View source for Black Knight satellite

{{short description|Alleged Earth satellite of extraterrestrial origin}}

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|Description   = 1998 NASA photo of space debris,<ref name=NASA1>{{cite web|url=http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=STS088&roll=724&frame=66|title=Display Photos Database Record|publisher=|accessdate=13 June 2016}}</ref> an object believed by some conspiracy theorists to be an extraterrestrial satellite, the "Black Knight."}}

The '''Black Knight satellite''' is the name given to a supposedly anomalous extraterrestrial object in near-polar orbit of the Earth. According to some [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]], [[NASA]] is engaged in a cover-up regarding its existence and origin.<ref name="VICE 2">{{cite web|last1=Emerson|first1=Sarah|title=Some of the Very Best Alien Conspiracy Theories|url=https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/some-of-the-very-best-alien-conspiracy-theories-world-ufo-day|website=Motherboard|publisher=VICE.com|accessdate=14 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="May2016">{{cite book|author=Andrew May|title=Pseudoscience and Science Fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2O0QDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|date=13 September 2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-42605-1|pages=56–|quote=...an imaginative fabrication by various pseudoscientists and conspiracy theorists...}}</ref> This [[conspiracy theory]] combines several unrelated stories into one narrative.<ref name=Redpath>{{cite web|publisher=[[Armagh Planetarium]]|url=http://www.armaghplanet.com/the-truth-about-the-black-knight-satellite-mystery.html|author=Redpath, Martina  |title=The Truth About the Black Knight Satellite Mystery |accessdate=10 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name=skep/>

A photo taken during the [[w:STS-88|STS-88]] mission claimed by some to show the Black Knight satellite is catalogued by NASA as a photo of space debris<ref name=NASA1 />, and space journalist James Oberg considers it probable the debris is a thermal blanket confirmed as lost during the mission.<ref name=Redpath /><ref name=Oberg1>{{cite web|last1=Oberg|first1=James|title=STS-88 and the Black Knight|url=http://www.jamesoberg.com/sts88_and-black-knight.pdf|accessdate=27 July 2015}}</ref>

== History ==

According to some [[UFO]] conspiracists, the Black Knight is an artificial satellite of extraterrestrial origin which has orbited Earth for approximately 13,000 years; the "satellite" story is most likely a conflation of several disconnected stories about various objects and their interpretations,<ref name=Redpath /> all of them well documented independently and none using the term "Black Knight" upon their first publication.<ref name=skep /> According to senior education support officer Martina Redpath of [[Armagh Planetarium]] in Northern Ireland:

{{quote|Black Knight is a jumble of completely unrelated stories; reports of unusual science observations, authors promoting fringe ideas, classified spy satellites and people over-interpreting photos. These ingredients have been chopped up, stirred together and stewed on the internet to one rambling and inconsistent dollop of myth.<ref name=Redpath />}}

The origin of the Black Knight legend is often retrospectively dated back to repeating extraterrestrial radio signals heard during the 1899 radio experiments of [[Nikola Tesla]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://motherboard.vice.com/read/alien-hunters-spent-the-last-century-looking-for-the-black-knight-satellite|title=Alien Hunters Spent the Last Century Looking for the Black Knight Satellite|author=|date=|work=vice.com}}</ref><ref name=APS>{{cite web|title=This Quarter in Physics History  February 1968: The discovery of pulsars announced|url=http://www.aps.org/publications/capitolhillquarterly/200604/history.cfm|website=APS Physics|publisher=[[American Physical Society]]|accessdate=24 November 2015}}</ref> and [[w:long delayed echo|long delayed echo]]es first heard by amateur radio operator Jørgen Hals in Oslo, Norway, in 1928.<ref name="EgelandBurke2012">{{cite book|author1=Alv Egeland|author2=William J. Burke|title=Carl Størmer: Auroral Pioneer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bg1jSFvYumMC&pg=PA103|date=20 October 2012|publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]]|isbn=978-3-642-31457-5|pages=103–}}</ref> Brian Dunning of the ''[[Skeptoid]]'' podcast attributes Tesla's 1899 radio signals to [[pulsar]]s, which were not identified until 1968.<ref name=skep/>

In 1954, [[UFO]] researcher [[Donald Keyhoe]] told newspapers that the United States Air Force had reported that two satellites orbiting Earth had been detected. At that time, no country had the technology to launch a satellite. Skeptics have noted that Keyhoe had been promoting a [[Flying Saucers Are REal|UFO book]] at the time.<ref name=Redpath /><ref name=skep>{{Skeptoid | id=4365 | number= 365| title=The Black Knight Satellite |date=2013-06-04|accessdate=2017-06-15}}</ref>

In February 1960, ''TIME'' reported that the [[U.S. Navy]] had detected a dark object thought to be a Soviet spy satellite in orbit. A follow-up article confirmed that the object was "the remains of an Air Force [[w:Corona (satellite)#Discoverer|Discoverer VIII]] satellite that had gone astray."<ref name=skep/><ref>{{cite news|title=Science: Space Watch's First Catch|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894745-1,00.html|accessdate=9 April 2014|newspaper=[[TIME Magazine]]|date=7 March 1960}}</ref>

In 1963, astronaut [[Gordon Cooper]] supposedly reported a UFO sighting during his 15th orbit in ''[[Mercury 9]]'' that was confirmed by tracking stations, but there is no evidence that this happened.<ref name=Redpath /> Neither NASA's mission transcripts nor Cooper's personal copies show any such report being made during the orbit.<ref name=skep />

In 1973, Scottish author Duncan Lunan analyzed the long delayed radio echoes received by Hals and others and speculated that they could possibly originate from a 13,000 year old alien probe located in an orbit around the Earth's Moon. He suggested that the probe may have originated from a planet located in the solar system of star [[w:Epsilon Boötis|Epsilon Boötis]]. Lunan later retracted his conclusions, saying that he had made "outright errors" and that his methods had been "unscientific".<ref name=Redpath /><ref name=skep />

Responses to photographs from the 1998 [[w:STS-88]] mission originated the term "Black Knight" and kickstarted the theory. Space journalist James Oberg considers it probable that the photographs are of a thermal blanket that was confirmed as lost during an [[w:Extra-vehicular activity|EVA]] by Jerry L. Ross and James H. Newman.<ref name=Redpath /><ref name=Oberg1>{{cite web|last1=Oberg|first1=James|title=STS-88 and the Black Knight|url=http://www.jamesoberg.com/sts88_and-black-knight.pdf|accessdate=27 July 2015}}</ref>

== Supposed photos ==
<gallery>
AS10-35-5181.jpg|{{NASA photo|AS10-35-5181}}

STS088-724-65.jpg|{{NASA photo|STS088-724-65}}
STS088-724-66.jpg|{{NASA photo|STS088-724-66}}
STS088-724-67.jpg|{{NASA photo|STS088-724-67}}
STS088-724-68.jpg|{{NASA photo|STS088-724-68}}
STS088-724-69.jpg|{{NASA photo|STS088-724-69}}
STS088-724-70.jpg|{{NASA photo|STS088-724-70}}
</gallery>

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Alleged UFO-related entities]]
[[Category:Images from satellites]]