of energy into space. These flares are similar to those that shoot out from our own Sun, sometimes causing electrical blackouts on Earth. However, the flares on the Luyten stars are much more powerful and have greater energy.
UFOS AND ALIENS IN LITERATURE
One of the first stories to describe an alien visiting Earth is the classic literary work Micromegas, by the French satirist Voltaire. Written in 1752, the story tells of how someone from a planet orbiting Sirius travelled to Earth in the company of a Saturnian. These beings were supreme in many ways, least of all their size; one was 120,000 feet tall! The story was essentially a way to poke fun at French society at the time, so was quite fanciful, with the giants plucking ships out of the water and scorning the little Earthmen who thought themselves superior to others. In the story, the alien visitors marveled at our primitive and illogical society.
Ross 154 is another red dwarf star in the constellation Sagittarius, and is more than nine light years from Earth. It also flares, with outbursts every few days.
Some other relatively nearby stars, such as Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani, were the targets of an attempt to establish radio contact with extraterrestrial beings in the 1960s. Our messages apparently were not answered, so they don’t feel like answering, they weren’t listening, or they’re not there to begin with.
The nearest star that is most like the sun is Tau Ceti, in the constellation Cetus. It’s only 12 light years away and does not exhibit flaring like other near stars, so it has a better likelihood of having planets with life. This is why it has been the target of searches for extraterrestrial life. No planets have been located in orbit around it, although Tau Ceti is known to have a disc of debris surrounding it, meaning that any planets there would have been bombarded with asteroids, perhaps wiping out life that may have started to form. Still, it may be one of the best local prospects for our finding alien life. No radio signals have been detected emanating from the Tau Ceti system, but scientists have not given up hope. Tau Ceti is one of five “best bets” that are being considered for new searches by dedicated instruments looking for signs of extraterrestrial life.
Another one of the “best bets” is Epsilon Eridani, a star similar in composition to the Sun. It’s less than 11 light years away from Earth, but because it is relatively close, some direct astronomical measurements of it are possible, and it is known to have at least one large planet plus a ring of rocky debris. As long ago as 1960, a radio listening program called Project Ozma targeted both Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani, with no success. Recent observations have likewise not yielded any signs of life. However, because its temperature and size are like the Sun, it is the nearest star thought to be capable of having planets that could have life.
For this reason, many science fiction works have involved Epsilon Eridani: the space station Babylon 5 orbited a planet around Epsilon Eridani; Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series is set partly in the Epsilon Eridani system; and the popular video game Halo has the planet Reach as a military base that saw much fighting over two game visualizations, with other planets of Epsilon Eridani part of the action as well.
Recently, astronomical techniques and imaging have advanced so much, it has been possible to detect planets around some stars. More than 400 extrasolar planets have been found using high-powered telescopes and spectral analyses of starlight. Because of their incredible distances, nearly all of these planets are much bigger than Earth, and in many cases, far bigger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our own Solar System.
In January 2010, astronomers discovered a planet only about four times as massive as Earth. What’s more, it is only about 80 light years away from us, in the constellation Hercules. However, this relatively small exoplanet is very close to its star (named HD156668) and is therefore far too hot to sustain life as we know it.
In 2004, astronomers detected a large planet orbiting the star Gliese 436, a dim red dwarf only 33 light years from Earth. It is about the size of Neptune, smaller than Jupiter but much larger than Earth. In 2008, astronomers announced they had found a second planet inside the orbit of the first one, possibly less than twice the size of Earth. This very hot planet zips very quickly around its parent star, only a fraction of the distance from it that Mercury orbits our Sun, and we know that the surface of Mercury is hot enough to melt lead! In addition, other astronomers believe there may be other planets in this same system. This is exciting news, because it adds support to the theory than most stars will have a system of planets, similar to our own Sun. What’s more, one of these planets orbiting Gliese 436 is not much bigger than Earth, possibly Earth’s own twin. Could it possibly harbour life, too? And it’s practically our next-door neighbour, only 33 light years away; if an alien civilization existed there, maybe its inhabitants are curious about Earth!
Let us suppose that there are sentient beings somewhat like ourselves (with whatever degree of sentience we have) on a planet circling a relatively nearby star, perhaps Tau Ceti. For some reason, these beings decide to visit us and launch a rocket ship (or flying saucer) towards us with a select group of space travelers on board.
If they travel with a top speed of the fastest space vehicle Earth engineers have themselves launched in various directions, the one-way trip to Earth from Tau Ceti would take approximately 50,000 years. This is because although Tau Ceti is 11 light years away from us, light travels at 300,000 kilometres per second, a speed which we can barely consider, let alone achieve.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Thousands of UFO sightings are reported each year. Throughout this book, examples of actual, unedited letters from UFO witnesses will show how the phenomenon is observed and how it its interpreted. In all cases, the names of witnesses have been removed for their privacy.
Talkeetna, Alaska December 21, 1994
I sat in the outhouse about midnight with the front opening to the northwest. I looked up about due north and saw bright strobes of red and green, thinking it was a jet en route from Anchorage to Fairbanks. (Talkeetna is in the Anchorage-Fairbanks air corridor.) I looked up again and the lights had not moved any appreciable distance like jets do. I noticed that one of the blinking lights appeared to be purple and blue, unlike any aircraft markings. The lights appeared about 40 degrees off the horizon almost due north and did not appear to move. The strobes were quite bright for what seemed to be an object quite far away.
My wife joined me in the observation and saw the same red, green and blue strobe-type lights, but did not see purple. I put the binoculars on the lights and could make out no shape, but the colored light flashes appeared to come from the top and bottom. I got out my daughters telescope and tried to find the object but only found a luminescent sphere somewhat like the moon except without dark areas. Since it was near zero with a bit of wind, I had trouble stabilizing this small telescope, and am not sure I focused on the object I saw with the binoculars. I did not see any other bright objects in that part of the sky.
We continued to observe the colorful strobe lights for more than an hour and a half, during which time it travelled a few degrees to the east and became increasingly distant. I’ve observed planes and satellites, but never anything like this. The night was so clear that anyone for many miles around could have observed the same thing.
I spoke about it on the radio to a neighbor a few miles away the following night, and she said she had seen a similar thing about this time of year some years ago. There are military operation areas nearby, and maybe there is some sort of super slow satellite or some extremely high helicopter,
