| CELESTIAL ASTRONOMERS | |
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They spend the greatest part of their lives in observing the celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance of glasses far exceeding ours in goodness. For, although their largest telescopes do not exceed three feet, they magnify much more than those of a hundred with us, and show the stars with greater clearness.
Jonathan Swift in
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My attention was now called to the big lens at my feet. An amazing sight met my eyes! We appeared to be skimming the rooftops of a small town; I could identify objects as though we were no more than a hundred feet above the ground. It was explained to me that actually we were a good two miles up and still rising, but this optical device has such magnifying power that single persons could be picked out and studied, if so desired, even when the craft was many miles high and out of sight . . . I looked up into the translucent dome. The stars had always looked near
enough to touch in the clear air of my mountain home, but viewed through
this ceiling lens they seemed to be actually on top of us . . .
"The fourth cable," he continued, "extends from the pole (running vertically
through the craft) to the two periscope-like instruments, the one beside
the pilot's seat and the other directly behind his seat but close to the
edge of the center lens, as you can see. These instruments are really extensions
of the main optical system and enable the pilot to see everything that
is going on without leaving his seat. They can be switched on and off,
or adjusted at will, so that both members of the usual crew can have full
use of the telescope without interfering with each other . . ."
George Adamski in
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| DISCUSSION | ||
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According to Swift he was informed of the two Martian satellites by
the occupants of the Flying Saucer. They provided him with details of those
heavenly bodies, the periods and orbital radii.
How did they obtain this information? Did they observe the two moons
through glasses far exceeding ours in goodness, and magnifying much more
than those of a hundred with us? Swift says:
It hardly seems necessary. Given their powers to traverse space they
could easily make first-hand observation of the Martian satellites, or
other heavenly bodies as they please. They could, with relative ease, determine
periods, orbital radii, masses, albedos (amount of reflected to received
light), compositions, and so on. They would not require exceptional telescopic
powers if they could visit at close range, or even touch down upon more
hospitable bodies.
If they are part of a large universe organization it seems they would
have a catalog of stars with accumulated volumes of data exceeding our
imagination. Their knowledge certainly should extend beyond ten thousand
fixed stars. On the other hand, this may have been a manner of speech.
When describing their extraordinary optics they may have casually said
that their observations extend to ten thousand fixed stars, not literally,
but indicative. Ten thousand fixed stars may have been enough to impress
an individual of the early eighteenth century.
This view should not deny the need to continue observations in a universe
that is constantly evolving. Neither the suns nor the planets are dead;
observation of their behavior may continue for millions upon millions of
years. If celestial astronomers had excellent glasses, far exceeding ours
in goodness, they could continue to catalog celestial events without need
for the labor of first-hand visits. Telescopic glasses with exceptional
power might be highly useful, even to creatures who can traverse space.
The remark by Swift suggests this possibility. He states that they spend
the greater part of their lives in observing the celestial bodies. They
have a great interest in the natural events of the universe.
Swift's remark is notable for its terseness. He was a master of language,
phrasing his statements with pithiness and lucidity. The hard kernel of
content is apparent when compared against the descriptions by George Adamski.
The quotation from Adamski introduces us to our first modern contactee.
I selected a passage which parallels the one from Swift.
My procedure in the following chapters will be to introduce information
from other reporters while comparing passages from Swift if similar in
content. I shall also continue to compare each passage against the opinions
of modern scholarship where appropriate in order to bring out more fully
the meaning and implications of the respective accounts.
In the previous chapters we considered items which could be evaluated
against a framework of common knowledge. Flying saucers are known to virtually
everyone; we could weigh Swift's Flying Island against that background.
We also could examine his two Martain satellites against scientific knowledge
without reference to the phenomena of celestial visitation.
Details from Swift, considered in this and following chapters, are
useless unless referred against the modern reports. They would
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carry no significant
intelligence if we did not have the modern reporters to guide us through
this fascinating display of information. Swift's remarks would remain strictly
satirical in nature.
This argument is well illustrated by the above quotation from Adamski.
Swift says their telescopes do not exceed three feet, yet they magnify
much more than those of a hundred with us. He does not say how much more.
Galileo constructed four telescopes before he announced his discoveries
of the mountains of the Moon, the stars of the Milky Way, and the satellites
of Jupiter in 1610. The first had a magnifying power of 9; the second had
a power of 60. He then constructed two similar instruments with powers
of nearly 1000. These last telescopes measured 37 and 49 inches long respectively,
with apertures of approximately 1 3/4 inches. The length is similar to
that which Swift gave. Telescope development continued to expand both magnifying
and light gathering power, with ever increasing physical size. Johannes
Hevelius at Danzig built a refracting telescope in 1670 that had a lens
diameter of six inches and was 150 feet long. In 1722, four years before
publication of the Travels, James Bradley measured the diameter of Venus
with a 212-foot telescope. Refinements in optics permitted refracting telescopes
to be built in the early nineteenth century that had more than 25-inch
apertures but were only thirty or forty feet long, similar to the one used
by Asaph Hall in 1877.
If Swift was making a parody on astronomical abilities in the early
eighteenth century we can recognize the contrasting character of his comparison.
Telescopes had reached lengths greater than 200 feet. If the astronomers
on the Flying Saucer had glasses far exceeding ours in goodness, and only
three feet long, they certainly were advanced greatly beyond the astronomers
of this world.
But suppose Swift is again engaged in double entendre. If his parody
is a cover for a hidden meaning and we restrict ourselves to the veneer
of satire we miss the message. But again, the hidden message can be discerned
only by reference to other reports. Since those reports did not exist prior
to 1950 Swift's hidden content could not be known until now, and even more,
only after a sufficient number of reports had accumulated to bring the
parallels to our attention.
This hypothesis is well illustrated by Adamski's description of the
optics within a flying disc. He witnessed magnifying powers of extraordinary
magnitude and control. He observed scenes on the earth which appeared to
be a few feet away although he was miles up in the atmosphere. When gazing
through the dome of the celestial craft he saw stars on display as he had
never seen them.
Two periscope-like instruments were used by the operators of the craft
for observing external events. These stood next to the operator's seats;
when used the operators could glance into them quickly to monitor activity
within the neighborhood of the craft. If used from a sitting position they
probably did not exceed three feet in height.
Honestly stated, the report by Adamski is awesome. Huge crystalline
lenses occupy the center of the dome and the bottom of the craft. The telescopic
powers are displayed through these two huge crystalline structures. The
operators can, at will, change the magnification of the lenses and show
the stars with greater clearness. These crystalline glasses far exceed
ours in goodness, magnifying much more than those of a hundred with us.
The crystalline structure reminds us of the account from Ezekiel. Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of a firmament, like an awesome crystal, spread out over their heads. When Ezekiel viewed the heavens, the firmament, through the awesome crystal he had good reason to be astounded. See Ezek 1:22. |
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