Institute, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , and the University of California Observatories, the talks, attended by 400 to 900+ people each time, have featured Nobel laureates, members of the National Academy of Sciences , and many other distinguished scientists. Many lectures have been taped and are available on YouTube . Fraknoi has served on the board of trustees of
9246-409: The UFO problem had become "far more interesting to ponder than to actually solve." Interest was particularly fevered in the 1990s with the publicity surrounding the television broadcast of an Alien autopsy video marketed as "real footage" but later admitted to be a staged "re-enactment". Eghigian writes that "there had always been outlier abduction reports dating back to the '50s and '60s" but that in
9380-793: The UFOs, Hendry reported that 7.1%, might still have a prosaic explanation while 1.5% (20 cases) had no possible plausible explanation and were completely unexplained. The remaining miscellaneous cases (2.8%) were "garbage" cases, where Hendry deemed the witnesses unreliable, the reports hopelessly contradictory, or lacking in sufficient information. Overall, in the three major categories, 42% of all cases had astronomical explanations, 37% were aircraft, and 5% were balloons. A further breakdown allowed 77% to be readily explained by five main classes of objects: 29% were bright stars or planets, 19% were advertising planes, 15% were other aircraft, 9% were meteors and reentering space debris, and 5% were balloons of various types (mostly weather or advertising balloons but also
9514-424: The US in over 50 years. Another Congressional hearing took place on July 26, 2023, featuring the whistleblower claims of former U.S. Air Force (USAF) officer and intelligence official David Grusch. A Harris Poll in 2009 found that 32% of Americans "believe in UFOs". A National Geographic study in June 2012 found that 36% of Americans believe UFOs exist and that 10% thought that they had spotted one. In June 2021
9648-449: The US military could deceive sensors to give false velocity and position information. Wise worries that US adversaries have developed EW capabilities that exploit weaknesses in US systems that allow information to be missed or created erroneously. Wise speculates that admitting the US has "gaps in its electronic warfare capabilities" would allow it to be looked at objectively. As Navy Spokesman Joseph Gradisher puts it, "The more data you have,
9782-598: The Universe . Fraknoi has been the recipient of many notable awards throughout his career. In 1994 he was awarded the American Astronomical Society's Annenberg Foundation Award -- then the highest honor in the field of astronomy education, as well as the Klumpke-Roberts Award of The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (given for a lifetime of contributions to popularizing astronomy). In 2002 he received
9916-455: The University of California Extension Division. Fraknoi served as the executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1978 to 1992, edited its popular magazine "Mercury", both expanding circulation and reaching out to lay people as well as teachers. In this role he also established the newsletter "The Universe in the Classroom" specifically for teachers. He is the founder and
10050-413: The astronomical horizon appear to be hovering in the sky. It also magnifies images and makes them look unrecognizable. The UFOs seen on radar can also be due to Fata Morgana, since water vapor in the air can create radar mirages more readily than temperature inversions can create optical mirages. According to GEPAN/SEPRA, the official UFO investigation in France, As is well known, atmospheric ducting
10184-533: The best known government studies are the ghost rockets investigation by the Swedish military (1946–1947), Project Blue Book, previously Project Sign and Project Grudge , conducted by the USAF from 1947 until 1969, the secret U.S. Army/Air Force Project Twinkle investigation into green fireballs (1948–1951), the secret USAF Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 by the Battelle Memorial Institute , and
10318-406: The better you are to analyze it and turn that data into information into knowledge." According to Forbes contributor David Hambling, the U.S. Navy has filed patents for technology to produce a "self-focusing laser pulse to create a glowing filament or channel of plasma" that could create "mid-air images to fool infrared and other sensors". Hambling speculates that such technology "may also provide
10452-715: The board of trustees of the Friends of the Lick Observatory , later called the Lick Observatory Council. In his retirement Fraknoi continues to teach classes at both the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning through University of San Francisco, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University. Fraknoi is the author or co-author of 14 books in the field of astronomy. He
10586-454: The century. By most accounts, the popular UFO craze in the US began with a media frenzy surrounding the reports on June 24, 1947, of a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold who described seeing "a group of bat-like aircraft flying in formation at high speeds" near Mount Rainier that he said were "moving like a saucer would if skipped across water" which led to headlines about "flying saucers" and "flying discs". Only weeks after Arnold's story
10720-441: The claims, and at times the media was enlisted including a 1966 TV special, "UFO: Friend, Foe or Fantasy?", in which Walter Cronkite "patiently" explained to viewers that UFOs were fantasy. Cronkite enlisted Carl Sagan and J. Allen Hynek , who told Cronkite, "To this time, there is no valid scientific proof that we have been visited by spaceships". Such attempts to disenchant the zeitgeist were not very successful at tamping down
10854-704: The distances involved." On June 25, 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report on UAPs. The report found that the UAPTF was unable to identify 143 objects spotted between 2004 and 2021. The report said that 18 of these featured unusual movement patterns or flight characteristics, adding that more analysis was needed to determine if those sightings represented "breakthrough" technology. The report said that "some of these steps are resource-intensive and would require additional investment." The report did not link
10988-584: The documentation of the Brazilian Air Force regarding the investigation of the appearance of UFOs in Brazil . Currently, this collection gathers cases between 1952 and 2016. In 1968, the SEFAA (previously CEFAA) began receiving case reports of the general public, civil aviators and the Chilean Air Force regarding the sightings or the appearance of UFOs in Chile , the initial work was an initiative of Sergio Bravo Flores who led
11122-563: The excitement of astronomical discovery. Fraknoi is recognized for both his multi-dimensional approach, and his innovation, in making astronomy more accessible to all. His popular interdisciplinary course on Albert Einstein 's life and work, Physics for Poets (nicknamed "Einstein Without Tears"), won the 2005 "Innovation of the Year" award from the League for Innovation. In this course students learn about areas of modern physics that Einstein had
11256-517: The existential terror of nuclear war to foreign enslavement to loss of bodily control". American entertainment has explored both "hostile aliens" as well as the "benevolent, world-expanding encounters" seen in films such as Steven Spielberg 's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . In her research on the relationship of media to UFO beliefs, Diana Walsh Pasulka ,
11390-461: The experiences did not exist, but merely that they can be explained by prosaic causes. For instance, retrospective analyses of the Jimmy Carter UFO incident of 1969 connect the sighting with the known position of the planet Venus for that time, date, and location. Gordon Cooper , a strong advocate of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), claimed to have been fooled by the planet Venus when he
11524-496: The fact that ATIC [Air Technical Intelligence Center] will analyze the data is worthy of release, due to many unknowns involved." A public research effort conducted by the Condon Committee for the USAF and published as the Condon Report arrived at a negative conclusion in 1968. Blue Book closed down in 1970, using the Condon Committee's negative conclusion as a rationale, thus ending official Air Force UFO investigations. However,
11658-515: The following factors must be considered in any technical analysis": Method of support ( lift ) Method of propulsion ( thrust ) Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 was compiled between 1951 and 1954, and included 3201 reported UFO sightings. Battelle employed four scientific analysts, who sought to divide cases into "knowns", "unknowns", and a third category of "insufficient information." They also broke down knowns and unknowns into four categories of quality, from excellent to poor. In order for
11792-467: The human race...no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye.... The response further noted that efforts, like SETI and NASA's Kepler space telescope and Mars Science Laboratory , continue looking for signs of life . The response noted "odds are pretty high" that there may be life on other planets but "the odds of us making contact with any of them—especially any intelligent ones —are extremely small, given
11926-437: The hypothesis that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft and responded to the "onslaught of credulous coverage" in books, films and entertainment by teaching his students to apply critical thinking to such claims, advising them that "being a good scientist is not unlike being a good detective". According to Fraknoi, UFO reports "might at first seem mysterious", but "the more you investigate, the more likely you are to find that there
12060-412: The kind of evidence required to solidly support such claims has not been forthcoming. Scientists and skeptic organizations such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry have provided prosaic explanations for UFOs, namely that they are caused by natural phenomena, human technology, delusions, and hoaxes. Beliefs surrounding UFOs have inspired parts of new religions even as social scientists have identified
12194-505: The last fifty years, the mutual antagonism between paranormal believers and skeptics has largely framed discussion about unidentified flying objects" and that "it often gets personal" with those taking seriously the prospect that UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin dismissing those who consider UFOs to be worth studying as "narrow-minded, biased, obstinate, and cruel" while the skeptics brushed off "devotees" as "naïve, ignorant, gullible, and downright dangerous". Such "mudslinging over convictions
12328-492: The longest ongoing government-sponsored investigation. About 22% of the 6,000 cases studied remain unexplained. The official opinion of GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN has been neutral, stating on their FAQ page that their mission is fact-finding for the scientific community, not rendering an opinion. They add they can neither prove nor disprove the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), but their Steering Committee's clear position
12462-509: The magazine Sci Phi Journal , one in the online magazine Flash Fiction , and two in science fiction anthologies. Since 1999, Fraknoi has organized and moderated the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series where noted astronomers from around California and the nation give nontechnical public talks on new developments in our exploration of the universe in the large Smithwick Theater at Foothill College. Cosponsored by
12596-521: The majority of time I spend on the Hotline is devoted to trying to convince people who have been staring for hours at a star or planet that the object of interest is not a UFO. There are several natural and man-made objects that are commonly suggested as explanations for UFO sightings: With the exception of the sun, moon and the International Space Station , Venus is the brightest object in
12730-536: The mania. Keith Kloor notes that the "allure of flying saucers" remained popular with the public into the 1970s, spurring production of such sci-fi films, as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien , which "continued to stoke public fascination". Meanwhile, Leonard Nimoy narrated a popular occult and mystery TV series In Search of... while daytime talk shows of Mike Douglas , Merv Griffin , and Phil Donahue featured interviews with alien abductees and people who credulously reported stories about UFOs . In
12864-733: The material and the mental dimensions [of UFOs] are incredibly important to get a sense of the full picture". As Adrian Horton writes "from The X-Files to Men in Black , Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Star Wars to Marvel , Hollywood has for decades provided an engrossing feedback loop for interest in the extraterrestrial: a reflection of our fears and capaciousness, whose ubiquitous popularity has in turn fueled more interest in UFOs as perennially compelling entertainment tropes not to be taken seriously". Horton observes that these "alien movies have generally reflected shifting cultural anxieties, from
12998-458: The meteor is a UFO. Because meteors are not predictable with the same degree of accuracy as planets, stars, or man-made objects such as satellites, these occurrences are more difficult to prove in retrospect, though UFO sightings during meteor showers, or where there are astronomical reports of bolides, are likely to be explained as such. Many reports capture conventional, man-made objects. A Skyhook balloon has been postulated as an explanation for
13132-555: The narrative similarities between certain religious symbols in medieval paintings and UFO reports, the canonical and symbolic character of such images is documented by art historians placing more conventional religious interpretations on such images. Some examples of pre-contemporary reports about unusual aerial phenomena include: In the Pacific and European theatres during World War II , round, glowing fireballs known as " foo fighters " were reported by Allied and Axis pilots. Some explanations for these sightings included St. Elmo's fire ,
13266-499: The new moniker "unexplained aerial phenomenon" (UAP) to avoid associations with past sensationalism . On 17 May 2022, members of the United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation held congressional hearings with top military officials to discuss military reports of UAPs. It was the first public congressional hearing into UFO sightings in
13400-433: The objects, giving distance estimates ranging from 200 feet to 125 miles (60 m to 200 km). According to Hendry, moving clouds may also sometimes confuse observers by creating induced motion. Hendry believes this occasionally makes observers also believe objects have suddenly disappeared or make a rapid departure. Fata Morgana is a type of mirage responsible for some UFO sightings, by making objects located below
13534-543: The ongoing interest and storytelling surrounding UFOs as a modern example of folklore and mythology understandable with psychosocial explanations . The U.S. government currently has two entities dedicated to UFO data collection and analysis: NASA's UAP independent study team and the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office . During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often called " flying saucers " or "flying discs" based on reporting of
13668-517: The phenomenon include the MUFON , a grassroots organization whose investigator's handbooks go into great detail on the documentation of alleged UFO sightings. Air Force Regulation 200-2 , issued in 1953 and 1954, defined an Unidentified Flying Object ("UFOB") as "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as
13802-482: The planet Venus , hallucinations from oxygen deprivation , and German secret weapons (specifically rockets ). In 1946, more than 2,000 reports were collected, primarily by the Swedish military, of unidentified aerial objects over the Scandinavian nations, along with isolated reports from France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. The objects were referred to as "Russian hail" (and later as " ghost rockets ") because it
13936-416: The postwar decades, in a series of events that—with their news coverage, grainy images, celebrity crusaders, exasperated skeptics, unsatisfying military statements, and accusations of a government cover-up—foreshadow our present moment". UFOs have been taken up by religious studies scholars in various scholarly books. Jeffrey Kripal, chair of the Department of Religion at Rice University , has said that "both
14070-458: The previous breakdown, the percentage of UFOs again rose with case quality for both the military and civilian subcategories. In the summary table, best reports are those rated excellent and good; worst reports are doubtful and poor. A key study of BBSR was to statistically compare IFOs and UFOs by six characteristics: color, number of objects, shape, duration of observations, speed, and light brightness. If there were no significant differences,
14204-483: The public Blue Book investigation. The memo then added, "reports of UFOs which could affect national security would continue to be handled through the standard Air Force procedures designed for this purpose." In the late 1960s, a chapter on UFOs in the Space Sciences course at the U.S. Air Force Academy gave serious consideration to possible extraterrestrial origins. When word of the curriculum became public, in 1970,
14338-520: The public". In March 2019, Fraknoi was awarded the 2019 Space Educator: Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Space Club , a prestigious award that recognizes people for significant contributions to space-science education. He was presented with the award at the 62nd Annual Goddard Memorial Dinner on March 22, 2019. He was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020. Fraknoi has demonstrated, through
14472-414: The role of investigator, therapist, and advocate to their vulnerable charges". Eghigian says that Mack "signaled both the culmination and end of the headiest days of alien abduction". When Mack began working with and publishing accounts of abductees—or "experiencers", as he called them—in the early 1990s, he brought a sense of legitimacy to "the study of extraterrestrial captivity". By the late 1990s, however,
14606-517: The role played by water vapor which strongly affects the atmospheric refractivity in relation to radio waves. Since clouds are closely associated with high levels of water vapor, optical mirages due to water vapor are often rendered undetectable by the accompanying opaque cloud. On the other hand, radar propagation is essentially unaffected by the water droplets of the cloud so that changes in water vapor content with altitude are very effective in producing atmospheric ducting and radar mirages. Fata Morgana
14740-500: The sightings to extraterrestrial life. The Uruguayan Air Force has conducted UFO investigations since 1989 and reportedly analyzed 2,100 cases of which they regard approximately 2% as lacking explanation. In March 2007, the French space agency CNES published an archive of UFO sightings and other phenomena online. French studies include GEPAN/SEPRA/ GEIPAN within CNES (French space agency),
14874-432: The significance actually increased with the revised test. Like the Air Force, astronomer Allan Hendry found that only a small percentage of cases were hoaxes and that most sightings were actually honest misidentifications of prosaic phenomena. Hendry attributed most of these to inexperience or misperception. Out of 1,307 cases Hendry deemed 88.6% had clear prosaic explanations (IFOs) and only 8.6% were unknowns (UFOs). Of
15008-501: The silence over the alien origins of unidentified flying objects". Media accounts and speculation ran rampant in the U.S., especially in connection to the 1952 UFO scare in Washington, D.C. so that, by 1953, the intelligence officials ( Robertson Panel ) worried that "genuine incursions" by enemy aircraft "over U.S. territory could be lost in a maelstrom of kooky hallucination" of UFO reports. A Trendex survey in August 1957, ten years after
15142-473: The sky and is often visible in the early morning and evening sky. Even experienced witnesses, especially when they are in unfamiliar surroundings or unusual atmospheric conditions, can fail to identify Venus correctly; however, the location of Venus is easily calculable, and professional astronomers have said that many of the UFO reports received from concerned citizens are due to observations of Venus. Astronomer Phil Plait , in particular, has suggested that Venus
15276-401: The study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge" and that further time investigating UFO reports "cannot be justified". From the 1960s to 1990s, UFOs were part of American popular culture's obsession with the supernatural and paranormal . In 1961, the first alien abduction account was sensationalized when Barney and Betty Hill underwent hypnosis after seeing
15410-958: The term UFO has generally become synonymous with alien spacecraft .The term "extra-terrestrial vehicle" (ETV) is sometimes used to separate this explanation of UFOs from totally earthbound explanations. Studies show that after careful investigation, the majority of UFOs can be identified as ordinary objects or phenomena. The 1952–1955 study for the USAF used the following categories: "Balloon; Astronomical; Aircraft; Light phenomenon; Birds, Clouds, dust, etc.; Insufficient information; Psychological manifestations; Unknown; and Other". The most commonly found identified sources of UFO reports are: An individual 1979 study by CUFOS researcher Allan Hendry found, as did other investigations, that fewer than one percent of cases he investigated were hoaxes and most sightings were actually honest misidentifications of prosaic phenomena. Hendry attributed most of these to inexperience or misperception. Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi rejected
15544-481: The two classes were probably the same, the UFOs then representing merely a failure to properly identify prosaic phenomena that could already account for the IFOs. On the other hand, if the differences were statistically significant, this would suggest IFOs and UFOs were indeed distinctly different phenomena. In the initial results, all characteristics except brightness tested significant at less or much less than 1% (brightness
15678-605: The years that varied widely in scope and scientific rigor. Governments or independent academics in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Peru, France, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union are known to have investigated UFO reports at various times. No official government investigation has ever publicly concluded that UFOs are indisputably real, physical objects, extraterrestrial in origin, or of concern to national defense. Among
15812-483: Was a fighter pilot, thinking it a distant enemy plane, and the 1967 "flying cross" of Devon, England and the 1966 Portage County UFO Chase case have both been associated with astronomical sources. In 2009, Peter Davenport, Director of the National UFO Reporting Center , posted this complaint online: We are receiving hundreds of reports every month of normal, terrestrial events, e.g. over-flights of
15946-594: Was called off after the Robertson Panel's negative conclusions in January 1953. Project Sign was dismantled and became Project Grudge at the end of 1948. Angered by the low quality of investigations by Grudge, the Air Force Director of Intelligence reorganized it as Project Blue Book in late 1951, placing Ruppelt in charge. J. Allen Hynek , a trained astronomer who served as a scientific advisor for Project Blue Book,
16080-508: Was considered so urgent that OS/I drafted a memorandum from the DCI to the NSC proposing that the NSC establish an investigation of UFOs as a priority project throughout the intelligence and the defense research and development community. It also urged the DCI to establish an external research project of top-level scientists, now known as the Robertson Panel to analyze the problem of UFOs. The OS/I investigation
16214-441: Was director of "Project ASTRO", which sets up partnerships between volunteer astronomers and 4th-9th grade teachers; each astronomer "adopts" one classroom for a year, visits at least four times, and works with the teacher to do hands-on activities in astronomy. The program is still operating in sites around the country. Later he founded and directed "Family ASTRO", a project to design activities, kits and games to help families share
16348-428: Was followed closely by the publication of Loeb's book Extraterrestrial , in which he argued that the first interstellar comet ever observed, 'Oumuamua , might be an artificial light sail made by an alien civilization. Two government sponsored programs, NASA's UAP independent study team and the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office were charged in part by Congressional fiat to investigate UFO claims more fully, adopting
16482-455: Was greater than 5%). By removing "astronomical" sightings from the "knowns" and redoing the test, just two categories, number and speed, were significant at less than 1%, the remainder having results between 3% and 5%. This indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the characteristics ascribed to UFOs and IFOs, but perhaps not as significant as the initial results suggested. For two characteristics, brightness and speed,
16616-417: Was initially skeptical of UFO reports, but eventually came to the conclusion that many of them could not be satisfactorily explained and was highly critical of what he described as "the cavalier disregard by Project Blue Book of the principles of scientific investigation". Leaving government work, he founded the privately funded CUFOS , to whose work he devoted the rest of his life. Other private groups studying
16750-803: Was named as a hypothesis for the mysterious Australian phenomenon Min Min light . The BBSR and Hendry studies identified as rare causes for UFO reports based on misidentification, such objects and phenomena as birds, light phenomena (including mirages , moondogs , sundogs , auroras , ground lights such as street lights, and searchlights reflected off of clouds), and atmospheric phenomena such as clouds, dust and fog (including unusual cloud formations such as lenticular clouds , noctilucent clouds , rainbow effects, and high-altitude ice crystals). Other identified causes included kites, flares, reflections off windows, and windborne debris. More recently, Professor Colin Price head of
16884-469: Was not enough data to determine their origin. The Air Force's Project Sign was created at the end of 1947, and was one of the earliest government studies to come to a secret extraterrestrial conclusion. In August 1948, Sign investigators wrote a top-secret intelligence estimate to that effect, but the Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg ordered it destroyed. The existence of this suppressed report
17018-417: Was not universal in the CIA, however, as fellow NICAP official Donald E. Keyhoe wrote that Vice Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter , the first director of the CIA, "wanted public disclosure of UFO evidence". Official U.S. Air Force interest in UFO reports went on hiatus in 1969 after a study by the University of Colorado led by Edward U. Condon and known as the Condon Report concluded "that nothing has come from
17152-403: Was replaced by Project Grudge up through 1951. In the third U.S. Air Force program, from March 1952 to its termination in December 1969, "the U.S. Air Force cataloged 12,618 sightings of UFOs as part of what is now known as Project Blue Book ". In the late 1950s, public pressure mounted for a full declassification of all UFO records, but the CIA played a role in refusing to allow this. This sense
17286-512: Was reported in 1947, Gallup published a poll asking people in the United States what the "flying saucers" might be. Already, 90% had heard of the new term. However, as reported by historian Greg Eghanian, "a majority either had no idea what they could be or thought that witnesses were mistaken" while "visitors from space were not initially among the options that anyone had in mind, and Gallup didn't even mention if anyone surveyed brought up aliens. Within weeks, reports of flying saucer sightings became
17420-560: Was revealed by several insiders who had read it, such as astronomer and USAF consultant J. Allen Hynek and Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF's Project Blue Book. Another highly classified U.S. study was conducted by the CIA's Office of Scientific Investigation (OS/I) in the latter half of 1952 in response to orders from the National Security Council (NSC). This study concluded UFOs were real physical objects of potential threat to national security. One OS/I memo to
17554-601: Was the lead author of Voyages through the Universe , an introductory college astronomy textbook published by Brooks-Cole, which went through three editions. In the 1980s, he co-edited with Byron Preiss two collections of science articles and science fiction stories, "The Universe" and "The Planets." With Sidney Wolff , Fraknoi founded and was co-editor of the first on-line journal devoted to astronomy education, "Astronomy Education Review". He edited two collections of resources for K-12 teachers, The Universe at Your Fingertips and More Universe at Your Fingertips published through
17688-603: Was the narrator for Gustav Holst 's " The Planets " for the California Symphony Orchestra, a role he repeated with the Peninsula Symphony in 2017. He holds a long-time interest in astronomically correct science fiction, which he also uses in his teaching and writing. He has compiled an extensive resource with examples of scientifically accurate science fiction. He also is a science fiction author in his own right with eight published stories: for example, two in
17822-426: Was thought the mysterious objects were possibly Russian tests of captured German V1 or V2 rockets , but most were identified as natural phenomena as meteors. Many scholars, especially those arguing for the psychosocial UFO hypothesis , have noted that UFO characteristics reported after the first widely publicized modern sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 resembled a host of science fiction tropes from earlier in
17956-431: Was up from 33% in a 2019 Gallup poll with the same question. Gallup further found that college graduates went in 2019 from being the least likely educational group to believe this to being on par in 2021 with adults who have no college education. An October 2022 poll by YouGov only found that 34% of Americans believe that UFOs are likely to involve alien life forms. Historian Greg Eghigian wrote in August 2021 that "over
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