Using a telescope to photograph UAP
I always emphasize the fact that it’s not a philosophical question whether an object is an artifact from a technological civilization, it’s very easy to answer by taking a high-resolution photograph. Avi Loeb
It’s great that Avi Loeb of Harvard University is advocating a practical approach. Too many academics dismiss any possibility that craft from an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation might be visiting our planet - speculating that life (or, at least, intelligent life) elsewhere in the universe is absent or extremely rare, or else claiming that interstellar travel cannot be quick enough to get here. But the bottom line is nobody knows the actual reality. Meanwhile, it would be foolish to ignore certain reported encounters with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) which are compelling and too real to ignore. Whereas witness testimony can be intriguing, it is nevertheless known to be notoriously unreliable - so we must go beyond what humans think they’ve seen and, instead, obtain objective data via instrumentation.
A fuzzy photo or video reveals little of worth. The lack of indisputable photographic evidence of UAP leads to all sorts of doubts. A sharp, close-up image of a UAP would go a long way to establishing if an unknown object is of terrestrial or extraterrestrial origin.
Avi Loeb recently wrote:
UAP debunkers often ask: “Why are numerous personal cameras always producing fuzzy images of unidentified objects?” The answer is simple: their apertures are hundreds of times smaller than the desired meter-scale telescopes.
We reported on the launch of the Galileo Project last week, headed by Avi Loeb. The team will try to obtain high-resolution, multi-detector images of UAP within Earth’s atmosphere using a network of mid-sized telescopes and detector arrays fitted with suitable cameras and computer systems.
Avi explains his thinking:
This subject should move away from the talking points of politicians, national security advisers, or military personnel to the realm of science. Because you would never go to a plumber and ask the plumber to bake you a cake, right? So, for the same reason, you wouldn't ask politicians or military personnel to explain what they see in the sky. That's the profession of astronomers. And that's the rationale behind this project, The Galileo Project.
Most of us haven't used the combination of a telescope and camera to take a photo. We usually use our smartphones. Iain Scott, our lead senior writer for Evolve First, is also an accomplished wildlife photographer. He took the image above. The birds are greater flamingos - or, as I prefer to call them, an Identified Aerial Phenomenon (IAP). Iain used a Nikon 300mm f2.8 telephoto lens to capture this photograph, which gets you close to the action - but not close enough for UAP.
An internet search quickly revealed several enthusiasts who use a telescope to photograph aeroplanes. One of these is Sebastien Lebrigand - and I’m grateful for his permission to use one of his photos (below). This demonstrates that telescopes can be used to photograph a fast moving object high up in the sky. The aeroplane is clearly identifiable as a Boeing 787, which has an average cruise speed of 567 mph at 35,000ft. Commercial passenger jets have a known flightpath and they take off according to a scheduled timetable, which makes getting these photographs a lot easier- whereas UAPs don’t (at least not to our knowledge).
Credit: Sebastien Lebrigand
As Becky (our director) has had previous correspondence with Avi Loeb, she contacted him for a few more details on how the Galileo Project will go about the task of photographing UAP. The research team are still in the planning phase, but Avi said: “The first telescopes will likely be roughly 10 inches in diameter. There will be between tens and hundreds of telescopes.” We asked about locations, but these are still “to be decided”. Avi had previously talked about transparency, but confirmed to us that “the data will be open to the public through the internet”.
Nick Law is an astrophysicist, currently at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and part of the Galileo Project research team. He has valuable experience in building new astronomical instruments, such as the Evryscopes, so Becky contacted Nick with a couple of questions.
Q. Have you identified exactly what model or models of telescopes you will be using?
A. We're starting to do the detailed design work right now; the first step will be to build one or several prototype systems. We're evaluating a lot of different potential hardware choices at the moment.
Q. What are the main challenges you're facing in trying to capture a photographic image of UAP within our atmosphere?
A. The main challenge is designing a rigorous, systematic survey that will yield quantitative scientific results, in the face of an unknown phenomenon and many confounding known objects. We want to make sure that we have a good chance of seeing something, which means covering a lot of ground. At the same time, we need a comprehensive instrument suite at each site that will be able to characterize any UAP it sees, and reject the usual birds, aeroplanes, etc. We're exploring the design space at the moment, trading off instrument capabilities against building more systems to observe more sky. A lot of the system capabilities will, ultimately, come down to the amount of funding we can find.
The Galileo Project is a groundbreaking initiative. It requires innovation to adapt established techniques for the task of photographing UAP. The team is at the beginning of this challenging endeavour, but we should be encouraged that a group of smart people are willing to apply themselves to such an important undertaking.
The project name is apt. Galileo (1564-1642) improved the design of telescopes, making crucial discoveries which challenged the establishment and eventually corrected the erroneous belief that Earth was the centre of the universe. The Inquisition eventually charged him with being “vehemently suspect of heresy” and Galileo was found guilty. He was placed under house arrest for the final ten years of his life.
I’ll end this piece by leaving the final words to Avi: “Since a megapixel image of UAP is affordable and is of great interest to the public and government, we should simply obtain one.”
Written by Jessica Nelson, 4th August 2021