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How fast is it moving?
• To determine a speed of an object, what do
you need to know?
• You can say how many degrees in how
many minutes (seconds) the object moved.
• You observe a point of light move 15
degrees in 1 minute … how fast is it really
traveling?
Answer …
• If the object was 1 km away, its speed was
16 km per hour.
• If the object was 100 km away, its sped was
1600 km per hour!
• So if all you saw was a light at night, was a
person riding a bike or a distant jet plane?
Possible confusions
• Meteors entering the Earth’s atmosphere
can break up and be very bright indeed
(bolides) shedding material as they travel.
What do you see?
De-orbiting satellites
• Space junk abounds in orbit above the Earth
… 10,000 satellites roughly.
• Bits and pieces from rockets also remain in
orbit for small periods of time.
• Re-entry, heating to incandescence and
disintegration (hopefully) is happening all
the time.
• For example, Skylab and Mir space stations.
Venus
• By far the brightest object in our skies
(apart from the Moon and the Sun).
• Often seen very low to the horizon and can
cast shadows.
• Often reported to ‘follow’ people around.
• Can be seen in conjunction with other
planets.
Venus images …
Human perception
• All too often, we see what we want to see
… believe what we want to believe.
• Opportunity also plays a role … if you are
outside more often, the chances of
observing ‘something’ increase.
• For the record, nearly 50% of all Canadian
UFO sightings happen in BC … clearer
skies, warmer temperatures (and best
marijuana growing!)
Percival Lowell and Mars
• Despite logic, Lowell assumed markings on
Mars were ‘canals’ forming an irrigation
system on the planet surface.
The Face on Mars
• From Viking in 1976 until Mars Global
Surveyor in 2001, the ‘face’ has changed!
The modern UFO era
• June 24, 1947, pilot Kennith Arnold reports an
observation near Mt Rainier, Washington State.
• Arnold described the objects as moving "like a
saucer would if you skipped it across the water.".
• Bill Bequette, a reporter with the East Oregonian
newspaper, reworked the phrase "saucer-like" and
gave the phenomenon a name: "flying saucers”
• 650 reports in the continental US by July 31 1947!
J Allen Hynek classification scheme
• Nocturnal lights
• Daylight disks
• Radar-visual sightings
• Close encounters of the first kind
• Close encounters of the second kind
• Close encounters of the third kind
Countless reports
• Hynek investigated 1,000s of UFO reports.
• He noted that less unusual events correlate
with reliable reports and that more bizarre
claims come from less credible witnesses.
• While many observations remain
unexplained (a VERY tiny fraction of all
reports), this does not imply an ET
explanation. Rather it suggests a lack of
information.
Consensus
• As appealing as it may be to believe that UFOs are
alien spacecraft, no solid evidence exists.
• There is the question of ‘why would they come
and be so secretive?’
• Even assuming that a civilization was close-by
and knew we were here, the expenditure of time
and energy is significant … why come all this way
and ‘scare cows’?
Cover up? … Conspiracy?
• When all else fails to convince you, reach
for the expression Government cover up …
they are hiding the truth about aliens from
us.
• Note that ALL Governments around the
world are in unison, covering up the
information … UFOs are seen everywhere.
Reality check
• Government have difficulty keeping secrets
… covering up UFOs and aliens for decades
seems highly unlikely.
• Scientists are ‘in on it’ (me too?) … but
why? Further, the number of people who
would now have to ‘keep the secret’ is
enormous … very unlikely.
Erik Von Daniken
• Very popular books (and TV shows) …
Chariots of the Gods, Gold of the Gods, etc.
• Opportunistic is a word that springs to
mind, not to mention denying the ingenuity
of our ancestors.
• Careful scrutiny of his claims reveal
amazing inconsistencies and hopeful
exaggerations.
The Egyptian Pyramids
• The pyramid at Khufu
at Giza took 10,000s
of workers to
complete but has been
chronicled in history.
An amazing
undertaking to be sure
but definitively
human.
The Nazca Plains of Peru
• The various drawings on the Nazca Plains
are associated with the Incan culture from
nearly 2,000 years ago.