UFO Mail - No 228 - 2016

Magazine Overview

Title: Skandinavisk UFO Information
Issue: nr. 228
Date: 20. november 2016
Publisher: Danmarks UFO Forening

This issue features a review of the book "Hvad i himlen... over Danmark" by Jesper Grønne, highlighting its comprehensive coverage of celestial and atmospheric phenomena.

Book Review: "Hvad i himlen... over Danmark"

The main focus of this issue is a review of Jesper Grønne's impressive book, "Hvad i himlen... over Danmark." The reviewer, Kim Møller Hansen, describes the sky over Denmark as a "giant free cinema" offering a diverse range of daily and nightly spectacles, from weather phenomena to cosmic events.

Jesper Grønne's book, spanning 320 pages and featuring over 700 illustrations, is presented as a must-have gift. The illustrations are primarily Grønne's own photographs, with exceptions for satellite images and weather maps. Niels Hansen, writing on the DMI website, praises Grønne as Denmark's most professional amateur photographer, who has captured a vast array of sky phenomena over the years, including sun pillars, rainbows, star patterns, cloud formations, lunar eclipses, and more. Grønne's work extends beyond photography to the scientific understanding of these phenomena.

"Hvad i himlen" is described as a project aimed at communicating everything in the sky, from the frost layer to the reach of astronomical telescopes, based on photographic observations made in Denmark over more than two decades. The book aims to explain the diversity and complexity of sky phenomena by answering questions such as: What is the sky? How did it form? What can be seen day and night, year-round? What do they look like? When and how can they be seen? What is the scientific explanation? How can they be photographed?

The book's content is extensive, covering topics from the Big Bang to the future of the universe. The table of contents reveals a detailed structure, including chapters on:

• Chapter 1 - The Beginning: Formation of the heavens (Big Bang), solar system, and the meaning of life.
• Chapter 2 - Experiencing the Sky: The sky's appearance, its cultural significance, light refraction, and visual objects and phenomena in different layers of the atmosphere, the solar system, the Milky Way, and the universe.
• Chapter 3 - The Atmosphere: Its composition, weather, meteorological implications, cloud types, contrails, ice crystals, and climate change.
• Chapter 4 - Atmospheric Light Phenomena: St. Elmo's Fire, lightning, red sprites, halos, iridescent clouds, coronas, rainbows, and noctilucent clouds.
• Chapter 5 - Meteorites: Their nature, composition, types (stony, iron-stony, iron), Widmanstätten patterns, tektites, and preparation.
• Chapter 6 - Cosmos: The solar system, sunspots, the Moon, planets, eclipses, zodiacal light, the Milky Way, star clusters, nebulae, supernovae, black holes, galaxies, and the fate of the universe.
• Chapter 7 - Research: Danish research, academics, and amateurs.
• Chapter 8 - Photo Technique: Camera types, wide-angle and telephoto lenses, telescopes, observatories, time-lapse photography, polarized light, and post-processing.

The book is noted for its references, literature section, and index. It was published on November 11, 2016, with support from the 15. Juni Fonden, and is distributed by Kahrius.dk Forlagsaktieselskab.

Expert Contributions and Related Works

Jesper Grønne's expertise is complemented by a team of consultants, including Henning Haack (geophysicist), Ole Eggers Bjælde (cosmologist), John Cappelen (senior climatologist), Jesper Theilgaard (chief meteorologist), Peter Dalin (atmospheric researcher), and Tina Ibsen (astrophysicist). The book also references video recordings available on its website, http://hvadihimlen.dk/.

The article also mentions two other related books:

• "Lysfænomener i naturen" (Light Phenomena in Nature) edited by Lars Lindberg Christensen et al., published in 1998.
• "Når du ser et stjerneskud?" (When You See a Shooting Star?) by Per Andersen, Torben Birkeholm, and Toke Haunstrup, a guide to identifying celestial phenomena, published by SUFO in 2005.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The magazine, Skandinavisk UFO Information, through its review, emphasizes the importance of amateur contributions to scientific understanding and documentation, particularly in fields like astronomy and meteorology. The editorial stance appears to be one of appreciating and promoting detailed, well-researched works that make complex subjects accessible to a broad audience. The focus on Jesper Grønne's book highlights the intersection of art (photography) and science, and the value of dedicated individuals in expanding our knowledge of the natural world, including phenomena that might sometimes be associated with UFO reports, though the book itself is presented as a scientific and observational guide.