"Inter-galactic Travel" -What?

Above: Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was thought to possess four major arms. This annotated artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way, along with other findings presented at the 212th American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis, Mo. The galaxy's two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major arms. The major arms consist of the highest densities of both young and old stars; the minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets of star-forming activity. The artist's concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the "Far-3 kiloparsec arm," discovered via a radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is shorter than the two major arms and lies along the bar of the galaxy. Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Ca

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I still find it incredible that people in Ufology refer to "inter-galactic visitors"  -how are they supposed to be taken seriously?  Firstly, which galaxy do these people think UFOs are coming from?  Our nearest neighbouring galaxy is Andromeda. And the Andromeda galaxy is 2.2 million light-years away, with a single light-year being almost 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).  It makes no sense that any possible alien civilisation in the Andromeda galaxy would want to visit the Milky Way when its own galaxy sprawls across space.

Look at the number of stars in our own galaxy - Milky Way.  It is difficult to estimate numbers based on our position in the galaxy but scientists give their best estimates as  the Milky Way being made up of approximately 100 billion stars

How many planets is the next question people should be asking and Ufologists tend to get all of their 'facts' off equally dubious web sites.  Bear  in mind that our solar system (not thoroughly investigated) has eight planets, Other stars may have more or less and, turning to scientists who work on this stuff every day, the Milky Way galaxy could have between 100-200 billion planets -or possibly many more.

Now, that leads us into trying to guess, and it is guessing, based on things such as The Greenbank Formula, the number of habitable planets in the Milky Way. Well, considering that every time someone says "That might be an alien signal" another scientist says "Probably a microwave", you might think that at best maybe 100 -is that too wild a guess?

Far from a wild guess actually as it is, based on very conservative interpretations, estimated that our galaxy holds at least an estimated 300 million  potentially habitable worlds. According to the results of a study to be published in The Astronomical Journal. NASA discusses it here:  https://www.nasa.gov/missions/kepler/about-half-of-sun-like-stars-could-host-rocky-potentially-habitable-planets/#:~:text=Our%20galaxy%20holds%20at%20least,published%20in%20The%20Astronomical%20Journal.

I have no doubt that scientists have looked at UFO reports since 1947. I have no doubt that those scientists have also looked at reports by investigators of close encounters of the third kind.  In fact some such reports from the old Commonwealth -Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, etc, I know were forwarded back to the old Air Ministry.  Whether those in charge had their own personal biases and dismissed such reports based on personal religious beliefs or just because they would not accept that anything was coming from "out there" is another matter.  Talking to the late Air Vice Marshal Sir Victor Goddard I know this was the case.  Look at Ufology where in all the decades since 1947 there is still mocking and ignoring of CE3K reports.

Officialdom is no more enlightened than the Ufologist.   We should have been looking at these encounters from the very outset to establish witness/percipient credibility and from that credibility of the reports.  Instead we have seen nothing more than the various prejudices and no matter how seemingly major a report seems if it involves anyone who is not white skinned the racial prejudices explode into dismissals ("Well, he just came out the US Army and, you know, he's black and -wink wink- you know they smoke some funny stuff!").  We have lost, perhaps, 90%+ reports since 1947 because a news clipping was the only investigation and it took the Ufologist a great deal of skill, time and effort to glue that in a book.  

What we need to remember the Milky Way is 100,000 light years wide -oh, Andromeda is much larger at approx 220,000 light years across.  We need not draw Andromeda into Ufology or our Citizen SETI work because ...well...the Milky Way!  

As American physicist Michio Kaku suggests; if you ever do find yourself on board a UFO/craft -STEAL SOMETHING!  I know, that sounds bad but something made by an alien civilisation can be tested and no I am not even thinking of Vallee and Nolan and their  bunko claims; something taken from an alien craft is evidence because it is an actual physical thing and that is what we have so far lacked.   

Therefore, think only Milky Way as a possible origin point for claimed aliens. Also remember that when it comes to solid evidence you will need to put aside a moral stance and steal something. Humans have done far, far worse over the centuries.

(c)2024 T. Hooper-Scharf