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been the shadow of any known body...No change in the position of the shade could be detected after three hours of watching. 1878, November 26th, H.C. Russell. This is an important observation it shows that things were going on in space near the earth. Such an observation as this seems almost without recorded precedent. The moon was past third quarter and was proceeding the sun across the morning sky. The shade seen by Hirst and Russell was either a cloudlike formation between the earth and the moon, or it was the shadow of something between the moon and the sun. IE_MINDINAO DEEP, ' PROJECT MOBILIZATION FOR M-Chil & The Building of it. If between moon and sun, it was well within the intense glare of sunlight and difficult to see. Not only would it escape a casual glance but might evade a search and, unless solid, it might be almost entirely invisible. We cannot tell how far it was from the moon, but by the geometry of shadows we can make some estimates. Russell describes the shape as circular and fainter towards the edges. This is a typical description of a dense umbra and lighter penumbra. Making allowance for a tapering shadow, and the estimated diameter, the object should not have been much over 100,000 miles away and probably about 75,000 to 80,000 miles. t is similarly obvious that the object itself must have been approximately the same size as the combined umbra and penumbra, shall we say about 1,400 — 1,700 miles in diameter. We cannot tell whether it was solid or a dense cloud. Most important, however, is that this shade did not move in three hours' time. With both moon and sun moving, this object so maintained its position that its shadow, cast by the light of one moving object, the sun, remained stationary for three hours or more upon another moving object, the moon. That is control — firm, steady, calculated and maintained control of position. It implies purposefulness, persistence, delicacy and ... intelligence. & reason too. Suppose, on the other hand, that it was not a shadow, but was a cloud interposed between earth and moon. Its actual size then could be anything from a gnat to something three-quarters the diameter of the moon, depending on its distance from the Blue Mountains. Thus we don't know the size for certain, except that it was smaller than 1,500 miles in diameter. But in this case the manipulation of this object was even more complex. Not only was the object maintained between moon and earth, it was maintained steadily between moon and a very definite portion of the earth's surface which was rotating rapidly while the moon was revolving around it. This represents doubly intricate control. This is calculated control of a higher order than the other, and, in fact, requires more manipulation than simple hovering. By way of explanation, something more is required than an inorganic spatial body moving under unmodified laws of Kepler and Newton. It was this phenomenon which evoked the scorn of the armchair astronomer and editor, Mr. R.A. Proctor, in London, and caused him to publicly impugn and the sanity, observational acuity, and even the good faith of Russell in a long and flippantly scurrilous letter to the Echo, a London evening paper, March 14, 1879. A highly EMOTIONAL Letter, yelping the wounded "feelings" of a Dog who thought secretly that_that Bone should have been HIS: ONLY A HOWL 136 MIND. "DEEP" MOBILIZATION & Mulai Old ark or "old" Home-ship -- ? 1 An additional reference to "Mindanao Deep" appears on page 130.