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UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

bbc.co.uk

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Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#41

Post by narag »

ken wrote: post #22
matthewwiese wrote: post #10

Since we don't usually get UFO threads on Hacker News, I may as well brush the dust off my tinfoil hat... What's always puzzled me about UFO sightings is the preponderance of "bright lights" being what people report seeing. If some extraterrestrial being came to visit, why make itself known? And in such an obviously unnatural way, too? One immediate counterargument I can think of is that it's good camouflage. Who nee…

Even if we assume that "UFO" means "space alien", it doesn't seem puzzling to me. Answer 1: selection bias. Obviously the only ones that people see at night are those which have lights. We aren't going to hear about the ones that people don't see because they're dark. Answer 2: alien apathy. You've flown a million light years to spy on some great apes who aren't even sure you exist. Who cares if a few of them get fla…

And 3: the light is a unavoidable side effect of their propulsion system.

Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#42

Post by Apocryphon »

Perhaps it'd be more interesting for both casual observers and conspiracy theorists alike to assume modern UFOs are not extraterrestrial spacecraft, but clandestine earthly government aircraft.

Maybe they turn on the bright lights to pretend to be aliens, to throw off the scent.

Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#43

Post by bemmu »

pubby wrote: post #30

A few months ago I was walking alone in the park when I saw a bright light moving in strange patterns in the sky. It scared the pants off of me. For about a day my mind was nothing but paranoid thoughts. I had fear that I had seen something that I shouldn't have. That not only extraterrestrial life was real, but that they knew of my existence and would be coming for me. Or perhaps they were coming for all of us. I wa…

Once this happened to me with a friend. We were staring at the sky when suddenly a progression of lights started moving quickly across the sky. At first I thought it might be a shower of large meteors about to hit us.

Later on discovered someone had just released a bunch of sky lanterns, something I'd never seen before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_lantern

It can be tricky to judge the distance, speed and size of objects in the sky.

Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#44

Post by mcguire »

weberc2 wrote: post #26
ken wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if we assume that "UFO" means "space alien", it doesn't seem puzzling to me. Answer 1: selection bias. Obviously the only ones that people see at night are those which have lights. We aren't going to hear about the ones that people don't see because they're dark. Answer 2: alien apathy. You've flown a million light years to spy on some great apes who aren't even sure you exist. Who cares if a few of them get fla…

You can generalize answer 1 even further. For all you know, there are hundreds of UFOs all around you that just have very advanced cloaking technology and only a few that don't. :)

Yeah, but they're here to watch the ones without cloaking. :-)

Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#46

Post by motohagiography »

It it were aliens, they are probably making contact with the cephalopod population under the sea to see if they have developed technology yet, and in this planets case they've found another monkey hominid infestation in one of those rare millennia before its civilizations manage to collectively off themselves.

Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#47

Post by sockgrant »

pubby wrote: post #30

A few months ago I was walking alone in the park when I saw a bright light moving in strange patterns in the sky. It scared the pants off of me. For about a day my mind was nothing but paranoid thoughts. I had fear that I had seen something that I shouldn't have. That not only extraterrestrial life was real, but that they knew of my existence and would be coming for me. Or perhaps they were coming for all of us. I wa…

Had that same feeling years ago. Went out to a dark place to see the stars. Ended up seeing a light jumping around on the horizon. Then there was a bright white flash that lit up the whole field and forest, but not like lightning. No shadows, no source of light. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, no thunder. It wasn't lightning.

Pretty scared, I kept watching the jumping light on the horizon. A few minutes later the white flash again. I ran back to my car.

I had the same ridiculous thoughts as you. "what if they know I saw?"

It freaked me out for a long time. The way the light was moving.... Too fast to see the movement even, it was here, then there. I watched it bounce around for at least a full half hour, it wasn't a satellite or a meteor.

Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#48

Post by newnewpdro »

Isn't the most likely explanation for these sightings secret military aircraft testing/missions?

There's been a number of credible UFO sightings lately, some even by military pilots and captured on video.

If you consider how long it's been since there's been a major breakthrough publicized in the air superiority department, and how advanced technology in general has become since the days of the SR-71, we're long overdue for some next-level aircraft likely to be kept under wraps until required to win a conflict.

Re: UFOs spotted off Irish coast under investigation

#49

Post by hanoz »

Misjudging distance seems to be a very frequent suspect in tales of the unexplained. "The light moved at an extraordinary speed" - it moved at an ordinary speed, close to you. Likewise "through the distant moors it stalked - a panther!" - a pet cat.
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