Article/Document:

Project Hessdalen Researchers To Step Up UFO Hunt

Aftenposten - Norway / Rense.com, 6/30/01

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Summary: Researchers studying mysterious light phenomena in Hessdalen will now add radar and three new cameras in order to document the distance and speed of the regularly observed UFOs.

Researchers studying mysterious light phenomena in Hessdalen will now add radar and three new cameras in order to document the distance and speed of the regularly observed UFOs.

Strange observations are made several times a month in the small Trøndelag village. Powerful lights streak travel across the sky, linger then vanish.

Researchers from Østfold College installed an automatic monitor in the area and have registered 79 sightings of unexplainable phenomena.

"The phenomena are so varied that it is difficult to believe there is a single explanation for them. I have a suspicion that there are several factors at work behind this mystery," says Erling Strand, head of Project Hessdalen.

Now the team has invested in radar and new camera, funded by the Østfold College. The hunt is gearing up, and the goal now is to gauge the distance and velocity of the sightings.

"Until now we have only been able to register phenomena visually. Now we have mounted two stereo cameras 150 meters apart. With these we can measure distance. In addition, a third camera will be able to zoom in on the sightings," Strand explains.

So far no Norwegian research group has been willing to contribute to Project Hessdalen. Italian authorities fund a group of scientist working at Italy's Institute for Radio Astronomy who study the Hessdalen phenomena, and they will be visiting Norway this year.

The years 1981 to 1984 bustled with activity in the skies over Hessdalen and sightings have gradually decreased, with about 20 a year being the current tally. The Hessdalen cameras monitor the skies 24 hours a day and the pictures are posted directly to the Internet. The web site has about 500 hits per hour - 85 percent of them from outside of Norway.

Aftenposten Interactive's Norwegian reporter
Aftenposten Interactive English Desk

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Project Hessdalen (Hessdalen Lights)