UFOs are baaack!

[stanfr]

Expect a renaissance in UFO reports, thanks in part to the ubiquitous drones...
Multiple reports this past week, a bunch near Salt Lake City a couple days ago--and here's the latest:

UFOMania

On the plus side, with all these drones, we should get some clear unequivocal video of alien spacecraft!

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

UFOols never give up, do they?

 

[MG1962]

My favorite UFO has always been the Chinese lanterns

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Of course rational explanation is not helped by the main stream press with headlines like this: Montreal 'ball of light' mystery deepens at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-ball-of-light-mystery-deepens-1.2786752

If you actually watch the video (sorry about the ads, ), you'll see that Andrew Fazakus, Astronomy Columnist for National Geographic, actually provides a pretty good explanation.

Plus, of course, the damn thing is not in focus and is likely no more a "ball" than are the out of focus street lights in the video.

 

[Giordano]

I strongly believe there are UFOs (unidentified flying objects), I just think that they are just normal objects that have not been identified.

 

[ehcks]

I strongly believe there are UFOs (unidentified flying objects), I just think that they are just normal objects that have not been identified.

The problem comes when someone tries to rredefine UFO to mean "alien spacecraft" and takes your statement as agreement with his belief in aliens on Earth.

 

[sackett]

... and takes your statement as agreement with his belief in aliens on Earth.

Now just a second, pal. I grew up among old-line Republicans, and you better believe that there are aliens on earth.

Most of them think flying saucers are real, too.

 

[MG1962]

I strongly believe there are UFOs (unidentified flying objects), I just think that they are just normal objects that have not been identified.

It has been a bit of a hobby of mine over the years to see odd phenomena in the sky, see how they relate to UFO sightings, then spend some time determining what the real cause was.

I suspect aircraft landing lights make up a disproportionate number of these sightings.

 

[stanfr]

When I was a kid, I was into astronomy and I had a 6 inch reflector that I frequently set up in our back yard. I think I saw at least a dozen 'UFOs', most of them just point of light (like a mag 6 or 7 star) moving quickly across the view. I assume they were mostly if not all space junk or satellites, although there wasn't quite as much man-made junk back then orbiting around...

 

[MG1962]

When I was a kid, I was into astronomy and I had a 6 inch reflector that I frequently set up in our back yard. I think I saw at least a dozen 'UFOs', most of them just point of light (like a mag 6 or 7 star) moving quickly across the view. I assume they were mostly if not all space junk or satellites, although there wasn't quite as much man-made junk back then orbiting around...

I recall the brew haha that blew up once the first formation flying satellites began to be reported by amateur astronomers

 

[Delvo]

I don't believe drones are causing or will cause a disproportionate amount of UFO events compared to conventional planes. F-117 and B-2 famously did, but they had both a funky shape and no public awareness at the time. Drones are widely talked about and their shapes are nothing unexpected. And the fact that the stealth planes did get that reaction is now known, which would cause both more caution from the government about letting us see any secret planes that might be coming out in the future and a general tendency for the public to think "it's a new secret plane" instead of "it's an alien spaceship" if they were to ever see one ever since then.

 

[Garrison]

I don't believe drones are causing or will cause a disproportionate amount of UFO events compared to conventional planes. F-117 and B-2 famously did, but they had both a funky shape and no public awareness at the time. Drones are widely talked about and their shapes are nothing unexpected. And the fact that the stealth planes did get that reaction is now known, which would cause both more caution from the government about letting us see any secret planes that might be coming out in the future and a general tendency for the public to think "it's a new secret plane" instead of "it's an alien spaceship" if they were to ever see one ever since then.

I think you are being optimistic. The military type drones may have become somewhat familiar but there are any number of commercial models whose shape could be very confusing especially at a distance. Of course the ever increasing resolution of camera phones will counterbalance it.

 

[arthwollipot]

The problem comes when someone tries to rredefine UFO to mean "alien spacecraft" and takes your statement as agreement with his belief in aliens on Earth.

Yes - it's an unidentified object, and that means you know exactly what it is.

 

[turingtest]

I think you are being optimistic. The military type drones may have become somewhat familiar but there are any number of commercial models whose shape could be very confusing especially at a distance. Of course the ever increasing resolution of camera phones will counterbalance it.

Add to that the fact that a lot of the folks who see UFOs are going to interpret whatever they see as what they're looking for- mystery- and the familiarity doesn't matter; balloons, clouds, and stars are perfectly familiar things to just about everybody, and that's never stopped people from seeing them as something they've never seen before.

 

[Peter May]

I think you are being optimistic. The military type drones may have become somewhat familiar but there are any number of commercial models whose shape could be very confusing especially at a distance. Of course the ever increasing resolution of camera phones will counterbalance it.

In the late fifties, sunlight glinting from early versions of unpainted U-2's, and observed by airline pilots flying high above them was source of UFO phenomena, this was encouraged by the USAF, to hide the true nature of these "UFO's".