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Safko( BY MARSHALL SWANSON A USC professor said Friday there are several explanstions for the- recent surge in UFO sightings in various parts of the nation. Dr. John L. Safko, Associate professor of .astronomy and physics, said the rash of sightings usually come in cycles after one report appears in newspapers. Safko said as soon as one sighting is made people rush out and peer into the sky to see if they can see anything. Often they see something that normally they would dismiss as something that was explainable but under the circumstances suspect it to be something else. . The first sightings, he said, are usually set off on occasion by particular circumstances that occur every so often. At this time Venus. Mars, and Jupiter are all shining brightly,- a phenomenoni that doesn't nor mally occur, he said. In addition, during the past week the Air Force has been firing rockets "like mad" in Texas in a series of tests that involve the disapation of gas ii -the upper atmosphere. "The result," said Safko. "is that things tend to snowball." "Then there are weather balloons," he said. "One landed in Orangeburg a few days ago. Before it came down it led to some sightings around the state." In addition, Safko said increased air pollution in the atmosphere and more lights of that type that illuminate billboards sometimes cause people to "see things." The claims that people make concerning sightings of uniden tified fl ing objects are difficult to e ve Got A HAL On Wednesday a Halloween pa can drink beer f Plus a case of M person In the bies1 Ghost . TI "Acro --Peewc e )ffers E judge, Safko said. In most.cases they're a natural phenomenon. "One person is hard put to say exactly how far away something is in the sky," he said. "Secondly, the sky rotates a couple of degrees in five minutes. If you stand and watch something for that long you're going to see it move - because the earth is rotating." After the reports of sightings have been dismissed as natural phenomenon, there still exist some that are not explainable or have not been explained, Safko said. He said these may add up to as many as several hundred over a 30 year period but they still don't represent too many in comparison with the total number of sightings and reports made over the same period of time. Sometimes the inability to ex plain something is due to a lack of information and in other cases turns out to be an outright hoax, Safko said. But there always remain the incidences of sightings that aren't explainable either as natural phenomenon, hoaxes, or a lack of sufficient data that would other wise make the sighting ex plainable. "Scientists tend to treat these cases with caution because there have been so many hoaxes," he said. Safko said he took "with a grain of salt" a report for Mississippi of two men actually being led into a space ship. "These cases . have a habit of turning out to - be a misin terpretation or a mis-statement," he said. "I have a feeling that the Hynek (J. Allen Hynek, noted Somethin; (g LOWEEN PA the 31st of Octoli rty. If you wear or 15* all nighti1 ichlob will be gis costume by Cas] ie Other Plac, '1354 Rosewood Dr. ss From the Roundhoi arry the proper col xp lana astronomer at Northwestern and former head of the U.S. Air Force UFO Division) statement which appeared regarding this matter is a misquote." Safko was 'referring to an examination of the two men in the Pascagoula incident who claimed they had been taken aboard *a craft. The examination under hypnosis indicated the two were telling the truth. "I believe these two had some sort of an experience but I still don't -know if the experience is what they recorded it to be." Concerning the possibility that the sightings might be forms of extraterrestial life. Safko said he didn't think there was any in telligent life in the solar system. He did say, however, that he thought that somewhere in the universe there were many planets with life. Vast distances and long time spans between earth and these planets, however, make him doubt that the sightings that have been made are extraterrestial life. Of the 20 contacts (with suspected extra-terrestial life) over the last 30 years such as the one made in Mississippi, 20 different kinds of creatures have been involved. "There's no way we can rule out that the sightings are ex traterrestial beings but I would be surprised if that turns out to be the final answer." When asked what his inclinations were regarding the possibility that the sightings were some form of life, Safko said: "There are things I can't explain. Some evidence is occassionally left behind at the sightings. Either I'm going to have to explain these things by something I completely do not understand at all or as a visitor Cookin LRTY er we're having a costume, you ong. en away to the ter the Friendly liege ID- - t On F-O tion For from another planet, or as ai outright hoax." Safko said that neither he no any of his staff at the Meltoi Memorial Observatory have seei anything in the sky that the couldn't understand as a norma course of events since the UF( sightings started a few weeks ago He said that every evening thi observatory is in use students se4 things that others might mistak4 as UFO's. He mentioned man-mad4 satellites that constantly circle thE earth, as well as meteors and thE three bright planets as things thal might be mistaken as UFO's. Also, he added, objects viewec through cameras and binocularc can be blown out of proportion by reflections occuring inside the viewing instrument. News pictures of UFO's that appeared in a Columbia newspap( last week looked like a picture of C dot of light (such as a star) taker by a camera on a time exposur that coula have be'en jarred whil( the shutter was open, thereb) creating the V shape of the objecl in the picture, Safko said. "I need to talk to a person first hand who says he saw something and I need two or three other people at different locations whc saw it at the same time," Safkc said. "If it's a written report, I have tc know what they saw exactly. They have to tell me how big the object is in angle, how far above the ground it is, what time the sighting was 1. Title of publication: The Gamecock 2. Dateof filing: Oct. 25,1.3 3. Location of known office of publication Columbia, S.C. 2920 4. Frequency of issue: Twice-weekly (on during the wmmer sessions with the excepi 5. Location of the headquarters or general I 1400 Green St., Richland Co., Columbia, S.C. 6. Names and addresses of publisher, ed Student Communications and Publications, i editor; Patrick Tyler, 1416 Hamptofi Street, Grant, P.O. Box 61540, University of South Cai 7. owner: University of South Carolina, Co 8. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and ott or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages c 10. The purpose, function and nonprofit sta Federal income tax purposes have not change I certify that the statements made by me ab Average N Extent and nature of issue Durir circulation a. Total copies printed 10,000 b. Paid circulation 1. Sales through dealers and carriers, etc. 0 2. Mai' subscriptions 200 C.Total paid circulation 200 D. Free Distribution by mail, etc. 1. samples com. plimentary, and other 9,000 free copies 2. copies distributed to 0 news agents but not sold. E. total distribution (Sum -. ,0 C&D) F. Office use, left over, __ unaccounted, spoiled after printing G. Total (Sum of E & F should equal A) -10,000 The Gamecock 1s published twk s4ay during the faD and spring se summer, with the exceptien of urn Change of address forms, sul should be sent to The Gamecocil 29206. Subscription rate is $3 pei FUEE DBratt. OPe Pemee UFO's r Soafko made and what direction of the sky the ob.ject was seen in. "A eouple of people with that kind ot information and we'll be able to pin down a sighting." !r Clues of sightings of unex rplained UFO's have not been cross referenced over the years, Safko said, because of a lack of money. Soviet repor ts last week of radio signals coming from outer space prompted a skeptical reation from Safko. "My first reaction is that I don't believe it. The same thing hap pened in 1967 and was reported at first as some form of intelligent life. Now, they believe the signals were emitted from pulsars or the remnants of exploded stars. Asked when he thought the current rash of UFO sightings would subside, Safko said, "I don't know." Russell House, 1400 Green St., Richland Co., Mondays and Thursdays) and once weekly ion of Universit y holidays and exam periods. wsiess office of the publishers : R ussell House, Itor, and managing editor: publisher; Board of Iniversity of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C. 2920 No. 4, Columbia, S.C. 2920 managing editor; Bill -olina, CoNianbla, S.C. 2920. lumbia, S.C. 2920. er security holders owning or holding one percent r other securities: There are none. lus of this organization and the exempt status for d dur Ing the preceding 12 months. ive are correct and complete. PtikE ye D. CpiesEach Actual No. Copies Of agPeeig1 Single Issue Published Nearest Filing Date 10,000 0 s0 so 9,150 0 mdetr and whea dieetdorio thesk tert ojtdas sn eianpro kindptinoruetio and e'l bei eferternad ovefr the ys,mer. said buseU alckoBmny SoviA$fety reots. atwekoai sigal comngfrm9ote9sac