Public perception of UFOs/Aliens

Crescent-shaped UFO, one of objects pilot Kenneth Arnold said he saw on June 24, 1947.

A recent headline on Yahoo focused on the public perception on UFOs.I followed the link to a thread on Yahoo Answers.

Best Answer - Chosen By Voters

UFOs, and I am absolutely positive about it, are from the HUMAN IMAGINATION. They exist because some of us yearn for mystery at all costs.


Well there are so many ways I could make fun of this answer, but I'm going to be serious about it, because for some reason it bothers me on a deeper level than what it relates to on the surface.

But first let me attack this statement at it's shallow exterior. Everyone is entitled to believe or disbelieve anything they like but, "absolutely positive" is a bold statement. This universe is so vast that we are akin to a grain of salt on the table of microbes setting up for dinner on a grain of salt... and that analogy is still probably infinitely mis-proportioned. Astronomers make new discoveries daily and Earth-similar worlds have already been found in our cosmic vicinity. I'm not sure how anyone could be positive that no life could have developed enough to pay us a visit.

As far as the "human imagination" theory goes - evidently no research whatsoever went into it. Thousands of credible witnesses have come forward to say they saw a UFO including a former governor , high ranking members of the armed forces , and well respected airline pilots . Now I'm not saying that every instance was an encounter with aliens, but to say what every one of these people saw was a figment of their imagination is... silly.

Now, for the part of the answer that really struck a chord with me. "...some of us yearn for mystery at all costs." Ouch! As the creator of a website designed as a haven for escapists... that gets me right here *clutches heart*. The easiest response here would be to stay silent as the jab collapses from it's own broadness. However, the more I think about it I'm pleased that I came across this fast food drive thru question and answer... because it makes me all the more glad that I have an open mind. Being able to think for oneself, to imagine and explore are rare abilities in this age of instant gratification. Thank God there are pockets of scientists and dreamers who keep "The Nothing" at bay.

Hubble Image of the Week

Click Image for large size





This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the newly discovered planet, Fomalhaut b, orbiting its parent star, Fomalhaut.

The small white box at lower right pinpoints the planet's location. Fomalhaut b has carved a path along the inner edge of a vast, dusty debris ring encircling Fomalhaut that is 21.5 billion miles across. Fomalhaut b lies 1.8 billion miles inside the ring's inner edge and orbits 10.7 billion miles from its star.

The inset at bottom right is a composite image showing the planet's position during Hubble observations taken in 2004 and 2006. Astronomers have calculated that Fomalhaut b completes an orbit around its parent star every 872 years.

The white dot in the center of the image marks the star's location. The region around Fomalhaut's location is black because astronomers used the Advanced Camera's coronagraph to block out the star's bright glare so that the dim planet could be seen. Fomalhaut b is 1 billion times fainter than its star. The radial streaks are scattered starlight. The red dot at lower left is a background star.

The Fomalhaut system is 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Australis.

This false-color image was taken in October 2004 and July 2006.

Object Names: Fomalhaut, HD 216956, Fomalhaut b

Image Type: Astronomical


Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Kalas, J. Graham, E. Chiang, E. Kite (University of California, Berkeley), M. Clampin (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), M. Fitzgerald (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), and K. Stapelfeldt and J. Krist (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)


Please visit the Hubble site for related info and images at the link below...

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/image/a/