LAW,UFOLOGY

RESUMEN
Un equipo de cuatro investigadores de España y Argentina ha dedicado  seis años a analizar los varios avistamientos OVNI ocurridos en la Antártida entre junio y agosto de 1965. Para ello se ha acumulado una documentación sin precedentes, contactando incluso con testigos supervivientes, la cual se ha sometido a una rigurosa peritación científica, sirviéndose de la mejor tecnología de apoyo disponible. Ninguna de las observaciones estudiadas tiene un nivel significativo de extrañeza. La información generada originalmente es insuficiente y hasta contradictoria. Cuando no hay una explicación concluyente, se han  hallado modelos convencionales que se ajustan a los datos empíricos, lo que elimina o reduce considerablemente su valor como evidencia de que se tratara de fenómenos anómalos.
Concretamente, ha resultado que los tres avistamientos clave del 3 de julio de 1965 en las Islas Laurie y Decepción habrían consistido, muy probablemente, en observaciones de un meteoro, del satélite artificial Echo II y de estímulos astronómicos como el planeta Marte o las estrellas Spica y Arcturus.

ABSTRACT
A team of four researchers from Spain and Argentina has devoted six years to analyze the rush of UFO sightings occurred in the Antarctica between June and August 1965. To this end, an unprecedented documentation has been collected, even contacting with surviving witnesses, and it has undergone profound examination, based on a rigorous scientific appraisal and using the best available supporting technology.  None of the reviewed observations have a significant level of strangeness. The information generated originally is insufficient and even contradictory. When there are not conclusive explanations, conventional models have been found that fit the empirical data, which eliminates or considerably reduces its value as evidence that they were anomalous phenomena.
It turned out that the three key sightings of July 3, 1965 in the Laurie and Deception Islands could have been caused, most probably, by observations of a meteor, the Echo II artificial satellite and astronomical stimuli like planet Mars or the stars Spica and Arcturus.

This month is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of a new epoch, when the flying discs invaded our skies for the first time…officially. For some, it began in 1946 with the “ghost rockets” in Sweden, or in the IIWW theatre with the “foo fighters”, or with the “phantom airplanes” of 1912-1913, whilst others would go back to the “airships” of the late XIX century, or to ancient times. But, we all know that it was since the US press attached the “flying saucer” tag to this subject that a large-magnitude phenomenon emerged. One that has had a heavy impact on the general population all over the world.

The way I wish to commemorate this ephemeris is by writing down my present vision about the UFO phenomenon, after 50 years of personal study, centering on the nature of the supposed evidence that has been collected in all these 70 years of UFO phenomenology. These are the views of a sincere investigator of a mystery that seems to play with us, until we realize that we have simply allowed ourselves to be led astray by a number of surrounding circumstances and influences. What seems at first sight absurd, really is illogical, irrational, incoherent ... finally inadmissible.

I have prepared an essay on the foundation of what can only be a portent or a chimera: the true level of certainty, proof and conviction, that is, the evidence. And I have asked Indiana University emeritus professor Thomas Bullard to accompany me in this global evaluation of the UFO problem with his own thoughts. We agree for the most part but we also have a degree of disagreement. But we both recognize that advancement and progress in this study will only happen when ideas are confronted in a framework of respect and tolerance.

Belgium in UFO Photographs – Volume 1 is a research book that makes no concessions to literature. It is a scientifically oriented inquiry into a collection of supposed UFO pictures taken in Belgium in the period from 1950 to 1988. But the reader will certainly find more than descriptions of UFO sightings and detailed analyses of UFO images. For instance, the included catalog not only has numerous examples of how normal folks can be deceived by common phenomena, it also reveals the dubious background against which some photographs that received worldwide endorsement made their way into UFO history.
The book is a documented history of four decades’ worth of UFO incidents that involved witnesses who provided photographic evidence (be that negatives, prints, slides, films, or videotapes), on top of their own testimony. The authors have investigated every event weighing the evidence for real anomalies occurring in our atmosphere.
Though only a small country in Central Europe, Belgium’s rich UFO patrimony serves as a representative sample of UFO phenomenology worldwide.
The book has over 400 pages, 366 illustrations (pictures, diagrams, maps, sky charts, etc.) and contains a statistical review of the cases that were studied. This is FOTOCAT Report #7 and, like the rest of the series, it is available free online.
For book collectors, printed book lovers and libraries, a printed edition in full color and large format has been published by UPIAR (Turin, Italy) and can be purchased through the publisher’s website at the following link:
http://www.upiar.com/index.cfm?language=en&artID=191&st=1

The book’s foreword has been contributed by James Oberg, one of the world's leading popularizers and interpreters of space exploration. Oberg had a 22-year career as a space engineer in Houston, where he specialized in NASA space shuttle operations for orbital rendezvous. Excerpts from his foreword follow:
Vicente-Juan Ballester-Olmos and Wim van Utrecht have been practicing a methodology of research that—were it far more widespread—could help determine the better theories from the more extreme ones . . . Ballester-Olmos and Van Utrecht, like me, believe that ‘IFOs’ have lessons to teach ‘ufologists’ that are crucial to making sense of cases that remain in the ‘true UFO’ data bases . . . The newfound power of combining GOOD records keeping with Internet tools and search engines can be seen in specific cases discussed by the authors . . .  In case after case, the authors apply wide knowledge of geometry, optics, meteorology, human perception, and human cultural context, to illustrate that plausible explanations often are found . . . The approach shown by Ballester-Olmos and Van Utrecht should serve as an example and as an inspiration to other ‘citizen scientists’ who have played a crucial role in providing the resources that will allow theorists with more data and wider insight to someday make more sense about what lies behind this mysterious phenomenon.

You are kindly requested to extend this information to other colleagues, organizations, scientific institutions, and/or libraries. In addition, any mention on your blog, website or magazine will be greatly appreciated, as well as any book review you might want to submit to any scientific or specialized UFO journal.