My first problem was that I took PBB's stated elevations of Sirius, Rigel, Procyon, et al, as fact for that is where I had gotten the stated elevations. If Printy's program is correct, then PBB data is way off the mark.
My second problem occurred when I made approximate stellar locations (azimuths) via a star map showing locations of Sirius and Rigel at various times for 24 October. I knew that the locations were approximations and had stated so in the blog post. But in retrospect, it was not accurate for 1968, even for approximations.
Tim Printy provided via email the following chart for Minot, ND for 24 Oct 1968. The times listed are for local, central daylight savings time. Tim's elevation numbers are rounded, but his information would be much more reliable than what was listed in PBB.
Object
|
Time
|
Az
|
El
|
Sirius
|
0200
|
120
|
3
|
Procyon
|
95
|
12
| |
Rigel
|
134
|
22
| |
Sirius
|
0230
|
126
|
8
|
Procyon
|
101
|
16
| |
Rigel
|
142
|
26
| |
Sirius
|
0300
|
132
|
12
|
Procyon
|
107
|
22
| |
Rigel
|
149
|
29
| |
Sirius
|
0400
|
145
|
18
|
Procyon
|
121
|
31
| |
Rigel
|
166
|
33
| |
Sirius
|
0500
|
160
|
23
|
Procyon
|
137
|
39
| |
Rigel
|
184
|
34
| |
Sirius
|
0600
|
176
|
25
|
Procyon
|
155
|
45
| |
Rigel
|
202
|
31
|
Based on the above, the diagrams for Sirius and Rigel, as seen from N-07, would be:
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The revised diagrams provides a visual that tends to support Tom Tulien's claims that Sirius would have been too low above the horizon for Isley and O'Connor to have seen it. Further, Sirius would have been a little more than ESE of their location.
What could Isley/O'Connor have seen due east of their location (5 miles north of N-07) if not of Sirius? Procyon was visible close to due east (azimuth of 94), elevation 12 degrees at 0200 hrs. I have to wonder if such a star as Procyon would have attracted much of their attention, but it does change locations from east to southeast over 4 hours and stays in view for the same length of time.
With that said, Sirius and Rigel do come into play while both Jablonski/Adams and Isley/O'Connor are physically on N-07, roughly between 0300 and 0500 hrs. This still raises questions in my mind as to how accurate were the plotted locations that each individual had annotated on their AF-117s.
A review of William Smith's AF-117 in coming soon.
Like Rigel and Sirius, Procyon is a bright first magnitude star. According to wikipedia (and I have no reason to doubt their table), Sirius is the brightest star visible (excluding the sun, moon, and planets). Rigel and Procyon are 7 and 8 on the list. Based on my examination of celestial explanations for many UFO reports (some can be found in the PBB records), Stars like Arcturus, Capella, and Vega (numbers 4-6 on the list) were often reported as UFOs. They are not much brighter than Procyon and Rigel. Both stars could have generated UFO reports.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, there seems to be a misconception being generated that bright stars being low on the horizon are too dim to see (correct me if I am wrong). As an amateur astronomer, I can verify that bright first magnitude stars are easily visible when they are close to the horizon (within a degree or two). All one needs is a clear horizon. Looking at google earth, it appears that a great deal of the Minot area is pretty flat and there don't seem to be a lot of trees.
Did you ever resolve what the actual weather conditions were that night? If there were partly cloudy skies these stars would appear and disappear as the clouds covered them. In a dark sky, clouds tend to be very dark (there are no lights to illuminate them) and can sometimes appear to make stars disappear. If one star disappeared because of a cloud and suddenly one of the other stars appeared from behind the cloud, an observer might think they were the same object that had moved suddenly from one part of the sky to another.
I did TDYs to Minot when I was stationed at Grand Forks. Yes, the general characteristics is that it is flat terrain, however there are sporadic elevations. There are/were sporadic tree lines in the area...appeared to have been used for wind breaks near the numerous farms and fields.
ReplyDeleteI've yet to resolve the actual weather conditions for the area for the night in question...it's on my to do list.
I agree with the possibility that clouds and tree lines could have played a part in the object(s) appearing and disappearing especially at lower elevations.
And it should also be noted that Isley and O'Connor made numerous mentioning of the distant lights mounted on posts in and around the farms.
If I go by your provided chart Procyon would have been the brightest object in the sky at the initial hours of the observations. As I stated in the post, Sirius and Rigel become prominent from 0300-0500.