Written by John Woolley, 2010 June 16

As Phil Plait, of the Bad Astronomy Blog, has pointed out on a number of occasions, amateur astronomers usually do not report UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects). Why might that be? I think that I am safe in saying that the meaning of the acronym UFO has changed over the years. It used to mean: “I just saw something in the sky, and I have no idea as to what it might be.” Now UFO seems to mean: “I just saw an alien space ship (or Flying Saucer if you prefer) fly by.” Do amateur astronomers ever see an object in the sky that they are initially unable to identify? On occasion, yes we do; but with a little persistence, usually we are able to figure out what we are looking at. Once we have figured out what we are looking at, two things have happened. Firstly, the object is no longer unidentified, and secondly there is no Flying Saucer in sight. So by both meanings of UFO, there is nothing to report. But even though the end of the journey is something of a null result, perhaps the journey itself is worth reporting. Perhaps amateur astronomers should report an occasional interesting UFO. Perhaps I should report a UFO. So here you go Phil; “Ask and Ye shall receive.”

Back in the mid 1970s, when I was working for the University of Alberta, Department of Physics, in the Astrophysics Group, the astronomer in the group acquired a grant to upgrade the observatory, located west of the city, with a new larger telescope. Part of the project involved moving the old telescope into the city and installing it on the roof of the physics building, in a new sliding roof observatory. This new observatory was used for astronomy course labs and on Friday evenings, we held public observing sessions.

On one Friday evening, the sky was clear and the seeing was very good. After the public had left, the student volunteers, who had been helping out with the public observing session, took this opportunity to pursue their own interests at the telescope. Myself and one of the fourth year students were standing outside on the roof just looking up at the sky, when a flight of four UFOs passed directly over head. The UFOs appeared quite suddenly, about 45 degrees above the southern horizon, passed directly over head and disappeared, again quite suddenly, about 45 degrees above the northern horizon.

The UFOs were round and white, and were flying in a diamond formation; one in front, two on either side and one bringing up the rear. They swept out about 90 degrees of sky in under three seconds. Both of us had been facing south and we were now facing north, when the following conversation ensued.

Student:“Ahhh, did you see that?”

Me:“Yeah, I saw that all right.”

Student:“Okaaay. What was it?”

Me:“I don’t know, but let’s keep out eyes open. Maybe they will come back.”

So we both turned back to the south again and started scanning the sky; only this time we were not looking at the stars, we were looking for UFOs.

Before I carry on with this report, let me stop and ask if there are any questions. Suppose that this event ended right here (it doesn’t). What questions would you have for me? Do not read ahead just yet. Stop and think of what questions you would like to ask. Now imagine that you are watching this on Larry King Live. What units of measure do Larry’s guests usually use when describing UFO observations? What units of measure ought they be using?

Since this report is rather long for a web post, I am splitting it into two parts. I will post the remainder next week. jhw  Part 2 of this report is here.