Crop Circles or Cereology

Crop Circles or Cereology : in it's simplest form, a crop circle consists of a single circle, within which all the corn stems are flattened to the ground but not broken, simply bent at their base.

Often the circle has an outer ring whose stems are also bent, but almost invariably in the opposite direction to those within the remainder of the circle.  Sometimes the circle is surrounded by an equidistant series of much smaller circles or satellites that may or may not be linked to the principal circle by channels.  Other circles may contain narrow rings of unbent stems, sandwiched between the main body of the circle and the outermost ring of bent stems.  They mysteriously appear, usually at night in fields of corn or other crops.