• Question: What is your opinion on ufo's ??

    Asked by aiishii to Dalya, Derek, Sarah, Tim, Tom on 19 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by emmagrace.
    • Photo: Tim Millar

      Tim Millar answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      I’ve never seen any and don’t really think about it, but the Universe being so big as it is, the chances of there being other life forms out there is reasonable, its just whether they have the ability to travel the vast distances between planets and star systems to ever make a fly by of the Watford gap on a wet and windy Monday evening. Keep looking up to the stars, you never now what you might see.

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      I think that a lot of strange objects or lights in the sky can be explained. For example, there are lenicular clouds. These are lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes that look pretty convincing for a second. Sometimes the planet Venus gets mistaken for a UFO because it shines so bright. Then there’s things like shooting stars, unusual lightning patterns, flares, or reflections from aircraft. Also apparently a wet bird at high altitude looks like glistening metal! Weather balloons, satellites, experimental military aircraft….

      I also just found this website which has current UK sightings on it! Have fun!!
      http://www.uk-ufo.co.uk/

    • Photo: Derek McKay-Bukowski

      Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      UFO = Unidentified Flying Object. So… if it is a) an object, b) flying and c) you can’t figure out what it is, then, yes… it is a UFO. I’ve actually seen a few weird things in the sky that have taken a while to figure out what they are. But I’ve always found an explanation eventually (or someone told me).

      There are certainly many cases where it has not been possible to identify them. That doesn’t make them alien spacecraft (which is what people often think!)… simply “unidentified”, that’s all. The problem is that almost always, these sightings are “one off” events. Someone sees something, then it goes away and cannot be seen again. That makes it difficult, if not impossible, to investigate.

      There are some instances of phenomena that do keep coming back and continue to defy explanation. Despite all the work of scientists, make careful and repeated observations they still remain unexplained. These, however, are unlikely to be alien spacecraft given what we know already.

      As for the alien spacecraft… well, it is certainly possible that they do exist. However, I am sceptical that our planet has had any visits.

    • Photo: Dalya Soond

      Dalya Soond answered on 11 Jun 2011:

      They are good to base movies on, so thumbs up to them.

    • Photo: Tom Crick

      Tom Crick answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      A UFO does not necessarily mean an alien, it could just be an unidentified flying object, like a meteor!

      In general, I approach the likelihood of life on other planets as being a question of probability: with the countless number of galaxies, there must be a suitable star, with a suitable planet orbiting at the right distance, for life to have started somewhere. Not that it has to be more evolved than single-celled organisms, or even be carbon-based…I just think it is likely, but we will probably never find it!

      I’ve never seen a UFO…have you?

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