The Pleiades star cluster is 400 light years from earth. |
It’s the third Thursday of the month, so this week I’m
giving you an update on UFO reports in Alabama from the previous month,
courtesy of the Mutual UFO Network. A search for UFO reports in Alabama between
March 1 and March 31 on MUFON’s website, www.mufon.com, resulted in two reports
from within our state during that time.
The first incident took place on Sat., March 3, at 5:35 p.m.
in Birmingham. The witness in this case said that he was walking down 13th
Street on the University of Alabama-Birmingham campus when he looked up and
observed a “white triangular craft” moving at a “strange pace” at high
altitude. The witness watched the craft travel west before it moved “abruptly”
to the southwest and out of sight.
The second incident occurred on Wed., March 21, at 3:33 a.m.
in Stewartville, which is in Coosa County. The witness in this case reported
that a “large craft with pulsating blue lights” had been seen floating above
his house almost every night since January. Interestingly, even though this
incident is said to have happened on March 21, it wasn’t reported until April
4.
While we’re on the subject of objects in the night skies, I
was looking in my farmer’s almanac the other day and read that on April 24-27
the planet Venus will glide just to the left of the Pleiades star cluster. The
almanac says this will be a “fine sight in binoculars.”
Venus is one of the brightest objects in the night sky and
should be easy to find later this month, especially right before dawn when
looking east. From our part of the world, it should be pretty low in the sky.
The Pleiades star cluster should be visible to the right of Venus and the thin
crescent moon.
Many of you will remember from school that the Pleiades is a
cluster of stars that’s nicknamed the “Seven Sisters.” This cluster is
relatively close to earth and is close enough that it can be seen with the
naked eye. If you’re about half-blind like me, a good set of binoculars will
help you see it more clearly.
Most sources say that the cluster is about 440 light years
from earth, which means that if you take the time to find it in the night sky,
the light that you’re seeing with your eyes actually left the cluster about 440
years ago. In other words, the light you see nowadays from the cluster left
there about 200 years before the American Revolution. Another way to look at it
is that if the cluster were to somehow blink out today, no one on earth would
know if for about 440 years, that is, sometimes around the year 2458.
Before closing out this week, I just want to put it out
there again that I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has
witnessed a UFO, especially in Conecuh County. I think a lot of other people
would be interested in hearing your story too, and I’m willing to accept your
report anonymously. You can contact me by e-mail at courantnewsdesk@gmail.com
or by phone at 578-1492.
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