A story out of Britain making the rounds tells that tale of a woman who saw a UFO hovering in the sky nearby. She called 999 (the British version of 911) to report it and ask someone to investigate. Police responded quickly to find (well, I gave it away in the headline) the Moon.
We can all have a good laugh at someone mistaking the Moon for a UFO, but it really is more common than you would believe. Venus, Jupiter and the Sun reflecting off of low flying planes are other objects commonly mistaken for UFOs. We have satellites that can be quite bright, Iridium flares and the International Space Station. Old satellites that are no longer controlled can tumble and appear to get brighter and dimer or even "blink". On rare occasions, a fuel tank on a spent satellite or rocket explodes which can cause quite a light show.
Then there are other natural phenomena including meteors (and the uncommon point meteors), halos, glories, Sun dogs (and sometimes Moon Dogs), ball lightning, crepescular rays, light pillars and sprites to name a few.
So, what's the point? Any one of these things can and has been reported as a UFO by people who don't spend much time looking at the sky. And the people who reported them are not crazy, lying, or stupid, but inexperienced skywatchers. Frequently reports are cited from law enforcement officers or pilots as "proof" of UFOs existence since they are considered trusted and reputable. And they may be...however, unless they are well trained in astronomical and meteorlogical atmospheric phenomena, they do not have the ability to properly evaluate these phenomena regardless of whether the person is an air force pilot, a sheriff, or two crazy high school kids making out in a farmers field.
So start watching the sky. If you see something unusual, take good notes on time, your observing location, direction and elevation in the sky, and weather conditions. Then do a little resarch and odds are you will find your answer.
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2 comments:
I beleive that the vast majority of UFOs are natural phenomena or man-made objects. But what about instances like the 1952 mass sighting of UFOs over Washington, DC? http://ufos.about.com/od/visualproofphotosvideo/p/washingtondc.htm Jets were scrambled. "The frustration of our pilots could be summed up in an air to ground radio transmission: 'They've surrounded my plane, what should I do?'" Many photos were taken. Newspapers reported it. And no one has ever explained it.
I understand that not every light in the sky is a flying saucer. What I don't understand are the documented mass sightings which no official even tries to explain.
Radar at the time could get false echos from temperature inversion, a well documented phenomena that happened at major airports all over the country, including Washington DC. As you can see from other articlesthe radar blips were NOT detected by the F-94s launched to investigate. Airbone radar would not be susceptible to temperature inversions blips since it is not directed upward.
The picture is from a well known UFO promoting web site. Assuming it is undoctored, I want to know the make/model of camera used, film type, lens type, f stop settings and exposure time used in the photo, none of which are posted in the about.com article or on the NICAP web site.
It might also be wise to point out that these sightings occurred near the peak of a well known meteor shower as well!
And did no official try to explain this or did the MSM just not try to cover the explanation? After all, the story about nothing unusual happening doesn't sell papers!
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