Argentina: Ufologists and Researchers to Meet in Merlo, San Luis

Source: AIM Digital (Argentina)
Date: 05.30.11

Argentina: Ufologists and Researchers To Meet in Merlo, San Luis

Frequent UFO sightings in the Comechingones Range have captured the attention of researchers of the phenomenon. They will meet at the Villa de Merlo’s planetarium, in San Luis, on June 3, 2011, according to sources.

This encounter will gather notable Argentinean researchers, such as Oscar Raul Mendoza from Santa Fe and Carlos Alberto Iurchuk from La Plata, as well as UFO research organizations such as Código OVNI from Buenos Aires and Entre Rios’s Visión OVNI.

The protagonists will have a round of conferences open to the public. Opinions by religious leaders will be further added to discuss the subject from a variety of frameworks and points of view.

These presentation are taking place as part of the “Ciencia con la Gente” (Science With The People) program held by the Merlo Planetarium since October 24, 2004 – decreed as Argentinean Astronomy Day – which has garnered recognition through statements and decrees of cultural, municipal, educationa, tourist and environmental interest, conferred by several government and educational institutions withing the country.

The scene of the mysterious UFO sightings is the Comechingones Range, which is among the most active sites in the country. The year 2010 broke records in reports, which the Merlo San Luis Planetarium has received sporadically, involving photographs and phone calls from local residents – sometimes disconcerted, others alarmed – claiming to have seen unidentified flying objects. To quantify the situation, the Planetarium held a survey in April to determine that one out of three respondents to the survey had seen UFOs in the region.

The sample population was 500 and the survey took place during the first week of 2011. Males and females over 21 residing in Villa de Merlo and Carpintería were surveyed, with 37 per cent of respondents allegedly having witnessed UFOs over the Comechingones Range at least once, and with 83 per cent of those reports agreeing that the objects seen were either luminous spheres or triangular lights.

On the other hand, the remaining 63 per cent never saw them, although 28 per cent of respondents believed UFOs were possible. However, the remaining 72 percent does not believe.

The purpose of the survey consisted in quantifying eyewitness accounts to determine whether the subject should be debunked, as some scientists believe that the objects seen could be of terrestrial manufacture, for example, abandoned space junk, meteorological capsules, or natural phenomena such as meteorites.

Photo B: Strange lights over a prairie fire at Los Molles in 2010, 10 km. south of Merlo.
Photo A: Alleged UFO over the Cartusian Monastery of Belén, published by a local radio station, 2010

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)