Thursday, December 30, 2010

Giant spaceships to attack Earth in 2012?

It is a little too early for April fool day joke but read the opening lines:

Believe it or not, researchers at SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) — an independent non-commercial organisation in the United States — released a shocking statement last week that three giant spaceships are heading towards Earth.
The largest one of them is reported to be 240 kilometres wide, and the two others are smaller.

What do you think? Crazy size right? To read the full article, click here.

5 comments:

suituapui said...

Interesting. Everybody says the world will end that year.. If you ask me, I will just say - only God knows. Just be prepared at all times...

Cyril Dason said...

I think some people are just being paranoid. Who knows, they may come and land.. and wave a banner saying "We come in peace"....

Ian said...

Where is the actual news release by SETI itself? I tried googling it and didn't find anything.

Dave said...

http://www.seti.org/page.aspx?pid=1539

Internet Rumor of Inbound 2012 Spaceships Untrue
NO Spaceships Headed for Earth
Has the SETI Institute discovered three objects en route to our world? Alien spacecraft that will arrive in 2012?

If you believe a widespread story now being circulated on the internet, and published by the ironically named “Pravda” [http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/22-12-2010/116314-giant_spaceships-0/], you might think so. But it’s all nonsense – it’s a rumor, a hoax, and a fabrication that uncritical web sites have reprinted without checking.

A few aspects of the story that are obviously suspect:

1.The objects, now described as a few hundred kilometers in size, and “beyond the orbit of Pluto”, were apparently discovered by SETI using the HAARP radio array. To begin with, the HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) instrument is located in Alaska. The position of the three “incoming” objects is given as -90 degrees declination – or the south celestial pole. Anyone versed in even elementary geometry can recognize that you can’t see this part of the sky from Alaska! In addition, and of clear import, neither the SETI Institute nor any other SETI project makes use of HAARP.


2.In the original version of this article http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-canada/3-very-large-objects-space-flying-to-earth, purported SETI astrophysicist Craig Kasnov is quoted as saying that the three objects are in-bound. No one named Craig Kasnov has ever worked at the SETI Institute. There is a media and conservation professional by name of Craig Kasnoff, who – with David Gedye – came up with the idea of the SETI@home screen saver many years ago. But he has explicitly noted that he has nothing to do with this story, and in fact the article itself points out that it is referencing “Kasnov” not “Kasnoff.” So the story rests on the testimony of a fictional character.


3.If the SETI Institute had, indeed, found three clearly artificial objects headed for Earth (or just about anywhere else), that news would be found here on its web site. It would also be in the mainstream media. It’s not.
The putative arrival in 2012 of objects from another world is no more believable than the Mayan calendar claim that the world will end in that same year, internet stories notwithstanding!

Dr. Seth Shostak
Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute

William said...

STP: Hahaha... you are right

Cyril: Ya... who knows.

Ian,Dave, they are bluff. I knew it. They are fiction for kids. The size of 240KM is absolute nonsense. It will burn out before reaching earth.
Dave, many people just believe what they read. That is why so many people were so easily conned on the net!