Available This Coming Monday (5th October)

 

Why The AOP Bureau Report on CE3Ks Will Never Be Published

 As I get older and see the years going by VERY quickly I realise there are things I need to get done. One of these things is to finally (it was first privately released in 1981) publisah The Report on UFOs (or "The Hooper Report" as it was referred to).

There was another report issued at the time and this pertained to Close Encounters of the Third Kind/Alien Entity cases in the UK. This report weill not be published and all traces will vanisah when it all gets burnt when I've popped my clogs.

Alien Entities: A thoroughly Comprehensive Study & Case Histories of Alleged Alien Contact in the United Kingdom -Pre-20th Century to 1981 (ammended to 1990)

You will note that the "Sent to and read by" list had to be censored

Below -the index to each section amnd period covered

There are 31 sections and the document ran to over 200 pages. At the times this was a completely thorough report and no one had -or even in 2020- or has such a catalogue of reports to carry out such an analysis.

What I did not understand, initially, was why so many ufologists were so hostile to the report when they had not even seen it let alone and a good synopsis of it. I soondiscovered that, as with UFO reports, a great deal of 'data' was fake or falsified to a degree.

Some of the UKs 'most respected' (usually by themselves or their cronies) had been deliberately putting out fake reports. In recent years they have been forced into admitting this but outrightly refuse to identify which reports/cases are faked or tampered with. They give all types of excuses as to why they will not divulge this information but the truth is that a good few of them were also involved in faking the 'sinister' APEN (Aerial Phenomena Enquiries Network) and on three occasions I caught these people out red-handed (one even had blank APEN letterheads on his desk).

These are people who claim to use "scientific principles" (when there are in fact no actual set out rules) and maliciously attack other persons' reputations, data and honesty.  They are simply in it forthe money, 'fame' and ego boost.

When I discovered that Flying Saucer Review had initiated or aided in pushing such reports I made it clear to Charles Bowen (a former editor) and Gordon Creighton -neither had the slightest interest in correcting records and continued to refer to reports proven hoaxes/faked decades before. I withdrew all articles and support from FSR as I did not want the work being carried out by the AOP Bureaui to be tarnished.

Certain ufologists in the North, and sadly it was the North of England providing most fakled data) were found to be regularly faking things. One small group even attempted to 'silence' me with an Men In Black visit to my home -how that turned out for them is fairly well known.

Two members who thought -I have no isdea why- I was "in their camp" even suggested that I push the "new ufology"  trope. I asked what good that woulddo and was told "It'll really **** up serious ufology".  These were NOT agents of some government agency but long term ufologists. Did it work? Look what happened when people in Europe adopted the "new ufology" stances. A complete mess. My solicitor still has a file with all the names and evidence to back up accusations should anyone want to 'play games' with me.

I found that unless I could talk directly with witnesses/percipients then I could not accept reports. Going through every report would mean a much slimmed down volume and much more.

The sad part is that there are good cases in the UK never investigated. 

Ufologists destroyed serious reasearch not some secret government agency.

My Books In A Nut-shell

 

I was asked what makes my books different from others? I will try without boring.

Firstly it has to be the amount of research involved. It would be easy to write a book where every case is labelled "unexplainable".  The importance of the research is to look at cases and sort out which can be easily explained and which defy explanation. The books are not debunking but look at the facts and there are fully referenced sources that anyone can check -these days they can probably do so online.

There are maps, illustrations and photographs and through archive research I have found photographs that have been declared (by Forteans, cryptozoologists and ufologists) as "lost over a hundred years ago". I looked.

These are not dry reads. People who have read them have all described the books as "lively and not using over-complicated explanations". The point is that I  want a good read when I buy a book and one that does not gtreat me like an idiot or spout over technical jargon that means having to find out what the hell someone is talking about. I think that anyone buying my books should expect a good read and not be talked down to. In ovber 45 years I have had to learn about atmospherics, aeronautics, astronomy, psychology and much more. So anything of that nature I explain in easily understood language.

"He (me) writes as though talking face-to-face with the reader" -I would accept that. The more "We should be looked at as the Elite" do not like that approach. Tough. I am not doing this work to look like a super scientist who no one understands but takes the word of.

One thing I always loved was getting my hands on chunky books. Lots of pages and illoes or photographs that made a great fun read. My books tend to have over 300 pages and are A4 in format. Each chapter deals with a seperate case so it is not a case of start reading about the Dead Aquatic Creatures of Canvey Island on page 5 and having to wait until page 310 for a conclusion. Everything on a case or series ofreports is self contained with full references at the end of each chapter.

I have a rather glowing appraisalof UFO Contact? from the Centre for UFO Studies aswell as other groups. When people start pinching your original work and use it uncredited on their blogs and in their books you must be doing something right.

Each book, because I saw these as a way to educate those interested in a subject or research, is priced atthe absolute bare minimum and when a copy of  UFO Contact? is sold I 'earn' about £2/$2 -remember I have spent thousands of $/£ in over45 years gathering and investigating cases.

The books themselves I hope willinspire new investigators and researchers rather than sensationalist lie-mongers. Seriously, if just ONE person goes on to investigate and research a subject based on one of my books I will be happy. Poor but happy!

Three UFO Books Everyone Ought To Read

UFO CONTACT?

Pages  530

Binding  Paperback

Interior Color Black & White

Dimensions  A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

Fully illustrated.

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooperscharf/ufo-contact/paperback/product-1nz9q98n.html

Since 1947 it has been claimed that UFOs/flying saucers are evidence of aliens visiting the Earth.

 Since the 1950s claims of encounters with landed craft and alien beings were talked about but not taken seriously. In the 1960s the subject of UFO abduction was a "slow-burner" until the whole "Grey" abduction phenomenon and claims made by researchers. 

But is there evidence to back up any of the claims -and what about those encountering Alien Entities but who were not abducted?

Which cases seem genuine and have corroborative evidence to back up the claims?

 2020  is the time to assess the past evidence and look at the faults within Ufology. 

Not everyone is going to be happy -debunkers or ufologists.

Contact! Encounters with Extra Terrestrial Entities?

Pages  370

Binding  Paperback

Interior Color   Black & White

Dimensions A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

Fully Illustrated

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/contact-encounters-with-extra-terrestrial-entities/paperback/product-1wr97jn2.html

The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) The real SETI may already have established the there is alien life –and it has been visiting Earth for at least 70 years. 

Once the mass of reports of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and entity encounters are sifted there remains a strong core of cases that defy logical explanation and suggest that these encounters have resulted in physiological effects and post traumatic stress. 

Terry Hooper-Scharf of the CE3K/AE Project has led research into these reports for over 40 years and in this work takes a look at rare or obscure reports as well as cataloguing encounters from Germany and Portugal and focuses in on correlations in the reports and how the Dandenong (Kelly Cahill) encounter could be the best case ever reported.

 Have the serious investigators and researchers looking into UFOs been unearthing better evidence of extra terrestrial life and contact with humans than established SETI ?

Unidentified -Identified

Pages   220

Binding Paperback

Interior Color  Black & White

Dimensions  A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in / 210 x 297 mm)

Fully Illustrated

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/unidentified-identified/paperback/product-15vmvppe.html

The follow up to the comprehensive book "UFO Contact?" The Author spent 1974 to 2020 specializing in the investigation and research of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE3K) and alien entity cases; the former involving an Unidentified Flying Object and the latter, apparently, involving none. 

Previously unreported cases as well as 'lost' cases are looked at as well as the possibility that some percients suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome after their encounters

 A must read for those with a serious interest in UFOs

Time To Call It A Day

This blog was set up over 4 years ago to offer serious views on CE3K/AE cases and get some discussion going.

In four years....nothing.

Time to end this blog and if you need to get in touch there is the Face Book page -until September.

A Peek Inside The USA CE3K/AE files

The CE3K/AE files began as summaries in my note books back in 1974. By 1975 I realised that the only way to make sense out of what I was reading was to do what any scientific researcher does: gather reports to create a data base from which to work. Initially the report summaries were kept in cardboard folders but as the number expanded everything was moved into document folders and when they became too small everything was moved to Lever Arch Files.



In the case of the United States the over bulging file has now become two files -1900-1969 and 1970-

Each of the note tabs indicates a report.


For many, looking inside the files might be a disappointment -not that anyone else has viewed these files in 30 years or more other than myself!  We start with the still accepted (by ufologist bunkomen) as factual Kansas cow-napping. Interestingly, this case only appear after cattle-mutilations became a "UFO thing",

We then have the "Flatwoods Monster" case and I have to state here and now that the only report, based on immediate investigations, I accept is that of Ivan T Sanderson. Many claimed to have "been there" but each gives a varying account and as is traditional in the United States, the case has since escalated into a full blown money making fantasy with nothing to do with the original report. Yes, small towns need to survive and bring in money these days but what 'researchers' have done is unforgivable and does nothing but make the incident a joke and good fodder for debunkers.

Of course the Kelly case has had similar treatment but luckily there were people who were seriously interested and looked into the report at the time.

An extreme rarity. A note showing that a report has been transferred to the High Strangeness File. That only happens when I try to actually logically debunk a report that has passed every check yet still seems genuine. "It was owls!" just does not work!

This is what you will find a few thousand pages of in all the files -typed up notes from books, magazines etc.  In the image above you will see the initial scribbled hand notes.  Every file has to start somewhere!

And Skinwalker Ranch was not the first by a long measure to claim UFO visits and phenomena

Ann B Druffel' work on Dapple Gray Lane is a classic case study -as was her work on alleged missing foetus cases.

Below is one of the initial report summaries written by hand in the mid 1970s. At a suggestion an attempt was made to use a code to identify an object shape (if any) and encounter category -this one was G5 and I have no idea after 40 years what that meant.  I threw the system out as unworkable and just opted for CE3K or AE.

If I removed each report tab for a case that was never investigated by ufologists there would probably only be 20-25 case reports left.  Many were accepted and repeated (still are) ad nauseum by UFO hacks based on a single newspaper clipping or very brief summary.  In some cases even the initial 'investigators' did this. Not evidence.

Where a percipient actually asked to try regression hypnosis they were often told "cannot afford it!"

Below -camera is on its way out but this shows hand notes -brief- and those notes contain ALL the info there ios on a report.

The 1975 Stonehenge, NY case. Much of Hopkins' later abduction work has been cast into doubt and the only reason this is still an open file is because of the name, work and reputation of Ted Bloecher.  Chunky file entry.

Official UFO and UFO Magazine in the 1970s came up with a lot of reports that were pure sensationalist tabloid style. Some I found that the original investigator did not exist.  Nor did the location they were supposed to live in. One report from India was looked at for me by Jal N D Chata and even the local police helped out but could only report that no American (the original source said to be a ufologist working in India) had ever lived in a non existent road given as his home location!

Other reports were sensationalised almost beyond recognition

Some entries such as the Liberty, Kentucky case below, carry heavy criticism of the investigators who showed little care for the percipients -Leo Sprinkle being the exception.

The Lee Parrish case was never properly investigated and it seems that the investigators may have scared off the percipient. Even this year I have had a Spanish ufologist asking the most ridiculous questions to debunk the report.

Oh look -another ranch with UFO activity, phenomena and contact -almost all to berepeated later at Skinwalker Ranch.

No UFO but an unexplainable entity sighted in 2017 in Pennsylvania. There are claims of other similar reports.  Without talking to the main witness or others nothing can be concluded so interesting but not evidence even if the witness was a policeman.

Old reports are constantly added to so what began as notes 30 or 40 years ago tend to expand into pages now.

Yes, looking at page after page of text must seem pretty boring to most people.  Those who live in the fantasy world of millions of people being abducted by aliens every year and a veritable legion of alien types would call all of this "cover stories" -created by the aliens or someone else.

But if you want facts then I have books!

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooperscharf/ufo-contact/paperback/product-1nz9q98n.html

How Large is the USA File?

To be honest I never count how manyt reports I have in any one file -I do not collect them like stamps.

There is a smaller folder but this is the main one...

1900-2019 and these do not include all the abductions "by Grays" cases since most of those can be dismissed.

The worrying thing is that almost 75% of reports were never inmvestigated.  Newsclipping reports were taken as factual and everything after that is just repeat, repeat and repeat. No investigation. Potentially a great deal of information lost.  I even had information on US cases that the Centre for UFO Studies did not know about.

Look at the folder.  What have we lost due to, initially, ufologists refusing to even look at CE3K/AE reports and then prejudices -yet the Hills and Walton have had their accounts repeated ad infinitum.

An Appeal Re. CE3K/Entity Reports

I am currently stuck on page 18 of my new Ms because, though I know the world cannot wait to hear my words on any topic :-) :-) I have found a dearth of reports to look at when it comes to CE3Ks/Entities. The book can wait but the reports...

Now "dearth" does not mean a total lack of just scarcity. I have appealed on the blogs and here before but nothing new. Some ufologists are claiming that CE3K cases are at an all time low....while some continue to state alien abduction cases are continuing. One I questioned over this told me that he had no data to base this statement on but, well, you know, abductions have been going on "for centuries so must still be going on, right?"

Ahem.

The very idea that no CE3K or entity encounters are happening is a little grim. The problem is that many of those involved (let's not mention THAT organisation) are simply logging reports (that is having witnesses/percipients fill in or leave a statement online) but unless something seems tasty there is no rush. Or, with decreasing number of "UFO investigators" the reports are being ignored as "That's up for the abduction experts -let's go chase up flying saucer reports!"

One person who reported observing a UFO land a few hundred feet from their position and "something" get out, move about and then re-enterthe UFO which took off was told to contact THAT organisations Abductee experts because, obviously, he had been abducted even if his watch told him the observation took onbly 2 minutes 10 seconds!

Whether it is in the UK (preferably) or elsewhere I would very seriously be interested in hearing of new reports from 2017-2020. This is not to tear the reports apart or debunk but study and see what is going on and add to the CE3K/Entity files.

Cases reported and repeated over internet sites up to 2017 all fell apart because the site seemingly leading us to believe THEY investigated the report did not. They admitted straight away that they copied and pasted from another site. That other site owner copied and pasted from a thiord site which, when I contacted the owner, flatly refused to respond to a polite email about the case. It turned out that the site and its owner often comes up with (on a regular basis) accounts of entities but none of them check out and I know know that the owner cannot be trusted because "I was told this confidentially" and "This info came from a trusted source" does NOT wash in this day and age. "Many" sightings of a bat like creature in a "Latino area" in the US....but people check and no one has heard of this activity.

It is important that there is a data base of honest accounts to work from. Some may be misidentifications but even those help to look at future reports.

If you know of any cases or reports PLEASE get in touch either by FB Messenger or email. Thank you.

Face Book Alien Entity/CE3K

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2463400933890105/

Face Book Anomalous Observational Phenomena https://www.facebook.com/groups/467983846696626/

Disproving Alien Abductions Proves They Happen?

There can be very little doubt that the current Covid19 pandemic has proven that the pop culture alien abduction phenomenon publicised by the late Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs et al is all trash.

Now before you go on a raging moan about "bloody debunkers" I should point out that I am not a debunker but a sceptic. In other words You claim it then prove it. Every aspect of the (formerly known as) "The Grey abduction agenda" has fallen to pieces when looked at in any detail. Someone claims to have been abducted in a busy cioty park with no one noticing the space craft or aliens because "their technology enables them to 'cloak' and no one can see them".

In UFO Contact? I looked at "Ruth Syndrome" -this is not a name you will find in any medical book but one I used based on a fairly well documented case that was, I discovered, not that rare and other cases were known but never publicised- and I think that this explains many cases of "life long alien abductions".  Ruth Syndrome does not carry any stigma with it because....well, read the book!

With Ruth Syndrome you are looking at something that cannot be used to explain away incidents involving 2+ individuals. Nor can it explain away reports from persons who saw "a UFO" from a distance at the spot where an abduction was claimed to have taken place. It cannot explain R-V (radar-visual) reports at the time of a claimed abduction. It cannot explain away physical traces in the area of such an alleged incident.

When all of those factors are pulled together the debunker (a classic example being the late Philip J. Klass) goes for absolutely anything negative they can discover about a percipient. They had a conviction for an unpaid traffic violation...so, they have a criminal mind-set (even if circumstances at the time made them forget about the ticket) so lying about being abducted by aliens is nothing to them if they can make a few bucks.  If nothing negative turns up then you can offer bribesa to people who know the abductee to say they believe it was all faked or just say anything negative about them. Even offering the actual person involved money to recant their "story" -Klass was a perfect case study in these areas.  Klass was not above writing damning letters about someone to ruin (or try to) their careers over UFOs. Petty minded and vindictive he undoubtedly was and whether this was through fear that the accounts might be true or not only he could really say.  Of course, astronomer Donald P Menzel was also a debunker.  Yet these are the people whose 'facts' are quoted so often by astronomers when asked about UFOs (if they can stop the dopy grinning and snickering long enough).

Debunkers and Debunker-hangers on.

What a sceptic does is look at someone's claim and background. Okay, unpaid traffic ticket but any record of falsifying statements to the police or in general? No? Move on because genuine abductees tend to not want to publicise what happened publicly (that usually -99% of cases- comes about because of the ufologists involved) and certainly no such person has ever "made it rich" from their accounts.

There are physiological and psychological effects involved in many cases that can lead to long term physical health problems as well as psychological conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. These should all receive long term support from ufology but do not: the only interest is in getting the most publicity and financial reward from a case. However, it is important that a percipient(s) past history is looked at: have they a history of seeing ghosts or strange lights or have they believed they could communicate with the dead, etc -factors that should raise red flags.

"Sex with ghosts" appears to have become a rather popular subject in recent years -a few cases turned up in the past such as when the Birmingham group UFOSIS asked for my opinion (in the 1970s I was the only person in the UK specialising in alien-entity and "CE3K" cases) on one such case. It is what led me to look into accounts in more detail.

In UFO Contact? I list cases that I consider have enough physical or anecdotal evidence to tell us "something" took place. Even -these are rarely accepted by me though I do note them- cases involving an individual encountering an entity but only because other people in the area witnessed an object as described or found physical traces at the site in question. The witness also tended to suffer from shock brought on by witnessing "something".

The point is that only the people involved in the incidents were involved in the encounters -they were the percipients. Not you. Not me. Even they cannot say where the entities they encountered came from -only what they might have been told. With no support over the years they try to piece things together to make sense of what happened. A lot of emphasis was put on the "star map" Betty Hill saw yet she made it clear that she could only remember parts of it -it was not a complete star map even if ufologists want you to think so.

An astronomer once said to me: "And what about the Hill alleged star map?" to which I responded: "What about it? One percipient saw it and made it perfectly clear that they could not recall all of it so it is not evidence"  He seemed rather annoyed -I think that was his big argument against the case. If anyone mentions the "Hill Star Map" to me -a debunker or ufologist- I tell them that it has no significance because it has no significance. Look at the other aspects of the case instead.

If I am honest then I have to make a declaration. I picked the "best" cases I could find and decided that once and for all I was going to disprove them all. There was so much information out there and some of it unpublicised and if I could prove Case A delusional, a hoax or even a joke gone wrong it meant it could be ignored as anything other than reference in future. I spent two years of intense research (I've been doing this since 1975 so I had a lot of records already) and on several occasions I was arguing with myself that I must have missed something.

One case I doubted passed my checks. No, no, no that was not right. Go back to the original source. Double and triple check it and any statements by the percipient....at one point my sister (in another room) asked "What are you swearing about now?"  I was swearing because I could not disprove the account. I even went to the debunkers claims, most falling to pieces quickly because a lot of twisted truths and outright lies and misquotes were used.  I got the original case files where I guessed I would find all the red flags I expected. Nothing.  I tried every explanation I could come up with but by accepting them I would need to be going by things I made up that were not featured or mentioned.

What do you do if you try everything to disprove a case but it still passes -it cannot be shaken (even 50 years after the event)?  Well, I cannot say "It was aliens" because I was not there. Not even the percipients could say extra-terrestrials were involved but guessed that because it was the only thing fitting (in their minds) what happened. Certainly, decades later, no technology or craft as witnessed in these incidents has appeared and been identified as being man-made by the United States or former Soviet Union (despite the claims).

It has to be recorded as "Unsolved -Possibly Genuine" because that is what the known facts tell us.

I even went back to the very beginning several times. I scoured astronomical, aeronautical -any records I could (not referencing UFOs) to find something that might fit and offer an explanation: nothing. All the facts in cases put together -after separate examination- left me stumped. I had looked at everything from debunkers claims to claims by vindictive scorned ufologists and even the ufologists involved in the cases (and set a few records straight that they passed over). Nothing. In effect the final work was a failure as far as what I had intended it to be. If it looks like a cat, Behaves like a cat. Scratches like a cat then it is 100% confirmed to be a cat. We know cats. People have studied cats.

Scientists as a whole have not studied UFO reports and if they have, in many cases, it is because they have an agenda of some type. The French have a policy of investigating UFO reports as I detailed in Contact: Encounters With Extra Terrestrial Entities? wherein I also detail cases from other parts of the world some not having been puvblished in the English language before. That book, as well as Unidentified -Identified also let me focus in on seemingly unconnected sightings/encounters and "abductions" around the world -again many not publicised in English before and some quite obscure- whereion the descriptions of the entities involved match up to a high degree.

Almost 50 years after starting in this whole UFO business and becoming very sceptical I have now found myself -and I am not a ufologist- confronted by reports that seem to defy explanation. If asked "Do you believe that these people were abducted or encountered aliens?"  I would have to respond:

"In many cases those involved do not know who or what they encountered. In some cases they are led to believe that they have encountered aliens -as they were told by the entities. In many cases itis the only explanation they think fits what happened to them. I was not there. I have never encountered an alien life-form. I am left with cases that have no apparent rational explanation. Youeither accept what percipients claim or do not. I was not there."

Not a cop-out statement really as it explains how things stand.

It is reported that a number of claimed alien abductees have died during the current pandemic. Their 'alien' abductors just letthem die. "They" are here to help us but do not step in when a pandemic hits and many, many thousands die?  Seems to be a very disinterested attitude.

All of the evidence we have seems -seems- to suggest that if any aliens are abducting humans then they are one off events.  However, based on the study I carried out, it seems very likely that there are many cases not reported for fear of ridicule or because those involved have seen how ufology and the media treats those who come forward and how "confidentiality" is thrown aside when media publicity and money rear their heads.

Eupora, USA, 1973: multiple witness observed landing of one object while another object hovered. The near landing (?) involved an entity sighting and a description of it I have not come across before. All on a US Interstate at the height of a UFO "wave". A case any reseracher would wantto get into or investigate. UFO investigators were in the region but never investigated. All the known observers were "black".  In 2019 MUFON became insulting and flatly refused to even look into the event as a cold case. No TV coverage. No media of any kind...no money in it. A known of but totally lost multi-witness event.

That is what ufology is.

Nasa funds major new search for signs of life elsewhere in the universe

Article by Andrew Griffin of The Independent. My comments follow:

Nasa is funding a major new search for alien life elsewhere in the universe.

The project – which is being run by scientists at Harvard and the University of Rochester – will scan the skies for signs of life known as technosignatures. Those are indications of alien technologies, which would be revealed to us either on purpose or by accident.

The research is the first time in three decades that Nasa has given a grant to look for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, and the first time it has ever tried to do so without looking for radio technosignatures.

Researchers believe that while life elsewhere in the universe may look very different, it is likely to be identifiable by similar signatures as those given off by life on Earth. As such, they hope that they will be able to spot indications that alien civilisations elsewhere are using the kind of technology we are already using, or could theoretically use in the future.

"Technosignatures relate to signatures of advanced alien technologies similar to, or perhaps more sophisticated than, what we possess," said Avi Loeb, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard. "Such signatures might include industrial pollution of atmospheres, city lights, photovoltaic cells (solar panels), megastructures, or swarms of satellites."

Astronomers believe that the search could have more success than in the past because humanity has made great strides in finding worlds elsewhere in the universe, and understanding whether they could serve as home to life elsewhere. With those discoveries, researchers should now be able to know more accurately where they should be looking.

"The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has always faced the challenge of figuring out where to look. Which stars do you point your telescope at and look for signals?" said Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, and the primary recipient of the grant. "Now we know where to look. We have thousands of exoplanets including planets in the habitable zone where life can form. The game has changed."

At first, the researchers will look for two main signatures: solar panels, and pollutants. Both represent key and identifiable ways that humanity has changed the Earth, and so any alien civilisation might do the same.

It is likely that other civilisations would look to harness the energy of their sun as they look for new ways to power their technology, for instance. If that was done in the form of solar panels, we might be able to see reflections being sent through the universe.

"The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, hosts a habitable planet, Proxima b. The planet is thought to be tidally locked with permanent day and night sides," said Loeb. "If a civilization wants to illuminate or warm up the night side, they would place photovoltaic cells on the day side and transfer the electric power gained to the night side."

Likewise, the chemicals released as any alien civilisation builds its infrastructure is likely to be possible to pick up. By looking for chemicals that are unlikely to be produced naturally, we might be able to see that sign across the universe." End

The problem of "solar panels sending their reflections thoughout the universe" is that you are using the universe as your sandbox. Chris Baraniuk in a post on BBC Earth on 13th June 2016 gave this quote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20160610-it-took-centuries-but-we-now-know-the-size-of-the-universe#:~:text=Today%20we%20are%20fairly%20confident,billion%20light%20years%20in%20diameter.

"Today we are fairly confident that the Milky Way is probably between 100,000 and 150,000 light years across. The observable Universe is, of course, much larger. According to current thinking it is about 93 billion light years in diameter"

In 40 years time we will -or you might- hear "We've not found anything yet but...."

Firstly, what if an extra terrestrial civilisation does not want to light up its planet at night? If they do it may well be that they have power sources we cannot imagine and use those to light up any cities or areas it needs to. Don't get me wrong; it is one thing to look for and after all but what if they detect "something" because as most prominent astronomers like to say as part of their mantra:"It's anything but aliens"   Odd signals: "It's anything but aliens".

My favourite part of this is: "...the chemicals released as any alien civilisation builds its infrastructure is likely to be possible to pick up" which means that if you are very -VERY- lucky and everything is just about "peachy" they might possibly detect the chemicals. But there is still going to be that quote "It's anything but aliens".

The number of people in the astronomical and space community who are terrified of confirming any form of alien life from microbe to higher (microbe is "meh. Possibly acceptable" -and that we know from findings in our own solar system.

People have this idea, possibly brought about by the various planetary charts they have seen since childhood, that you leave Earth and it is a straight line to Mars, then Jupiter, then Saturn and so on. Almost as though the route from Mercury to Pluto (there, I wrote it) is a straight line -an interplanetary highway of sorts. It isn't. Neither is the universe linear: Earth is a grain of sand somewhere in 85 million tons sandbox.

"At least astronomers are trying" someone might say. However, they are looking into deep space -93 billion light years of it. We know that with radio signals you can expect them to take many thousands of years to get to the target "area" of space. Say a civilisation picks up that signal? It will take thousands of years to get the response. We mioght not still be here -in fact scientists say they have sent signals to areas where any intelligent life may have ceased to exist.

If I type a letter then put it in an air-tight sealed container and bury it ten feet (3m) somewhere in the Somerset countryside, miles from any buildings and with no signs indicating where it is located....how long will it be before anyone finds the container let alone reads the letter?  Welcome to sending signals into space.

To put it bluntly, we know sod-all about our own solar system. Asteroids skip past us without being detecyted until a few days before. I am sure that the money given to this new "search" could go toward an asteroid defence system. Or, perhaps we ought to concentrate on probing the planets of our system before probing deep space?

Oumuamua showed just how astronomers and scientists can get hysterical -arguing, fighting and name-calling and all done publicly because they must have their five minutes (and it might lead to some profitable TV work, know what I mean?). Ufologists...I exclude from any debate on the subject as even now they are still using the PAINTING of what Omuamua might look like as though it was an actual photo -and they are picking up details on it!

In my book Contact -Encounters with Extra-Terrestrial Entities I wrote about why the French space agency has a unit that looks at UFO reports and the French have investigated and catalogued many UFO cases since the 1950s. Had such open policies been adopted in the UK, United States, Soviet Union/Russia we might be far more enlightened today.

I do NOT believe that an alien space craft crashed at Roswell, New Mexico, definitely never did at Aurora. There was no UFO crash near Nottingham, UK in the 1980s and that was proven beyond a doubt. Rendlesham Forest never saw a UFO crash. The whole "Grey alien abduction phenomenon" as made into a pop culture thing by Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs using very dubious data is just that -a modern pop culture myth. And I write that know that there are certain cases that seem genuine (but do not involve "Greys").

Any intelligent lifefrom elsewhere watching Earth is not going to want to make any open contact. Our best chances of encountering any intelligent life is in near space. Signalling and searching for signals in nearer solar systems -forget the next galaxy over. We need a large number of small probes that can send out a repeatable signal but also listen for such signals. 

I would not expect official government bodies to do that (just the mere discussion as to the name of an advisory panel and all the ego pushing would take years. It needs someone with a lot of money and aerospace interest to do this and cut through red tape.Look at Elon Musk and his Starlink satellite system.

I hate to say it but this new search seems to be yet another "free meal-ticket for life" venture that professional astronomers love to get.

Unfortunately, I do not have thousands of years to wait and see if "anything" might be detected.