(32) Fri 16 May 97 7:12 By: David Bloomberg To: All Re: Hoagland Goes Bonkers St: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @EID:988c 22b03980 @MSGID: 1:2430/2112 7a2b38c9 05/13/1997 NASA Bops Hale-Bopp Plot Theory By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The latest but not the last word on comet Hale-Bopp is that the space agency is being accused of a cosmic coverup. ``What are you afraid of telling us?'' demanded one irate citizen. Accusations that NASA refused to photograph the comet with the Hubble Space Telescope started arriving not long after 39 Heaven's Gate cultists in California killed themselves in expectation they would catch a ride on a UFO they believed was trailing the comet. Some of the messages had a nasty tone, and all of them demanded that the space agency use Hubble to get pictures of the departing Hale-Bopp and publish them. NASA's answer: It has done both. The controversy began after lecturer Richard C. Hoagland was interviewed on a syndicated radio program. In the past, Hoagland has claimed to have seen a face carved on a milewide rock on Mars and a ``glass dome'' and other huge structures in pictures taken on the moon. ``It has come to my knowledge that those in charge of the Hubble Telescope have either not taken detailed pictures of the Hale-Bopp comet or taken the pictures and denied doing so,'' wrote one citizen. ``What is happening? What are you afraid of finding out? What are you afraid of telling us? Most of us who are interested in this stuff are adults and can take it!'' NASA provided a sampling of the memos at the request of The Associated Press, after deleting the identity of the senders. ``These accusations are totally false,'' NASA said in a letter to Art Bell, host of the syndicated radio show who had interviewed Hoagland. ``Hubble has been used to observe Hale-Bopp a number of times since 1995, and the images have been widely available on the Internet, and have been in the news.'' Indeed, the two NASA Hale-Bopp computer sites had 4,500 images -- not all from Hubble -- in mid-April when sighting of the comet was at its peak. It is now on its way back into deep space, not to return for 2,500 years or so. Ed Weiler, chief Hubble scientist, wrote Bell that most of the major discoveries about the comet were made with ground-based observatories and other spacecraft. He pointed out that Hubble's spectrograph was not yet operational and that the angle at which the comet could be photographed put the telescope in danger of being blinded, and ruined, by the sun. Hoagland took issue with the response. ``A simple set of superb, high-resolution Hale-Bopp images from Hubble ... would have been a profound legacy for 20th century science. Instead, we have excuses,'' he said. Asked on Tuesday what he thinks might have motivated NASA, Hoagland suggested Hubble's infrared capabilities might have upset conventional thinking of the last 35-40 years about what comets and asteroids are. ``This represented an extraordinary opportunity,'' he said. ``It could have given us incredible science ... For some reason, NASA seems to have blown it.'' The letters came to NASA mostly by fax. ``What are you hiding? Maybe a full scale investigation is in order,'' said one handwritten fax to NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin. ``I request, no, I demand that you utilize the Hubble Telescope'' said another, addressed to ``Dr. Goldman, director, NASA, a public funded agency.'' There was a demand that Hubble ``be publicly focused'' on the comet. One letter referred to the Heaven's Gate cult and its leader, saying, that Richard (Hoagland) ``expects you will be able to get pictures of Marshall Applewhite and Heaven's Gate arriving at the alien spaceship located by the comet. ``So, if you know what's good for you ...'' --- msgedsq 2.0.5 * Origin: Let the love of truth shine clear (1:2430/2112) SEEN-BY: 12/12 24/888 102/2 106/2000 124/1 130/1 1008 133/2 140/23 143/1 SEEN-BY: 147/34 2021 154/222 167/166 170/400 202/777 1207 1919 213/213 SEEN-BY: 218/2 801 890 900 901 907 244/1500 267/200 270/101 275/429 280/1 SEEN-BY: 280/169 282/1 62 310/666 323/107 343/600 346/250 356/18 371/42 SEEN-BY: 377/86 380/64 382/92 387/5 396/1 45 690/660 730/2 2401/0 2442/0 SEEN-BY: 3603/420 3612/41 3615/50 3619/25 3632/21 3651/9 3667/1 3674/1 SEEN-BY: 3828/2 5100/8 @PATH: 2430/1 1423 270/101 396/1 218/907 801