‘RUMORS OF ALIENS TRAIL COMET’
December 3, 1996
Source: The Albuquerque Journal - New Mexico
Rumors of Aliens Trail Comet
Charges that a spacecraft is headed for Earth behind the Comet
Hale-Bopp have taken on a life of their own
By John Fleck
Journal Staff Writer
An alien spacecraft is headed toward Earth, tailing Comet
Hale-Bopp. NASA and the U.S. government know about it and are
suppressing the telescope images that would prove it.
Those charges, lurking on the Internet and talk radio since
the comet was discovered in 1995, have exploded in recent weeks.
The talk has been fueled by nationally syndicated late-night
talk show host Art Bell and discussion groups on the Internet,
where anyone who wants can weigh in.
Despite debunking by scientists, the conspiracy theories have
gained a momentum of their own, with the scientists who offer
explanations immediately lumped in with the conspirators.
The debate has grown so intense that, two weeks ago, one
Internet critic called Alan Hale, the New Mexico astronomer who
discovered the comet, "an Earth traitor" after Hale helped
debunk one of the latest "mystery spaceship" sightings.
"This whole thing is nutty," said Hale, who said he is
alternately amused and aghast at the uproar surrounding the
comet that bears his name.
The most popular tale is that the spacecraft is either out to
destroy us or save us.
The government knows about it, according to the conspiracy
theorists, and is keeping it from the public.
Their evidence is a hodgepodge of speculation, information
allegedly gathered telepathically from the aliens and
astronomical data that, scientists say, have been misinterpreted
out of ignorance.
Neither Bell nor any of the other chief conspiracy theorists
responded to Journal requests for comment.
Hale-Bopp would seem an unlikely subject for an international
cover-up, scientists say, simply because anyone who wants can
take a look.
Now 270 million miles from Earth and growing brighter, the
potential comet of the century is hanging out there for anyone
with a cheap telescope or even a pair of binoculars to see.
Hale, who lives in the mountains outside Cloudcroft in
southern New Mexico, has been observing the comet every night
it's visible, and hasn't seen anything amiss.
"Don't take my word for it," he says. "Go out and look at it."
Since Hale and amateur star-gazer Thomas Bopp discovered the
comet in July 1995, the conspiracy theorists have latched onto
the comet with a vengeance.
The evidence for the alien presence is hung from bits of truth.
As astronomers gather more data on the comet's orbit, they
have revised their calculations of its orbit. That has led to
calls from conspiracy theorists that Hale-Bopp has "changed
course," something no comet could do.
Conspiracy theorists have also made much of a perceived
paucity of publicly available images from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Space Telescope.
Hubble comet pictures taken in September and October,
published recently in the magazine Science News, do not seem to
have reduced the vehemence of those arguments.
For the record, NASA scientist Jay Bergstralh, who is heading
up a portion of the space agency's comet research efforts, said
he has heard of no such conspiracy.
The discovery of "mysterious objects" in telescope pictures
of the comet has been trumpeted by the conspiracy buffs, only to
have astronomers identify them as stars in the backgrounds of
the pictures.
"What's upsetting is that they won't take the time to learn,"
said Harvard-based astronomer Daniel Green.
If there was a mysterious object flying alongside the comet,
said Green, amateur and professional astronomers around the
world watching the comet would have seen and reported it.
"That's the way science works. That's the way astronomy
works. You can't hide anything," said Green, who works for the
International Astronomical Union, an international clearing
house for such information.
The "mysterious object" pictures have nevertheless raised the
conspiracy talk to a crescendo in recent weeks, led by
late-night talk radio host Bell, whose syndicated show runs in
Albuquerque on KOB AM (770) from midnight to 4 a.m.
Last Thursday night, a guest on Bell's program claimed to
have "remotely viewed" the alien spacecraft, using a sort of
telepathic eyesight.
Hale said the Internet has been both a curse and a blessing.
Anyone with a computer and a telephone connection can
"publish" information on the Internet, a worldwide computer
network.
That has allowed the Hale-Bopp conspiracy theories to spread
quickly, but it has also given scientists an equal forum.
But with Hale-Bopp getting brighter and likely to be major
public spectacle next spring, Hale expects the wild talk to
continue.
"It's just going to get worse," he said.
Copyright © 1996 Albuquerque Journal
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