Symmetry in Crop Circles

In the past decade, crop circles (such as the one to the left, image copyright www.temporarytemples.co.uk) have been increasing in quantity as well as complexity all over the world. A few obvious hoaxes aside, all evidence points to these phenomena being natural. Recently, scientists have started investigating crop circles and their findings seem to confirm the natural authenticity of most crop circles. Scientific papers published in 1999 and 2001 point to the most probable formation of crop circles to be naturally-occurring ‘balls of light’ that emit electromagnetic radiation that then causes nodes on the stems of corn-like plants to lengthen, an observation made at almost all crop circle sites.

Simple summary of findings:
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES "CONFIRM CROP CIRCLES ARE MADE BY BALLS OF LIGHT" by Dr. Eltjo Haselfoff, 31/07/2001; found at:
http://thecropcirclewebsite.50megs.com/page52.htm

Actual 1999 paper, published in PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM, Volume 105: 615624, 1999: “Dispersion Of Energies In Worldwide Crop Formations” by W. C. Levengood and Nancy P. Talbott; found at:
http://www.bltresearch.com/dispersion.html

Actual 2001 paper, published in PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM, Volume 111, Issue 1, Page 123-124, January 2001: “Opinions and comments on Levengood WC, Talbott NP (1999) Dispersion of energies in worldwide crop formations. Physiol Plant 105: 615–624” by Eltjo H. Haselhoff; found at:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1034/j.1399-3054.2001.1110116.x


Whatever their origin, crop circles take wonderfully complex shapes that are often symmetrical and easily reconstructed using only the most basic of geometric shapes and techniques. I thought it would be fun and interesting to study the symmetry in various crop circles from around the world.

Internet headquarters for crop circles; features photos, reconstructions, and commentary:
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/interface2005.htm

High-quality photos of crop circles taken from the air:
http://www.temporarytemples.co.uk/newweb/imglib.php

Vector graphical re-creations of crop circles:
http://www.cropcircle-archive.com/archive/index.php?language=en


Some examples of recent [2007] crop circles (all images copyright www.temporarytemples.co.uk):