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CNI News in Brief
Summary of Vol. 2, No. 18 -- December 1, 1996
Global News on Contact with Non-human Intelligence
CNI News is a twice-monthly electronic newsletter addressing UFO phenomena, claims of human-alien contact, space exploration and related issues, including the cultural and political impacts of contact with other intelligent life. CNI News is edited by Michael Lindemann and distributed by the 2020 Group.
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The subject matter of CNI News is inherently controversial, and the views and opinions reported herein are not necessarily those of the editorial staff.
STRANGE HALE-BOPP IMAGES IGNITE HUGE CONTROVERSY
Weeks After Amateur Astronomer Chuck Shramek Imaged "Saturn-like Object" Near Hale Bopp, Mystery Continues
[Rebecca Schatte, a regular contributor to CNI News, is a close personal friend of Chuck Shramek, the amateur astronomer who produced controversial images of comet Hale-Bopp in mid November. She watched at close range as the controversy erupted into an online firestorm.]
by Rebecca Schatte
On November 14 at 6:10 pm, I received a call from Chuck Shramek. As an amateur astronomer, Chuck had been imaging comet Hale-Bopp using his 10-inch Meade telescope and CCD imaging system.
Chuck told me his new images of the comet showed something that should not be there. He described the "object" as "like Saturn" in that it appeared to have rings.
He put the image on his website and posted a message to the USENET newsgroup sci.astro.amateur, asking "What is it?" He also sent the image to a few friends and to Art Bell, asking the same question. He was invited to appear that night on Bell's syndicated radio program "Coast to Coast."
Before the show, the image was sent to remote viewer Courtney Brown, who was previously scheduled to be Bell's guest that night [Nov 14-15]. Brown gathered a team of scientific remote viewers to target the object. On Bell's show, Brown claimed that a large, sentient object was in the vicinity of Hale-Bopp and that "it" was somehow trying to communicate with the people of Earth. A huge controversy then erupted on the internet, in which Chuck's image became linked with Brown's claims.
But what was in Chuck's image? He captured Comet Hale-Bopp as well as two lesser-magnitude stars (Shramek took 161 images on November 14, of different exposure lengths varying from one to five seconds. The five-second exposure length should make a star or object appear brighter and larger than the one-second exposure. In this case, there is no discernible difference in the images at different exposure lengths.
No one has been able to explain why his images appear the way they do. Despite many attempts, I don't think the mystery has been solved.
NASA NOW SAYS IT PLANS MANNED MARS MISSION
LONDON (Nov 29, 1996) -- The U.S. space agency NASA is working on plans to send astronauts to Mars within eight years of getting the political go-ahead for a manned mission, the head of the team was quoted as saying on Friday [Nov 29].
Elric McHenry told the British Broadcast Company (BBC) the agency assigned a secret team of three scientists to the project after announcing earlier this year there was evidence traces of primitive life had been found in a meteorite from Mars.
EXPERTS DENOUNCE CLAIM THAT JULIA SETS WERE MAN-MADE
They Say Alleged "Artist" Had No Time, Offers No Evidence
CNI News has received vehement feedback to our November 16 story titled "Crop Circle 'Artist' Declares Julia Sets Human Made," an interview with alleged crop circle "artist" Rod Dickinson.
In response to Dickinson's claim that the so-called Stonehenge Julia Set crop formation was made by three people known to him, various crop circle researchers said:
1) The stated construction time of two and three-quarters hours was not enough for three men to create the Stonehenge Julia Set.
2) The claim that it was made during the night and went unnoticed for the entire following day, even by a pilot flying overhead, is unreasonable.
3) The claim that the alleged "artists" do not want publicity is absurd, since they frequently make public claims knowing there is no evidence to convict them of such crimes as trespassing and vandalism. They delight in notoriety; they just don't want to get caught.
4) In this instance and many others, the hoax is claimed but no real evidence is offered.
UFOs SEEN BY NUMEROUS AIRLINE PILOTS IN RECENT WEEKS
UFOs were reported recently by two jet airline pilots near Long Island, New York. According to the New York Post, pilots of a Pakistan Airlines 747 and a TWA flight called in nearly simultaneous reports on the night of November 16, prompting the FAA to close the air corridor in that region for several hours. Meanwhile, airline pilots in other parts of the United States were also reporting large numbers of UFO sightings during the same period.
"I estimate that well over two dozen aircraft have seen and either discussed over radio network, or reported to the FAA and/or reported to us what sounds to be UFO activity since the 14th of November," said Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center, in an interview with CNI News.
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Except as otherwise noted, the entire text of CNI News in Brief is copyright 1996 by the 2020 Group.