Duncan Lunan | |
|---|---|
 Lunan in 2012 | |
| Born | October 1945 (age 79–80) |
| Occupation | Science andscience fiction writer,astronomer,journalist |
| Nationality | British/Scottish |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
Duncan Alasdair Lunan, born October 1945, is aScottish author with emphasis on astronomy, spaceflight and science fiction,[1][2] undertaking a wide range of writing and speaking on those and other topics as a researcher, tutor, critic, editor, lecturer and broadcaster.[1] He is known for hisscience writings[3] as well as for his work on theSighthillstone circle.[1][4][5][6]
His 1970s report of a possiblespace probe orbiting around theMoon sent by the inhabitants of a planet orbitingEpsilon Boötis[7] brought him to international notice.[8]
Lunan, who grew up inTroon,[1] claims descent from anillegitimate son of KingRobert II of Scotland, Alexander Stuart, who owned the "Lands of Lunaine" nearAberdeen, and, more distantly, from the astronomers of ancientChaldea "who invented the calendar, hence making agriculture and civilisation possible".[9] On his mother's side, he traces his ancestry back to the Mitochondrial Eve. In June 1959 he traveled toSouth Uist in theHebrides to witness the test launch of an AmericanMGM-5 Corporal, which theBritish Army had purchased as the nation's first nuclear missile. The 13-year-old student watched the launch with seniorNATO military leaders, but at home he was interrogated by theScottish Office,MI5,Army Intelligence, and theCIA to attempt to determine how he had entered the secret launch site, which the Soviets had put under surveillance.[10]
Lunan was a founder ofASTRA.[2] He is a 1968bachelor's degreealumnus of theUniversity of Glasgow, is an M.A. with honours in English and philosophy and has a postgraduate Diploma in Education.[1] He was the manager of theGlasgow Parks Department's Astronomy Project responsible for building theSighthillstone circle, the first astronomically alignedmegalith built inBritain in 3,000 years.[4][5][11]
Lunan was also a founder and is still a member of theGlasgow Science Fiction Writers' Circle.[12]
He has also served with committee activities on the Argyle LocalHousing Association, which is linked to theGHA,[13] including serving as chairman from 2002 to 2006.[14][15]
Despite his 1970s report of a possiblespace probe ofextraterrestrial origins orbiting around theMoon, he insists that he "doesn't believe inUFOs".[16]
His interests include "ancient andmediaevalhistory,jazz,folk music andhillwalking".[1]
In a 1973 article inSpaceflight, a magazine published by theBritish Interplanetary Society (BIS), he said he had identified and deciphered a hidden radio message sent by an alienspace probe[17] that had been caught but overlooked in the late 1920s by a collaboration ofNorwegian andDutch researchers who were studying thelong delayed echo effect.[18] Published along with an accompanying editorial disclaimer, Lunan maintained that the putative message came from an object at theL5 point in the sameorbit as theMoon, sent by the aliens living on a planet orbitingEpsilon Boötis.
He came to the conclusion that the message was, "Start here. Our home is Upsilon Bootes, which is a double star. We live on the sixth planet of seven, coming from the sun, which is the larger of the two. Our sixth planet has one moon. Our fourth planet has three. Our first and third planets each have one. Our probe is in the position ofArcturus, known in our maps."[19][20]
The claim was reported inTime[8] and theCBS Evening News.[21] It was included inRod Serling's 1975 TV documentaryIn Search of Ancient Mysteries[22] and, many years later, onGeorge Noory'sCoast to Coast AM radio show.[23] The alleged message has been refuted[19][24][25][26] and in 1976 Lunan withdrew the theory, presenting proofs against it and clarifying what had led him to formulate it.[27] However, in 1998 he re-interpreted part of it, claiming support frompositional astronomy.[28]
The theory was part of the inspiration ofMark Brandis' 1974 novelRaumsonde Epsilon (in EnglishSpaceprobe Epsilon).[29][30]
He joined the Scottish branch of the BIS (British Interplanetary Society) in 1962. He was on the committee which drew up the constitution of ASTRA (Association in Scotland to Research into Astronautics) as an independent society in 1963, and redrafted it as the "Memorandum and Articles of a Company Limited by Guarantee" in 1974. He has been a council member since December 1963 with only two short breaks, and has been treasurer, president, vice-president, treasurer, president, secretary, president, treasurer and secretary again during that time.[31] He was re-elected vice president in May 2010. He has been exhibition organiser and on the publications committee since 1970, editing ASTRA's publications in 1982 and between 1992 and 1996.[2] Among many ASTRA conferences he organised one onarchaeoastronomy at theThird Eye Centre in 1978 and "Heresies in Archaeoastronomy" at theEdinburgh International Science Festival in 1996.[32]
Lunan and ASTRA have been at the forefront of the proposal of using awaverider for re-entry of spacecraft in the Earth'satmosphere.[33][34][35]
In 1978 and 1979 he was manager of theGlasgow Parks Department'sAstronomy Project.[11]
He was acting curator ofAirdrie Public Observatory in 1979 and 1980 and was assistant curator between 1987 and 1997, becoming a curator again in 2002 and continuing to 2008.[36] ASTRA ceased to run the observatory forNorth Lanarkshire District Council in May 2009, ceding the running of the observatory to theAirdrie Astronomical Association (A.A.A). In 2006 and 2007 Lunan ran astronomy education projects funded by theNational Lottery'sAwards for All, with outreach to schools and community groups,[37] followed by a larger project funded byHeritage Lottery for 2007 and 2008. His monthly astronomy column "The Sky above You" has appeared in various newspapers and magazines.[38][39][40]
He resigned from ASTRA in 2011.[citation needed]
He is also an honorary member of the Clydesdale Astronomical Society.[41]
He has been a director of the Space Settlers' Society, a space-politics society founded by Andy Nimmo in 1980.[42]
Along with his wife Linda, Duncan Lunan is running the Astronomers of the Future club for beginners who are keen to find out more about astronomy and space,[43][44] for which he holds regular talks.[45]
Duncan and Linda Lunan are in discussions about the possibility of helping create a public observatory on theFalkland Islands, with support from theBritish Antarctic Survey.[46]
In 1986, he contributed to the launch of theGlasgow Science Fiction Writers Circle by agreeing to run the first of sixscience fiction andfantasyshort story competitions for theGlasgow Herald and to teach the first of six science fiction writing classes at the Glasgow University's Extra-Mural Department, later the Department of Adult and Continuing Education. He is still an active member of the Circle[12][47][48] and took part to its spin-offspoken word projectWord Dogs.[49]
As Manager of the Glasgow Parks Department's Astronomy Project in 1978–79, Duncan Lunan supervised the building of the first astronomically alignedstone circle inBritain in 3,000 years inSighthill Park.[4][5][6][50]
The conceptual inspiration for the circle came from Lunan's interest in the works of ProfessorAlexander Thom and his son Dr. Archie Thom, who promoted the understanding of megalithic astronomy, and the subsequent expansion of their work by Dr. Ewan McKie and ProfessorArchie Roy.[6][51][52] The location of the stone circle, on a low hilltop betweentower blocks, theM8 motorway and anincinerator, at a first sight seems hardly ideal. However, Lunan has written that the clear sightline to the sky and a fine view of the city centre met the project's objectives.[53] Lunan has written that "In later research, I found that summer solstice fairs had been held on the Summerhill, from which themidsummer Sun rises over the true Sighthill, until they were stopped by the church in the 17th century".[5][51][53]
Once he had identified the best location, Lunan organised the transportation of the stones by a helicopter[54] fromHMSGannet. The Moon Stones, being too heavy, had to be transported by specially adaptedlorries.[51][55]
The project was not completed due to criticism by the incomingThatchergovernment in 1979,[11][54][56][57] and four stones – two of which were intended to mark equinoctial sunrise and sunset, east and west – are still lying under a bush in Sighthill park.[52][54][56] Lunan is at present campaigning to have the circle renovated and completed, including plans forwheelchair access.[5][51][52][54][56][58][59] The first initiative undertaken to draw attention to the megalith was a summer solstice gathering organised at the site on the evening of 21 June 2010[6][60] preceded by a presentation on the circle given by Lunan.[6][51][52][59] Lunan reported "positive discussions withHeritage Lottery chiefs in relation to funding for the project, estimated at around 30,000GBP".[5][6]
Lunan presented plans to make the stone circle a key feature of a citywide astronomy map, including the entireSolar System represented on the correctscale within the city limits as first proposed by Gavin Roberts, who was the arts and photographic supervisor on the original Project. If the stone circle represented theSun, Lunan said,Saturn would be by theRiver Clyde near theGlasgow Science Centre,Jupiter in the campus of theUniversity of Strathclyde,Uranus onMaryhill Road andNeptune and thedwarf planetPluto at Cathkin Braes, south ofCastlemilk.[51][56]
The history of the stone circle was featured in theBBC Radio Scotland showOut of Doors in January 2011.[61][62]
In 2011, Duncan Lunan and his wife Linda founded the Friends of the Sighthill Stone Circle association.[63][64]
Hisnon-fiction books includeMan and the Stars[65] (published in the United States with the titlesInterstellar Contact[66] andThe Mysterious Signals from Outer Space[67] and translated into French by Jean Sendy asÀ l'écoute des galaxies[68] and into Spanish by David Molinet asA la escucha de las estrellas[69]),New Worlds for Old,[70]Man and the Planets[71] andChildren from the Sky.[72][73][74][75]
He was a science fiction critic for theGlasgow Herald between 1971 and 1985, and ran the paper's science fiction and fantasy short story competitions between 1986 and 2002,[32] editedStarfield, Science Fiction by Scottish Writers for Orkney Press in 1989, to which he also contributed with a short story, "The Square Fella".[76] He also contributed two stories, "'Tirra Lirra' by the River, Sang Sir Lancelot" and "Landscape Modification in the Vicinity of Highgate Cemetery", to the 1988Drabble Project of the Science Fiction society of theUniversity of Birmingham and published by Beccon.[77][78] He also contributed reviews toInterzone.
He lists amongst his inspirationsPercy F. Westerman,Arthur Ransome,Nicholas Monsarrat,Arthur C. Clarke,Patrick Moore,G. K. Chesterton andC. S. Lewis.[79]
A short story, "The Comet, the Cairn and the Capsule", was included in the 1979 short story collectionThe Science Fictional Solar System edited byIsaac Asimov, Charles G. Waugh andMartin H. Greenberg.[80][81]
Somefilk songs he wrote have been published in an anthology.[82]
In a 1996Analog Science Fiction and Fact article,[83] Lunan speculated that theGreen children of Woolpit were mistakenly transported to Earth[16] due to malfunction in amatter transmitter.[84][85] He also claimed that he can trace the Green Girl's descendants to the present.
Taking a lead fromRobert Burton'sThe Anatomy of Melancholy, he suggests that the children were accidentally returned from a settlement of humans established byextraterrestrials on an earthlike world with a trappedsynchronous orbit rotation with unusualgenetically modified vegetation, which would allegedly explain their unusual skin colour.[83]
He presented his theory on 9 November 2011 episode ofGround Zero Live conducted by Clyde Lewis.[86]
In 2012 Lunan publishedChildren from the Sky, a study of the green children and the documentation related to them, illustrated bySydney Jordan.[73][74][75]
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