THERE is a story going around that illustrates the way Chinese whispers on
the Internet can lead to the formation of urban myths.
According to the story, at the end of September, astronomer Larry Webster
renovated the Web camera on top of the 150-foot solar tower at Mount Wilson
Observatory (www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm), north of Los Angeles. For a
change of scenery, Webster swivelled the camera’s view of the telescope dome and
pointed it down the hill towards the night-time city lights below. On a whim, he
added a car antenna in the foreground with an antenna ball on top featuring…
