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View Full Version : How likely are aliens compared to ball lightning?

EsotericEnigma
05-15-2004, 02:12 AM
what were these? (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040514/sc_nm/life_mexico_ufos_dc_1)

If you do a little digging, you can easily find the story that this refers to as well. Mexican military aircraft "chased" these balls of light, when the lights turned around and surrounded one of the planes. Its all caught on infrared camera and released to the press and scientific community for study

Could it really be ball lightning that these pilots witnessed? Why would it only be visible to infrared cameras? Why would it "surround" a plane, sometimes hovering in place, and sometimes dancing about? What exactly IS ball lightning, and what prevents it from becoming just normal everyday lightning?

If its not likely that they were ball lightning, are there any other reasonable explanations for those lights?
Q.E.D.
05-15-2004, 10:38 AM
IMO, ball lightning is almost infinitely more likely than aliens. Heck, you can make ball lightning in your microwave oven (http://jlnlabs.online.fr/plasma/4wres/). (WARNING: Please do not make ball lightning in your microwave oven--it's dangerous). Research has shown that planes in the air often trigger the lightning strikes that hit them, so why not ball lightning, on occassion?
The Long Road
05-15-2004, 10:47 AM
Sounds like great debate material. I doubt there is anyway to generate a comparison of how likely one thing is to another.
Earl Snake-Hips Tucker
05-15-2004, 01:31 PM
Suffice it to say, though, generating aliens in your microwave has up to this point been considerably more difficult.
Bryan Ekers
05-15-2004, 03:10 PM
Suffice it to say, though, generating aliens in your microwave has up to this point been considerably more difficult.

I did manage to produce most of a Mexican pilot, though.
threemae
05-15-2004, 03:20 PM
I did manage to produce most of a Mexican pilot, though.

Heh, good one.
Quartz
05-15-2004, 03:40 PM
Near where I used to live was 'Fireball Hill', known for the occurrence of ball lightning.
Squink
05-15-2004, 03:43 PM
Make your own Ball Lightning: BillB's Ball Lightning Page (http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/tesla/ballgtn.html)