Satellites vs. UFOs

               Every year there are thousands of UFO sightings across the world.  But what are these witnesses really seeing?  Reportedly there are over 900 satellites in orbit around the Earth right now moving fast and sometimes shining brightly as they move quickly across the sky.  So, are some or all of these UFO sightings just an overreaction to seeing a satellite move across the sky?

            There are two very common reports of UFO sightings that can be explained by modern science.  One of the most common reports is that the witness sees a small white dot (looks like a star) moving at a constant (very fast) speed moving on a straight or slightly curved path over the horizon.  The other is when the witness sees a reddish, white, or bluish mass for a split second travel ‘down’ and then disappear.  The first is simply a satellite moving across the sky as it is orbiting the earth.  You may ask, if there are over 900 satellites in orbit, then why is it that seeing one is such a rarity that the public could attribute it to a UFO sighting?  Well first, during the day we almost never see satellites in the sky due to the brightness in the sky during that time.  Second, these satellites have a substantial amount of metallic material.  The reason we don’t see them constantly is because of the slim chance of everything in question happening simultaneously.  The chances of the sun being at the exact perfect angle to go off of one of the satellites, and down onto the Earth to where someone is standing and looking at that spot for that short time during nighttime are small.  However small, still not zero because it does happen, and the witnesses who see it commonly attribute this phenomenon to a UFO sighting.  They might be disappointed to know that this is not in fact a UFO at all but a satellite that makes their cell phone work.  The second common report is of something with a distinct color “falling,” from the sky.  This is simply a random burning meteor coming through the atmosphere.  The fact that is moving so fast can be explained by the fact that it is being accelerated by gravity.  The fact that it is a certain color, and multiple colors have been reported, can be attributed to the fact that different elements burn at different colors.  UFO enthusiasts get very excited about the different colors, and begin to imagine different colors representing different alien races etc.  They would be disappointed to find out that a simple fact of chemistry thwarts all these ideas.

            At the same time, there have been reports that can’t be so easily explained.  Some reports describe a large stationary craft in the air near the horizon.  The witnesses say that these large crafts seem to just sit there in the sky, despite the diurnal motion of the background of the stars.  On top of that, witnesses report that there are some other, much smaller crafts that appear to fly out of the large craft and fly in organized formations around it, forming shapes, flashing colored lights etc.  This I cannot explain with a simple physical phenomenon.  Another common report includes something moving through the sky like a satellite, but then all of a sudden it shoots off its course at about 100 times its original speed and disappears.  Witnesses commonly associate this with a kind of ‘warp speed’ seen in fantasies like Star Wars.  This I cannot easily explain either.  So can these sightings still be explained using simple physics?  Or is there something more going on here?

Is the government making excuses and dismissing the idea of extra terrestrial life?  Or is the general public so hopeful to see something extraordinary that they over blow something they saw?  Do these witnesses not understand what they’re really seeing? Or is it that there really is something or someone out there flying these crafts around and through our planet?  Can all these sightings really be attributed to weather balloons and satellites?  Or is the public stirring the pot trying to get the government or space explorers to admit to something that they otherwise wouldn’t?  Some witnesses are very convinced, and very adamant about what they saw, yet so are some of these government officials and scientists coming out to deny these reports.  Will we ever know what is really going on out there?  Will the government let us know?  Maybe we have to wait until we see something for ourselves.