When Planets Become UFO’s – Now I Understand
A recent news item I came across last week (read it here), read to me like one of a thousand stories I've read, but never understood. How could a small point of light fool you into thinking it's an intelligently controlled spacecraft? The explanation seems so unbelievable to me, that I almost don't blame the Stanton Freidmans of the world, who criticize skeptics for trotting out such a lousy theory. Planets, usually Venus and/or Jupiter, seem so obvious to me, but judging by the statistics out there, Venus and Jupiter are indeed among the most misidentified planetary bodies.
Early on Monday morning, I was driving directly west at around 5:10 am. The sky was pretty black in front of me so I was able to make out a few stars. I came over a small hill and noticed a bright shining light to my left, seemingly moving in my direction. I kept my eye fixed on it, as it continued to move rapidly up and down while moving north in front of me. The apparent vertical acceleration was astounding, and as I drove through a slight left turn, the light quickly jerked in front me, appearing to be maybe a mile or so in front of me. Soon after the solution to what I was looking at became obvious, and I laughed.
I want to be clear here. At no point did I think I was viewing a spacecraft. I originally thought I was looking at some sort of airplane since I live relatively close to the Kansas City Airport. But as I noticed the change in direction and angle of my car, I noticed how much in sync the light and my car were. The slight up and down on the road made the light make quick up and down movements in the sky, far larger than I would expect. The mystery, if you call it that, was quickly solved, and as I said, I had a little chuckle when it all clicked. I now see how people could somewhat mistake a planet for a UFO, especially when driving. The movement of a point of light in the sky changes more dramatically than a car's movement, so if you don't noticed your car making certain motions, you might not make the link.
No great mystery solved here. No real investigation. Just a small observation of mine that made me understand how something so simple can look so different under the right circumstances. The point of light I was seeing? It was Jupiter.