SPHERICAL UFO SIGHTED
IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL
On Saturday, January 18, 2003, at about 10 p.m.,
observers in the city of Curitiba, capital of the state
of Parana in southern Brazil, spotted a spherical, self-
luminous UFO over their neighborhoods.
According to eyewitness Arthur Domingues Quieroz,
"At 10:05 p.m., I was watching TV" at his home in the
bairro O Centro (neighborhood) "when a strange object in
the sky caught my attention. I observed for ten minutes
a spherical object glowing in a color ranging from yellow
to yellow-green. During this time, the object made
several movements from a high altitude to a low altitude.
Also, it made sudden side movements to the right and then
descended to a lower altitude at an oblique angle."
Elsewhere in the city, eyewitness Sergio Valdemar
reported, "I was in the bairro Portao (neighborhood) when
I saw the same movements, which were made by a self-
luminous object that crossed the sky at a rapid speed."
Curitiba is located about 400 kilometers (250 miles)
southwest of Sao Paulo, which is the largest city in
South America. (Muito obrigado a Ufologia Brasileira por
esos casos.)
(Editor’s Comment: Welcome to Hitting Below the Equator
Week at UFO Roundup. Last week the aliens made their
presence felt all over Earth’s southern hemisphere. Read
on...)
THREE RED-ORANGE UFOs
SPOTTED OVER SYDNEY
On Monday, January 13, 2003, at 11:10 p.m., two
people spotted a trio of red-orange UFOs over Sydney, the
largest city in Australia.
Paul Van Komen, who lives in the suburbs west of
Sydney’s Central Business District, reported, "Dominika
went outside to move the garden sprinkler. Walking back,
she looked up to absorb a clear view of the Moon and
Orion’s Belt in a gap in the clouds when she noticed
three spheres below the clouds to the east of us and
called out to me."
"I joined her outside," Paul added, "It was
immediately apparent that this was not normal air
traffic. They glowed orange-red, made no sound and
travelled slowly in a westerly direction."
"The first sphere was larger and maintained a steady
speed and luminosity. The other two stopped occasionally
and dimmed and brightened. They took a couple of minutes
to get about 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of us, then
faded and disappeared. They were several times larger
than airplanes. Normal air traffic was absent for
another half-hour after."
Paul estimated the UFOs’ speed as "about 100
kilometers per hour" (60 miles per hour--J.T.) (Email
Form Report)
DAYLIGHT DISC CAUGHT ON
FILM IN NEW ZEALAND
"Is it a bra, is it some panties...no, it’s an
unidentified flying object."
"Cardona’s ’bra fence’ has attracted worldwide
attention since it hit the headlines same time a year
ago, but a photograph taken last month (December 2002)
has some people questioning whether word has spread even
further."
"Dunedin man Tom Ueyama noticed an odd sight in a
photograph he took of the fence on (Friday) December 27
(2002)."
"The photo clearly shows ’something’ in the sky,
which, to the untrained eye, resembles the shape of a
flying saucer."
"’I don’t believe in aliens and extraterrestrial
beings, but there’s something in this photo that’s not
right,’ Mr. Ueyama said."
"He did not notice the object when he was taking the
photograph and claims the image has not been tampered
with. Inspection of the photograph and negative did not
show any signs of doctoring."
"Carters Observatory senior astronomer Brian Carter
said he had doubts about its authenticity."
"’I suggest the photo has been doctored, but I’m no
expert with photographs.’"
"’If it is genuine, then I have no idea what it is
or could be,’ Mr. Carter said."
"University of Otago optics technician and amateur
astronomer Robin Gledhill could also not reach a
conclusion but did not believe the image had been
doctored."
"’As an astronomer, I don’t believe in UFOs, but I
can’t honestly say what it is. It doesn’t appear to be
moving, whatever it is, and it’s definitely not cloud.’"
Dunedin is on the east coast of New Zealand’s South
Island, located about 160 miles (256 kilometers) south-
southwest of Christchurch. (See the Otago Daily Times
for January 14, 2003, "UFO over the bra fence?" Merci
beaucoup a Robert Fischer pour cette article de journal.)
(Editor’s Note: The Otago region around Dunedin has long
been a major UFO hotspot in New Zealand. It was the site
of a major "airship" flap way back in July 1909.)
UFOs AND USOs CONVERGE
ON PAPUA NEW GUINEA
"Local police have received constant reports by
tribesmen of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and
unidentified submerged objects (USOs) in the southwestern
province of the island nation" of Papua New Guinea, just
north of Australia across the Arafura Sea.
The reports are coming from the Fly River region,
located 600 kilometers (360 miles) west-northwest of Port
Moresby, the national capital. The UFOs seen in daylight
have been described as silver spheres and discs. Those
seen at night are reported to be "luminous" and
"glowing."
The USOs sighted by fishermen at the mouth of the
Fly River south of Balimo are described as "fast-moving
submarines without conning towers."
"The report stated that Police Commander John Marru
declared that he had received numerous reports,
principally from the Fly River area, without even
obtaining a satisfactory answer despite intensive on-site
investigations of each and every case."
"Marru said he had passed on all of the reports to
the Australian Federal Police and to (Australia’s)
National Intelligence Organization and Defense
Intelligence Organization without receiving any reply
from these agencies." (See the Post-Courier of Port
Moresby for January 7, 2003. Also NotiOVNI for January
12, 2003. Muchas gracias a Daniel Munoz para eso
articulo de diario.)
UFO PHOTOS STUDIED AT
MEXICAN CONFERENCE
On Wednesday and Thursday, January 15 and 16, 2003,
Mexican ufologists held a conference at the Teatro de
Segura Social in Monterrey, capital of Mexico’s
northeastern state of Nuevo Leon. Ufologist and
television journalist Jaime Maussan presented UFO photos
to the audience.
"One of the most recent items of evidence is an
unknown object seen (Monday) December 23 (2002) over
Mexico City."
"’It was apparently a meteorite, but it was
videotaped for over five minutes, making it impossible
that it could indeed be a meteorite. It was something
unexplained, and it fell to Earth,’" Maussan said.
"’If I had seen it coming down, I would have
believed (I had seen) the end of the world. It is said
that it measured about 50 meters (165 feet), but it could
have been well over a hundred meters (330 feet) and it
was 100 kilometers (60 miles) away and progressed at a
rate of 600 kilometers (360 miles) per second. A
meteorite (only) travels at 70 kilometers (42 miles) a
second.’"
Maussan also presented "a photograph taken at El
Alamo by Sr. Ivan Geraldo."
"’The photo shows a very small, strange figure of a
being that looks at the people who have the camera.
’Some say this is a hoax and can prove it; others say it
is real and can prove it. Javier Niebla, who is perhaps
the best video analyst in Mexico, says it’s fake, while
Dan Airia (sic), an expert in the U.S., says it is
real,’" Maussan said.
Maussan "explained that the person who took the
photo never saw the being that appears in the print since
they were using their camera to scare away a skunk."
(See the Mexican newspaper El Norte for January 12, 2003,
"Maussan’s new extraterrestrial." Muchas gracias a Scott
Corrales para eso articulo de diario.)
MAN SEES A HOVERING UFO
IN BUFFALO, NEW YORK
On Monday, January 13, 2003, "late at night," Robert
J. reported, "There was a light in the sky approaching
from the northwest" in his home city of Buffalo, N.Y.
(population 292,648). I thought it was an airplane, but
then it stopped in mid-air. I turned on my flashlight
(torch in UK and Australia--J.T.) and observed an upside-
down-bowl-like flying thing. It had a long rounded tower
at the top, and what appeared to be a ’gun’ of some kind
at the bottom. It was pretty close. Then I dove into my
truck and saw it head south" toward Lackawanna, N.Y.
"I was really scared," Robert noted, adding that the
UFO was "gray color, bowl-shaped, ’gun’-like object at
the bottom, also a tower on top. I think it had windows,
too. It was 750 feet off the ground" and traveling at
"400 miles (640 kilometers) per hour when departing."
(Email Form Report)
LUMINOUS UFO SIGHTED IN
NORTHERN IRELAND
On Thursday, January 16, 2003, at 6:20 p.m., the
witness was outdoors in Portadown, a city in County
Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK "when something approached
from east to west. It was a solitary ’light bulb’
travelling very fast and absolutely silent. It was below
cloud level, perhaps 600 feet (180 meters) up, and had an
estimated speed of between 1,000 and 1,400 miles (1,600
to 2,240 kilometers) per hour." (Email Form Report)
THREE NEW MOONS FOUND
ORBITING NEPTUNE
"A team of Canadian and American astronomers has
found three moons around the planet Neptune, bringing the
number of known moons orbiting the distant planet to 11."
"The tiny moons, ranging from 18 to 24 miles (30 to
40 kilometers) across, are 100 million times fainter than
objects that can be seen with the naked eye and were too
faint to be seen by Voyager 2 when it flew by in 1989."
"The moons were detected using multiple-exposure
images taken by telescopes in Chile and Hawaii. They
appear to be part of a ’family’ of moons caused by the
collision of a comet or asteroid with a bigger moon, said
one of the discoverers, J.J. Kavelaars of the National
Research Council of Canada."
"The new moons join an oddball constellation of
(natural) satellites around Neptune. The planet’s
largest moon, Triton, is strange because it is the only
large satellite in the solar system to circle a planet in
a direction opposite to the rotation of the planet. At
435 degrees (Fahrenheit) below zero, the moon (Triton) is
even colder than Pluto. It is about one-third the size
of our Moon and has giant geysers that send plumes of
dust and gas into the air for miles."
Neptune’s "second-largest moon, Nereid, has the most
eccentric orbit of any object in the solar system.
Astronomers are now studying the newly-discovered moons
to determine their orbits." (See the Duluth, Minn. News-
Tribune for January 19, 2003, "Astronomers find three new
Neptune moons," page 15A.)
WEIRD AURORA OBSERVED
ON A MOON OF JUPITER
"Astronomers report new insights into the aurora on
Jupiter’s fiery moon, Io."
"Io, the most volcanic locale in our solar system,
has an aurora at its equator, unlike the northern lights
(Aurora borealis--J.T.) on Earth."
"Hubble Space Telescope measurements reveal the
lights arise on the (Jovian) moon because of Jupiter’s
magnetic field interacting with sulfur particles in Io’s
volcanic atmosphere, says Johns Hopkins University
physicist Kurt Retherford, who reported his findings last
week at the American Astronomical Society meeting."
"The lights dim with the collapse of Io’s atmosphere
as it enters into eclipse on the far side of Jupiter."
"Analysis of the magnetic field interests
astronomers who hope it reveals the inner composition" of
Jupiter, "the largest planet in our solar system and
offers clues on how such massive planets form." (See USA
Today for January 14, 2003, "Io’s aurora could shed light
on Jupiter," page 8D.)
READER FEEDBACK:
RECENT AUSTRALIAN UFOs WERE
JUST U.S. NAVY SATELLITES
UFO Roundup readers in Australia have the answer to
the recent "UFO sightings" in Ponto, New South Wales and
Buchan, Victoria.
John writes, "The report from Australia in your
January 15 (2003) edition is obviously of the NOSS trio,
which are secret U.S. Navy spy satellites that move in a
fixed ’triangular formation.’"
"As keen skywatchers, my wife and I have seen
exactly the same thing from the same area. It is a
spectacular sight, but they are only satellites. It is
presumptuous to say ’they spotted some UFOs’ (although
they would be unidentified to those who are unaware of
what they are--John). A Google search for ’NOSS trio’
will confirm what I say."
"I enjoy reading your UFO Roundup."
James, who has been plotting the objects’ trajectory
since the first report from Ponto, N.S.W., writes, "I
updated my analysis based upon the corroborating
information from your new sighting report. It helps to
confirm that it’s a sighting of NOSS." (See UFO Roundup,
volume 8, number 2 for January 8, 2003, "Three UFOs
sighted in New South Wales," page 2; and UFO Roundup,
volume 8, number 3 for January 15, 2003, "More star-like
UFOs seen in Australia," page 3.)
From the UFO Files...
1924: IRAQ’S MYSTERIOUS
SPOOK LIGHT
Paranormal researchers Beth Scott and Michael Norman
noted that "anomalous lights, such as the Hornet Spook
Light, have been reported all over the world for
thousands of years. Some experts believe that these
lights are electrical atmospheric charges generated by
the shifting and grinding of rocks deep below the earth’s
crust. The distorted electrical field that results from
these charges can make the light appear to act in an
’intelligent’ way, changing direction and altitude and
giving chase."
Here in the USA, the three most famous spook lights
are near Hornet, Missouri; Maco, North Carolina and
Marfa, Texas.
There is a similar spook light in Iraq, as well.
Few regions on Earth are as desolate as the western
desert in Iraq’s Al-Anbar province. Lying between the
Wadi Hawran in the north and the Wadi al-Ghudal in the
south, that stretch of desert between Rutba and Ramadi
has about as many palm trees as it has polar bears.
In January 1924, an armored car patrol of the
British Army "was slowly winding its way through the
bleak sand dunes of the Mesopotamian Desert. It was a
January afternoon, and a cold rain fell from a leaden
sky."
"With the patrol was famed anthropologist Henry
Field, long associated with Chicago’s Field Museum (now
the Chicago Museum of Natural History--V.H.G.) He had
received permission from Air Vice Marshal Sir John
Higgins (of the RAF) to join the patrol as he searched
for prehistoric flint implements."
"In the midst of the rain came hailstones. Clinging
to the lurching car with numb hands, Field was looking
toward the northwest when he saw a vivid green light
appear in the sky. It resembled a Very light (flare in
the USA--J.T.) used as a distress signal by Royal Air
Force planes and patrols."
"Field told his companions what he had observed, and
the patrol stopped. As he was speaking, the light
appeared again, high in the air--a brilliant green. It
hovered for a few seconds over the sands, then faded
away."
"’Some of our boys may be in trouble, or it could be
the natives (Arabs) playing with stolen equipment,’ said
the commanding officer, ’We’ll investigate.’"
"The patrol reached the area where the light had
appeared. Back and forth, with occasional signals, the
(armored) cars covered the area in a search pattern. No
tracks were found. Nothing was seen or heard."
"Later, at Rutba Fort, RAF headquarters in Baghdad
was radioed and all planes were instructed to keep a
watch west of Ramadi. Nothing that could have explained
the lights was ever seen or reported."
"Twenty years later--in 1946--Field was with a group
of desert caravan drivers (Bedouins) in Damascus (Syria).
The drivers told the scientist that they were well
acquainted with the strange reappearing light near
Ramadi."
"Some of the Bedouins had seen it three or four
times. In earlier years, they had searched
unsuccessfully for a downed plane or occupants of a car
in distress."
"’Now,’ said a veteran driver, ’we just wave at it
and drive on. We have no idea what it is. Many
mysteries lie in the desert. The light is one.’" (See
the books Mysterious Fires and Lights by Vincent H.
Gaddis, Dell Publishing Co., New York, N.Y., 1967, pages
76 and 77; The Track of Man by Henry Field, Doubleday and
Co., New York, N.Y., 1953 and Haunted Heartland by Beth
Scott and Michael Norman, Barnes & Noble Books, New York,
N.Y., 1985, page 307.)
Well, that’s it for this week. Join us in seven
days for more UFO, Fortean and paranormal news from
around the planet Earth, brought to you by "the paper
that goes home--UFO Roundup." See you then.