Few UFOs are deliberate fakes. Most people who report UFOs are totally sincere, but many are definitely seeing rare but ordinary objects under unusual circumstances and not spaceships from worlds beyond ours. Even pilots and astronauts have occasionally reported UFOs which turned out to have mundane explanations. Here are some real misidentified objects.
1. Planets
The planets Venus and Jupiter are very bright, making the surrounding stars look dim in comparison. So bright are these distant worlds, that many people will see them as hovering and highly illuminated vehicles. Seen through trees from a car moving along a lonely road they can appear to be menacingly stalking the vehicle. One of the classic alien abduction cases, that of Barney and Betty Hill began with a light in the sky following their car and this is almost certainly linked to the fact that Jupiter was prominent in the sky that evening.
2. Meteors
A myriad of meteors, tiny lumps of cosmic rock and metal from the depths of space, streak through the earth's atmosphere every day. Some rare examples can flare into a spectacular fireball, blazing with green and golden light in a sight which looks very weird and unnatural. The human mind, unbidden, can interpret these as the portholes or lights of a darkened flying vehicle. Many reported UFOs are meteors (or artificial space junk, like old satellites or rocket stages), burning up dozens of miles above our heads.
3. Satellites
Go out on a clear night after sunset or before sunrise and scan the skies. Within minutes you are sure to see a tiny dot of light slowly but steadily cross the heavens. Occasionally it may flash brighter. What is this? Alas, it is not a ship full of visitors from Zeta Reticuli scanning us from afar, but it is a real space vehicle. It is one of the thousands of artificial satellites that orbit our planet. Their slow, silent and stately march across the celestial sphere can appear mysterious but it is a mystery easily solved by a quick visit to the many websites discussing satellite passes.
4. Contrails
The beautiful rays of a setting or rising sun can illuminate clouds or an aircraft's contrail, making them blaze in red, pink or gold. Reports of comet-like UFOs or 'rockets' have been made by witnesses in the early morning or late evening, both times when the sun is low on the horizon. Almost certainly they saw sunlight playing over high altitude clouds. One such spectacle become a media sensation in November 2010 when a TV news camera helicopter in California filmed an aircraft's contrail which was widely touted as a "mystery missile".
5. Chinese Lanterns
Once aliens cruised the skies openly in shiny silver flying saucers, but nowadays their vehicle of choice seems to be reddish-orange spheres which lurk in the nighttime sky. Once though, no one outside of South East Asia had heard of Chinese Lanterns (or Sky Lanterns). These have long been popular attractions at festivals in China, Thailand and other nations in the region and in recent years they have become very common in Europe and North America. They are often launched at parties or wedding celebrations.A Chinese Lantern is a small paper balloon kept aloft by the heat from a small pack of burning fuel. The light from this illuminates the balloon with a soft light and the whole contraption looks beautiful as the wind carries it off into the night. A group of them is more spectacular still. It is astonishing how many UFO movies on the internet appear to actually show these lanterns.
6. Bugs
Bugs caught on camera as they buzz in front of the lens can appear as blurred dark blobs or streaks. Occasionally the fluttering wings appear, looking like weird antennae. Often the photographer will review the images and see these, not as tiny things close up, but as large and fast-moving craft in the distance and a new UFO mystery is born.
Sadly so many people these days rarely look into the sky and are unfamiliar with the beauties of nature. When they do look up and chance to see something unusual, it is all too easy to think of mysterious extraterrestrial visitors as the only possible explanation. Why not find out more about astronomy, go out tonight and watch the skies to learn about and enjoy its wonders?
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