Forteana

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For discussion of everything rum and uncanny, from cryptozoology (mysterious or out-of-place animals), UFOs, high strangeness, etc. Following in the footsteps of Charles Fort and all those inspired by him, like the field of anomalistics.

As this community is on Feddit.uk it takes a British approach to things but it needn't be restricted to the UK - if it's weird and unusual it probably has a home here.

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The day UFOs stopped play (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 1 week ago by i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk to c/forteana@feddit.uk

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/33205229

It was 27 October 1954, a typically crisp autumn day in Tuscany. The mighty Fiorentina club was playing against its local rival Pistoiese.

Ten-thousand fans were watching in the concrete bowl of the Stadio Artemi Franchi. But just after half-time the stadium fell eerily silent - then a roar went up from the crowd. The spectators were no longer watching the match, but were looking up at the sky, fingers pointing. The players stopped playing, the ball rolled to a stand-still.

Play was suspended because spectators saw something in the sky, according to the referee's match report.

The incident at the stadium cannot simply be interpreted as mass hysteria - there were numerous UFO sightings in many towns across Tuscany that day and over the days that followed. According to some eyewitness accounts a ray of white light was seen in the sky coming from Prato, north of Florence.

It is a fact that at the same time the UFOs were seen over Florence there was a strange, sticky substance falling from above. In English we call this 'angel hair'.

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[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Could have been an experimental pulsejet fueled by silane + diborane. One of the exhaust products would be beads of molten glass, which would get stretched into threads by the wind as they exit the rocket nozzle at high speed.

A lot of research went into it in the 1950s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_fuel

More recently, NASA experimented with using silane + hydrogen gas to light the X-43's scramjet engines.

The problem with using silicon based fuels is that it puts sand in the exhaust and that tends to destroy engines. Its very efficient and powerful while it works though, and it makes a rocket easy to start/re-start because it spontaneously combusts when exposed to air.

[–] M137@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

That isn't a "sticky substance" thought.

And read the article, they saw orbs moving that stopped and/or slowed down to almost a stop, which wouldn't happen with fighter jets. I'm in no way trying to stop any logical conclusion to it, just saying that what you've said doesn't fit. And I'm definitely not trying to say it was aliens or some bullshit like that.
Gonna try to look around for more info in this tomorrow, see if some theory anywhere makes sense, and even if there isn't one it was either something experimental, some weather, atmosphere or else phenomenon or any of the many other possible things that aren't aliens, angels, completely unknown technology or whatever conspiracy shit.

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Diborane exhaust particulates are sticky according to the wiki article on ZIP fuels.

Silane is a gas like methane but with a silicon atom instead of a carbon atom, and burned silicon is glass/sand/quartz. Burning that gas as fuel can make little balls of molten glass in the exhaust.

A fuel of silane and diborane would make sticky glass "angel hair".

A rocket that uses it would also re-light reliably, making that fuel mix a good candidate for use in a Reaction Control System. With a powerful enough RCS you can do things like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBMU6l6GsdM