The Stephenville, Texas, UFO
Published on Jan 23, 2008 at 6:31 pm.
7 Comments.
Filed under public science.
Last week, I posted about the UFO seen near Stephenville, TX. Then, a number of days later, a photograph surfaced and was prominently displayed in the local Dallas / Fort Worth area media purported to be a picture taken of the UFO by a trucker’s cell phone. I wrote about that, too. The photograph may have been unidentified to the trucker, but it was a very common weather phenomenon called a sun dog, or parhelion. Interestingly, a number of people claimed that the whole sun dog phenomenon was simply made up to cover up the UFO, despite the fact that I wrote about sun dogs months ago, and there are plenty of photographs and explanations around the internet and in books dating back decades. What gets me is that so many people are convinced that if someone sees something in the sky that they don’t recognize, then that object MUST be a spacecraft from beyond Earth. But, what really surprised me is the rather vehement responses that I got on my posting. Many people who disagreed with me (most of whom did not talk to anyone in the area, were not in the area to see what the skies looked like, and whose only source of information was news coverage, which really stunk) blasted me for being skeptical of the interpretation being made of what the handful of witnesses saw. I was surprised by the childish response of some people: posting obscenities, hate messages, and threats (By the way, dim wits, my software recorded the IP addresses of the computers that you were posting threats from, should I care to submit these threats to law enforcement officials.). I deleted the obscene comments, the really hateful ones, and the threats (though I kept copies of those in case those people continue to hound me or escalate matters beyond threats).
One commenter pointed out that there is no way that something like an ordinary aircraft or blimp could me misconstrued as a giant flying UFO. I disagree. I have seen blimps at night from odd angles. I look at the sky a lot, and yet I had no idea what I was looking at until the blimp turned and I got a better look at it. And, determining size in the sky, against just black sky or stars, is very difficult, particularly for objects far away. Again, there is the common optical illusion where the Moon looks vastly larger in the sky when it is seen near the horizon with tall buildings in the foreground. One commenter suggested that I was wrong to think that someone could mistake Venus for a UFO. Well, the commenter is wrong, because I have had several people ask me about “that bit UFO hovering over Fort Worth” a few years ago. That was the planet Venus. At one point, decades ago, air Air Force fighter pilot even chased the planet Venus for a while. A lot of UFO buffs will point to that incident and say that a fighter pilot chased a UFO and it got away, failing to mention that the UFO was later identified as a planet. One commenter claimed that I was wrong to think that people could be so unobservant as I suggested. Again, I have college students who come to my class not knowing beforehand that the Moon is visible in daylight. (By the way, the Moon in daylight has also been called a UFO before). That tells me that a lot of people can be unobservant. But, even very observant and educated people can be confused by seeing something odd in the sky, particularly if caught unaware. I was pretty puzzled by the blimp that I saw at night from head on many years ago. But, my reaction was, “Wow, that is a weird thing. I wonder what it is.”, not “Wow, I see an alien spaceship!”
Now, I will grant that the universe is big. It seems pretty inconceivable to me, that in all the vastness of space, there is not some other intelligent life. And, it would seem reasonable that some of those other life forms may be more advanced technologically than we are. But, that does NOT mean that they are visiting us. Again, the vastness of space makes it unlikely. Besides, if they did visit, why would they fly a massive spacecraft over a medium-small town and then fly away? Oh, was it so they could study us and not be seen by the huge populations of a major city? Oh, and Astroprof, if they have such advanced technology might they not be able to do things that we think can’t be done (like travel across time and space and defy gravity)? OK. If you allow that, and they don’t want to be seen, then with that level of technology, they ought to be able to observe without sending their megaspacecraft into the atmosphere. After all, we have the technology to observe without being seen.
But, seriously, there are a wide variety of possible things that people could have seen in the sky without resorting to an explanation of alien spacecraft. There are plenty of meteorological phenomena and celestial objects that many people don’t see often. A great many conventional aircraft sometimes look rather unconventional for one reason or another (the angle being observed, the lighting conditions, atmospheric conditions, etc). And, all of these explanations are far more likely than alien visitors. That is particularly true, since a craft as large as the one supposedly over Stephenville would be hard to approach Earth without being seen by astronomers (professional or amateur), or being observed on surveillance satellites. Why the rush to pick one explanation over another? Hey, I would love for alien visitors to drop by. But, in order for me to believe that such a thing has occurred requires more evidence than unreliable reports by people not used to watching things in the sky. But, I’d even accept such unreliable reports if there were no other possible explanation. In this case, there are plenty of other possible explanations. The proper scientific response to such claims is to be skeptical until all other explanations can be ruled out. Then, no matter how crazy the remaining explanation, if all other possibilities are excluded, then that remaining one may be the right one. That is how you identify an Unidentified Flying Object. Remember, the U in UFO means Unidentified. Trying to identify such an object without ruling out all possibilities is a surefire way to misidentify it.
Oh, and speaking of identifying, it now turns out that the Air Force Reserve was practicing in the area where the UFO was seen. So, there is yet another possible identification of the UFO that was seen. So, with all of the more likely things that the UFO could have been, how can so many people be so convinced that they know that the object was none of these things? Many years ago, I volunteered my time to a group that claimed to want to scientifically investigate some of the claims of UFOs and paranormal activities. But, that didn’t last long. It turns out that they didn’t want to scientifically investigate anything. They just wanted some scientific mumbo-jumbo explanation to confirm what they already had decided they wanted the investigation to show.
I have known for a long time that there is a wide gap between science and pseudoscience. But, I guess that this has been a learning experience for me to find that the believers in pseudoscience are so antagonistic to a scientific skeptical approach to something. I know that some other science bloggers have had to deal with such attacks, but until now, I guess that I never treaded on such people’s toes. It is really sad.
-Astroprof
Brian Waddington on January 23, 2008 at 7:31 pm: 1
As a retired pastor and an amateur astronomer who has seen one or two UFOs ( the emphasis is on unidentified) I can understand your sadness. There is nothing more threatening than to question another persons Holy Grail. Pseudo-scientists can be just as fanatical as any other group… and being fanatics allows them to do things that are offensive and or dangerous. Keep your records up to date is my advice.
Brian
jaan on January 24, 2008 at 11:19 am: 2
Very well said. I suppose there are people who, because of their horribly non-objective way of looking at things, simply cannot be reasoned with. But for everyone else, your post is very well put together.
Steven Long on January 24, 2008 at 3:59 pm: 3
Who threatened you, Prof? I’ve got your back!
Astroprof on January 24, 2008 at 4:19 pm: 4
Thanks, Steven. I think that people say things online that they would NEVER say in person because they think of the computer as some impersonal thing. They don’t connect that there is a real person on the other end. That is why people sometimes get into so much trouble over emails sent without thinking them through. Still, you don’t know if someone is being childish, or if they are wacko.
Grendel The Martyr on January 29, 2008 at 1:06 pm: 5
As the saying goes, “seeing is believing”, but for far too many UFO buffs believing is seeing.
I write for the internet and for magazines on UFOs from the skeptical viewpoint, that is, the scientific viewpoint, and have found it absolutely necessary to use layers of pseudonyms, aliases, and other security measures, so rabidly aggressive and threatening are some UFO believers.
Take those threats quite seriously, sir.
will. on February 2, 2008 at 5:51 pm: 6
I was born and still live within easy driving distance of Groom Lake, Nevada, (a.k.a. Area 51.)
From time to time I’ve found myself arguing with a person who has apparently adopted the “UFO phenomenon†as some sort of religious calling.
I never win these arguments because my heart just isn’t in it. If people want so hard to believe in UFOs I don’t think it’s my business to try and burst their bubble.
When it comes to reality I’ve got a nice little bubble of my own. So don’t burst mine and I won’t burst yours.
s. tobias on February 5, 2008 at 12:05 pm: 7
haha this is funny– ufo research has made great strides to get the truth out and someone makes comments on ufos and ufo eyewitnesses as if they are the people’s head doctor…very funny to read, oh in the internet due to the work and money of ufo researchers is the truth on the topic, just search for the report done by a Major King “ufos a reassessment of the USAF approach to ufos”
enjoy it… it was written in 1968 and due to the cover up all these years is still quite accurate and timely…
steve tobias…see my comments on the coming invasion by aliens.use a keyboard,search my name and the name Tobias Derr (almost forgot,hey what do you know- i am ex air force myself,my oh my odd huh?)