NEW DISCOVERIES IN BETTY HILL'S STAR MAP

HE striking coincidence of the map pattern that was shown to Betty aboard the space ship to the actual constellation of our planetary system around the time of the abduction is not by chance, it was fully intended.

In logical consequence of her stated astronomical knowledge, PLANETS, NOT STARS are shown to her. To make it easier for her, a constellation of planets is chosen that really exists at the time of the abduction.

If Betty remembered the pattern during the weeks after, for example, she could have asked about the positions of the planets at a local planetarium. To her surprise she would have then discovered her pattern and would have known that something real had happened. Was the reason for her dreams just to give her another chance to find out what was in the map? Additionally, with this special pattern within the planetary constellation the information's about the time when the abduction took place is saved for all time: "When in the height the planets..." [Enuma Elish]. Measuring time not with a wristwatch but by the positions of planets is indeed a very tempting thought and is compatible and comparable to other planetary systems.

All the planets that are visible to the naked eye are depicted. Betty had two of them, Saturn and Jupiter, in her view during their trip Southwards that night. This was exactly the direction from which the UFO approached! In the "star map" the two are placed very conspicuously in the foreground and they had both have these half-circle "bands" in their pictures. It seems that these were shoved under Betty's nose with the hope that she would recognize the two bodies and then identify the Earth much easier to give the right answer to the question: "Where are you on the map?" If she understood the principle of the map, she would likely have come to the rest of the exercise.

The choice of planets and asteroids is significantly interesting. Saturn and Jupiter have an outstanding importance according to the quality of their connection lines on the map. They are the largest planets in the solar system and possess, what we know since VOYAGER, a large number of satellites with exceedingly interesting and useful compositions - abundant water, for example on Ganymede and Callisto.

Perhaps Jupiter and Saturn do have other useful qualities for an intelligence that knows more about the cosmos than we do. For example, is it possible that an entrance-port to our solar system lies between Jupiter and Saturn - as written in Arthur C. Clarke's fictional 2001: A Space Odyssey? We can also speculate about the importance of Mars on the map in light of the mountain in the alleged shape of a humanoid face in the Cydonia region, or read all the interesting things about Saturn's polar region found by the VOYAGER spacecraft [13].

All lines coming out of Jupiter have one thing in common: they lead to planetary bodies that you can land upon with bigger space ships. Mars, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and the asteroids; each object represents something special and offers its own reasons for being visited. According to the quality of lines these visits happen frequently - and must have happened in the past if we take the "leader" at face value.

Here on Earth we all know about the UFO phenomenon. Many thousands have testified that "Somebody" is visiting us again and again as. The last big UFO wave of 1989 in Belgium is still alive in our memory [14]. Many artifacts from our own human history were cause for speculation and scientific conflicts because they did not fit our world view of the origin of civilization. But - the artifacts remain, nonetheless.

Mars, an ideal and peaceful viewing point to watch activities here on Earth - better than the Moon because of a lesser risk of being detected - should have revealed in 1994 whether or not there are indeed artificial features on its surface in the Cydonia region [15]. Together with Earth, Mars would be then the second planet where inopportune artifacts could existing. Unfortunately the Mars Observer Probe failed a few days before Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI). We will have to wait until the findings from the Mars Global Surveyor are published.

Then there is Mercury where there is distinct interest by the UFOnauts because it is connected by a solid line with Jupiter. In 1973-74 the terrestrial probe MARINER 10 flew to Mercury and photographed approximately 45% of its moonlike planetary surface. Mercury is exotic among the planetary family because it has a disproportionately high percentage of iron in its composition. The metallic cores of planets and iron meteorites the normally rare siderophile (i.e., in the nickel-iron cores of planets, asteroids and meteorites enriched) elements of the platinum group are often found in a higher concentration. On Mercury, no artifacts are known so far.

From Mercury, expedition lines lead on to Venus. Despite the fact that Venus is Earthlike in size, it is not among the more frequently visited places. As we already know, one is very unlikely to stroll on its surface because there is an "air" pressure of 90 bar and a temperature of approximately +470° Celsius. The thick greenhouse-atmosphere consists of about 96% carbon dioxide, would never let you see the stars. The "rain" on Venus consists of pure sulfuric acid. These very uncomfortable conditions make Venus worthy for only one or two expeditions and the flight went on to the asteroids.

We remind the reader here of our restriction that practically only the biggest asteroids should have chosen for expeditions. Actually, in the positions to have a realistic reproduction of the Hill's pattern, there were 6 of the 46 largest asteroids, among them the second largest of all, Pallas! A remarkable success for an experimental condition that was formulated "off the cuff" after some imaginative thoughts. Even these six exhibit some surprising characteristics.

All six asteroids belong to the group of the so called "Amor-Asteroids" that never cross Earth's orbit. Our small group even stays beyond the Martian orbit and members never come dangerously close to either of these two planets. Each one of the asteroids has a different angle of orbital inclination to the ecliptic plane. If one would sit on one of our six asteroids and would make a trip around the inner planets, one would have a wide view of the whole system, sometimes from below, sometimes from above.

Surprisingly, among the six asteroids we found, Pallas has the greatest angle of orbital inclination of 34.81° of the greatest asteroids. No other asteroid swings up so high above the ecliptic plane before, like a cosmic Ferris wheel, flying below it with the same distance. With its diameter of 914 km, it would provide ideal conditions for a permanent observatory of the whole solar system.

"Somebody" would not have to go to the trouble of constructing and orbiting an artificial free-flight space station and would never have to worry of being detected. The connection line from Jupiter to Pallas is drawn as a strong line in Betty Hill's map which means the UFOnauts attach some importance to Pallas.

The expedition lines starting at Venus remind us a bit of the epoch-making flights and swing-by maneuvers of the VOYAGER probes around the planets. Initially it goes down below the ecliptic plane "into the cellar" to 790 Pretoria (orbital inclination 20.55°), then up "to the next floor" to 41 Daphne (orbital inclination 15.78°) and finally to 16 Psyche (orbital inclination 3.09°) as the final point and so nearly back to the ecliptic plane.

16 Psyche is a very interesting asteroid, too. It is of the category of the M-type asteroids which have moderate albedos (i.e., ability to reflect sunlight). Their spectra reveal a nickel-iron composition. These asteroids may be pure metallic bodies, perhaps formed by collisions of other asteroids where the rocky crust and mantel was lost and the iron cores melted together to a new celestial body. Radar examinations have shown that 16 Psyche indeed has such a high metal composition [16]. So this expedition route that started at strong ferrugiuous Mercury finds its end at a strong ferrugiuous asteroid.

The expedition lines which came out of Mars do not simply go anywhere but directly to two of the largest asteroids: Europa (orbital inclination 7.44°) and Interamnia (orbital inclination 17.30°).