UFO Festival & Space

Photo by Cassie

If you look up at the stars and wonder, are we alone in the universe? Chances are you'd like the UFO Festival in Roswell, New Mexico this weekend. How did "The Roswell Incident" begin? From the website:

In early July, 1947, a mysterious object crashed on a ranch 30 miles north of Roswell.  The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a statement claiming to have recovered a crashed "flying disk."  An article ran on the front page of the Roswell Daily Record and the next day, RAAF changed its statement to say that the object was a weather balloon, not a flying disk as they previously reported.  This revised statement sparked immediate controversy and has continued to be a topic of debate more than 60 years later.

The website Offbeat New Mexico describes the event as an annual gathering "that attracts thousands of doubters, believers, scholars, scientists, authors, astronauts, tourists and children of all ages – from this world and beyond - to this small Southeastern New Mexico city in search of a little truth and a whole lot of fun, foolishness and entertainment during the UFO Festival."

If the vastness of space is more appealing, then set your course to the official NASA website for links to its massive multimedia archive, a consolidated launch schedule, and mind-blowing photos from the Hubble Space Telescope. You can also get your daily dose of Astronomy by following the always-fascinating Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).