AUFORN
Compiled Sighting Reports
Issue 16
April 2000
Compiled by Robert Frola
Australian UFO Research Network
PO Box 738 Beaudesert QLD 4285
Web: http://www.auforn.com/
Guyra Investigation:
Part 2
by Diane Harrison & Robert Frola
Guyra's Sonic Disturbance
Most of the information relating to the Guyra incident is reliant on the
recording of a sonic disturbance which was recorded on the night of the
7th December 1999 at 8.12pm at Armidale's New England University.
Many people wonder what objects can cause a sonic disturbance. A number of
things can e.g: Lightning, a bull whip, even the Space Shuttle which is
well known to cause a double sonic booms, and planes etc. Here is an
example of what a sonic booms looks like (right).
As an airplane or meteor flies faster than the speed of sound, it "pushes"
on the sound waves in front of it. But, sound waves obey the speed limit -
they can't travel faster than the speed of sound. So, the waves pile up
against each other as they are created. These "piled up" waves are called
'Shock Waves'. The greatest shock waves are at the tip and tail of the
plane. This NASA photograph shows the shock waves created by a plane in
flight, (the "rings" in the photographs are camera artifacts and are not
part of the shock waves).
Sonic booms are an impulsive noise similar to thunder. It is caused by an
object moving faster than sound - about 750 miles per hour at sea level.
An aircraft travelling through the atmosphere continuously produces air
pressure waves similar to the water waves caused by a ship's bow. When the
aircraft exceeds the speed of sound, these pressure waves combine and form
shock waves which travel forward from the generation or "release" point.
As an aircraft flies at supersonic speeds it is continually generating
shock waves, dropping sonic booms along its flight path, similar to someone
dropping objects from a moving vehicle. From the perspective of the
aircraft, the booms appears to be swept backwards as it travels away from
the aircraft. If the plane makes a sharp turn or pulls up, the booms will
hit the ground in front of the aircraft.
The sound heard on the ground as a "sonic booms" is the sudden onset and
release of pressure after the buildup by the shock wave or "peak
overpressure". The change in pressure caused by sonic booms is only a few
pounds per square foot - about the same pressure change we experience on an
elevator as it descends two or three floors - in a much shorter time
period. It is the magnitude of this peak overpressure that describes a
sonic boom.
Meteors with sounds
Sounds associated with meteors is a topic which has received its share of
attention. The sounds in this case are not the usual delayed rumbles and
ticks associated with the passage of a bolide, but sounds which are heard
simultaneously with the passage of the meteor across the sky! Sounds heard
at the same time the meteor is visible are very controversial for a few
very good reasons:
1. Sound travels much slower than light and as a result the meteor
would, under normal circumstances, be gone before the sound was heard.
2. Very little of the meteor's energy is converted to acoustic energy.
By the time the sound has been attenuated by the atmosphere between the
meteor and the observer the sound should be barely audible, if able to be
heard at all! Even with all these facts in mind, observers remain adamant
that they observed these effects. Usually the effects are heard from a
remote and quiet site where faint sounds can be heard better.
The best theory put forward so far is that energy from the meteor is
propagated electromagnetically and is amplified and 're-transmitted' by a
suitable nearby source such as metal fence, wires or a metal shed roof,
even empty metal water tanks. This theory has not been proven though, but
remains a possible solution to the problem.
Many meteor professionals are skeptical about this. It is felt that it is
equally possible that years of watching rockets and fireworks has
conditioned us to expect sounds from rapidly moving lights in the sky. It
is also possible that the location of the observer isn't as quiet as the
observer has been led to believe.
The Guyra meteorite was said to have come from the north east between
Monday night and Wednesday morning, quoted by Mr Simon Benson of Guyra in
his e-mail report to PRA.
TRUE or FALSE!
Tuesday 07.12.99
Media states that a sonic boom was heard on Tuesday night, indicating that
an object impacted in the area
FALSE
"We believe that the seismograph has detected the sonic booms of the
meteorite as it "passed by", rather than the actual impact of the meteorite
into the ground".
After speaking to Professor Peter Flood of Armidales New England University
he said he had been misquoted and the information he gave to the media was
misconstrued due to the media wanting to rap the story up by as early as
Friday afternoon.
After speaking to Dr Kevin McCue his first thoughts when he saw the readout
was that of a plane losing a part of something. His second thought was
that of a meteorite.
When asked what he thought of the meteorite theory he said "It could have
been one but the sonic booms reading points to something passing over, not
hitting the ground." He also pointed out the reading was of an object
travelling East to West on Tuesday at 8.12pm for around 14 seconds.
From: Home Page of the Astronomical Society of Victoria Meteor Section
http://axis.jeack.com.au/~armarsh/index.html
TRUE or FALSE!
Wednesday 08.12.99
Media shows video footage of an object streaking across the twilight sky as
the same object that may have impacted in the guyra area
FALSE
All of you can remember seeing the incredible footage of a meteorite
streaking across a late afternoon sky taken by two young men from Orange,
NSW with their camcorder. What the media didn't tell you is that this
footage was taken a week prior to the Guyra event, and was filmed in
another location in central NSW. If you look closely, the object was
travelling from the north to the south, opposite to what they say impacted
into the dam (from the east or northeast, based from educated guesses).
TRUE or FALSE!
Thursday 09.12.99
Media reports local woman witnessed object explode near Guyra
FALSE
When we arrived in Guyra we tried to contact Barbara Ross to get her side
of the story regarding her sighting. According to the Seven Nightly News,
it was quite spectatular, with the object exploding near Guyra. Barbara was
unfortunately not in, but we did speak to John. He told us that Barbara was
quite upset, and that she was grossly misquoted. Barbara phoned Channel
Seven asking for a retraction, but they only ignored her request. Below is
what Barbara Ross wrote to The Guyra Argus about the whole event, appearing
in the Thursday December 16th 1999 edition.
"Some of those smart fellows from the city media certainly know how to make
a story out of nothing. Blatant dishonesty does not seem to pose a problem
for them.
Last Thursday John and I took French visitors to see the sheep sale in
Guyra. We had not heard any news for some days, so were very surprised to
learn from John Simpson about all the excitement going at the Guyra Water
Supply. There was plenty of speculation at the yards about nature of the
mysterious object in the dam, so after the sale we decided to go and have a
look for ourselves. Nobody stopped us on the way into the area around the
dam, and the media was there in force, so we though it must be OK to wander
about. However, after a few minutes a young Policeman politely gave us our
marching orders, and we dutifully started to make our way to the gate,
laughing and a little ambarrassed. As we were leaving, a reporter from 2UE,
together with a reporter and cameraman from Seven Nightly News, stopped us.
We were still laughing and completely off guard, so when they started
chatting we conversed with them quite openly. That was a mistake! In reply
to their question: "What do you think is in the dam?" we said that we were
sorry, but we had only just heard about it at the sheep sale, and we didn't
have a clue.
After a few minutes, they repeated the question, and we repeated our reply,
but I foolishly added that it was probably only a meteorite. Even more
foolishly, I went on to say that, if that were the case, it wasn't the only
time a meteorite had landed near here recently, as one had come over Black
Mountain and exploded into the west a few months ago. They asked me to
describe it, which I did, and you can guess the rest of the story! Sure
enough, there was I on 2UE and Seven Nightly News describing how we had
seen this green light in the sky, etc. etc., as if it were the object in
the dam.
Since then, the Australian UFO Research Network has rung home trying
unsuccessfully to interview me. They left a message that they will be back
in January! I am thinking of leaving town! If it wasn't so hilarious it
would be downright infuriating. Give me those honest Argus reporters any
day!"
We have tried to contact her on our second visit in May, but time got away
from us again. Fortunately, we were able to obtain a copy of her letter.
TRUE or FALSE!
Friday 10.12.99
Fragments of the object was recovered. Identified as bits from a meteorite
FALSE
When we spoke to Guyra's LEOCON Sgt Larry Hoffman, he confirmed to us that
no fragment of a meteorite was ever recovered. It hasn't even be confirmed
yet that a meteorite did impacted into the dam or that it was responsible
for the hole that was discovered earlier on Wednesday 8th December.
Saturday 10.12.99 02:21:28
E-mail: Guyra meteor?
203.29.192.74 writes:
I know someone at the Armidale NSW fire brigade, and while everyone on
camera is talking meteorite, everyone at the firestation is talking
accidentally dropped ordnance from a military jet which flew over the site
earlier.
Conclusions
We at AUFORN feel that the most likely explanation is an accidental
dropping of an ordnance from a military jet, most likely a F-111. For years
F-111s have used an old abbatoir, not far from the dam for bombing
practice. The area around the dam was cordoned off by police and rescue
services on Wednesday night. Whatever fell into the dam was removed under
the cover of darkness. The following morning, the media was allowed to get
quite close to the impact area.
If a 100g meteorite impacting in Germany can cause a crater 20 metres
across and 8 metres deep, then a meteorite of roughly the same weight would
have caused more damage than a small hole of up to 20 metres deep with the
opening around fist size. The reeds would have been blown out of the dam
and into the surrounding landscape.
LEOCON Sgt Larry Hoffman of Guyra and a woman Police Officer in Armidale
both said they received reports of strange lights seen in the area around
9.00 p.m. that evening. Reports include a truck driver who phoned John Laws
about seeing numerous strange lights on that night.
Mr Keith Ridley, a sheep farmer, whose property adjoins the dam told us he
heard a "kind of humming sound" which seem to originate high in the sky
around 9.00 p.m. on Monday night. He said he is quite familiar with the
sounds of an F-111 flying low through the valley, and this sound he has
never heard the likes of it before. Other locals, Mr Bruce Sweeney and his
wife, also heard an unusual sound on Monday evening.
What did crash into the dam? (i.e. if something did crash into the dam!)
Was it space junk, a meteorite or ordnance from a military aircraft? We may
never know, but one thing is for certain. Unknown lights and sounds were
reported from the Guyra area and beyond over Monday and Tuesday nights.
Only time will tell. Until then, the mystery remains.
(Continued in Issue 17)
| UFO Danger Zone : Terror & Death in Brazil
- Bob Pratt Bob Pratt has spent over eighteen years researching the Brazilian UFO phenomenon. He has made eleven visits to a number of localities in the Brazilian countryside and investigated over two hundred cases, during which time he has interviewed over seventeen hundred people. The fruits of his labor are always intriguing, sometime frightening, and should give pause to those who would thoughtlessly maintain, without studying the complete score, that all our extraterresrial visitors are friendly and have out best interest at heart. |
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