# What are UFOs if they're NOT alien spacecraft? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108 "2024-02-26T17:14:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/481 "2026-08-21T10:14:08Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > And stranger coincidences happen every day. Exactly. In a world with eight billion people, million-to-one coincidences occur multiple times per day. That can explain many or most of the stranger phenomena that have been seen and photographed over time. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/482 "2026-08-22T21:02:43Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > As I suggested earlier, McRoberts may have been an entirely innocent party in this process. If the joker only threw the hubcap once, there would be no reason to take any more photos. > [@Cryptoterestrial](#): > > Ufologists know about the throw a hubcap into the air trick. not a possibility they wouldn’t have considered. Urologists are well known for fakery. Oh, you said _ufologists_. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/483 "2026-08-22T21:04:20Z")
Reported, because @Jackmannii accidentally attributed Crypto’s post to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/484 "2026-08-22T21:04:55Z")
It’s those dang urologists. 😡 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/485 "2026-08-22T21:06:07Z")
Yep. Blighters! (not bladders) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/486 "2026-08-22T21:11:30Z")
Thanks for fixing it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2026, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/487 "2026-08-22T21:29:55Z")
This makes me wonder if it could be calculated if, on a body of water with random ripples and waves averaging six inches or so high, how long you would wait on average before observing a random combination of turbulance sending up a spout of water three feet high. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/488 "2026-08-23T14:05:06Z")
Interesting idea. If there were no continents or islands on the Earth, then waves would flow freely around the world and probably rarely or never form high interference waves. On a real planet waves interact and interfere all the time, forming all sorts of weird interference patterns. So higher waves would happen all the time, even of you discount the effects of wind and waterspouts. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/489 "2026-08-24T09:19:21Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > then waves would flow freely around the world and probably rarely or never form high interference waves … not that I am an oceanographer, but I suspect that the coriolis effect would cause interference and thus some ususually large waves. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/490 "2026-08-24T15:03:38Z")
Possible. Look at the chaotic, turbulent atmosphere of Jupiter, for example; there are no oceans, continents or mountains to disrupt the motions of the fluids, but the planet has very distinct bands, zones and storm systems. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoterestrial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Cryptoterestrial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoterestrial)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/491 "2026-08-24T22:29:26Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Do they, though? All they are doing is releasing a number of clips where the causes are not clear. There is no indication that ‘the Pentagon’ find these ‘convincing’. All we know is that they don’t have enough information to identify the exact circumstances involved. if the Pentagon did not find them convincing then they wouldn’t’ve made them part of the periodic files releases. unless the government has a disinfo campaign. but if so, that raises all sorts of questions about which ufologists serve a useful purpose in that we can try to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoterestrial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Cryptoterestrial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoterestrial)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/492 "2026-08-24T22:42:21Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > There’s not necessarily a hoaxter. Someone can through a hubcap in the air for fun (it’s a frisbee like object) and coincidentally, someone who didn’t even notice the incident was snapping a picture of the scenery. A few weeks later when the pictures are developed, there’s a mysterious object - no hoax, but a honest misinterpretation. > > An unlikely coincidence - but one based on real phenomena (people snap pictures, people throw things). And stranger coincidences happen every day. earlier to talked about this guy on another forum who believed in the literal truth of the Bible (New Testament at least) but not in the supernatural. I asked him about Jesus walking on water. he said something about (as apparently has happened?) water increasing its saline content or freezing over… something like that. he had other explanations for other miracles but I remember that one specifically. but he wouldn’t allow himself to think that perhaps you couldn’t take the New Testament so literally. and, yes, crazy things happen with eight billion people on Earth. but, I mean, when people start chucking around hubcaps for fun, you do tend to notice. “oh, they have a hubcap in their hands for some reason..they like playing with it, etc.” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/493 "2026-08-24T23:02:01Z")
> [@Cryptoterestrial](#): > > and, yes, crazy things happen with eight billion people on Earth. but, I mean, when people start chucking around hubcaps for fun, you do tend to notice. “oh, they have a hubcap in their hands for some reason..they like playing with it, etc.” Check out the studies of how inattentive people are when a gorilla walks by or when the person they are talking to changing into [someone else](https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03208840) [mid-conversation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkrrVozZR2c), and you’ll have a different view on how much people notice things, right in front of them. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/494 "2026-08-24T23:20:55Z")
> [@Cryptoterestrial](#): > > if the Pentagon did not find them convincing then they wouldn’t’ve made them part of the periodic files releases. I prefer to think they are giving us the opportunity to examine the evidence, and in all honesty it is not compelling. Tiny spots in the sky (‘areas of contrast’ is the Pentagon’s neutral term) that are too small to show any detail, and which move like birds, balloons, distant planes and drones. These are _not_ movies that ‘the Pentagon find convincing’ but they _are_ movies that the Pentagon can’t explain easily - for the simple reason they are in the Low Information Zone where there is insufficient data to be sure. There will always be phenomena too far away to identify. > [@](#): > > … ufologists serve a useful purpose in that we can try to figure it out. Many ‘ufologists’ reject any reasonable explanation because they really want these ‘areas of contrast’ to be exotic. The evidence says otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/495 "2026-08-25T02:08:13Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > These are _not_ movies that ‘the Pentagon find convincing’ but they _are_ movies that the Pentagon can’t explain easily - for the simple reason they are in the Low Information Zone where there is insufficient data to be sure. More, for the simple reason that they’re too cheap to hire Mick West. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/496 "2026-08-25T13:35:38Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > All UFO means is Unidentified Flying Object. It can be an airplane, satellite, drone, balloon, meteor, reflection, optical illusion, or any number of things Yeah, this, which means we can’t really answer the OP’s question. If we knew what they were, they’d no longer be UFOs. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/497 "2026-08-25T13:40:19Z")
> [@Cryptoterestrial](#): > > as soon as the thing has an explanation, it goes from paranormal to normal Another very good point. Also applies to any and all things supernatural. If we understand something and can place it in a context of other things we understand, it’s part of the normal and natural world that we understand. If we don’t, we can say very little about what it actually is. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/498 "2026-08-25T14:08:56Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > If we knew what they were, they’d no longer be UFOs. That’s not the point. The point is that UFO does _ **not** _ automatically mean “alien spacecraft” despite the colloquial usage. It’s similar to the misunderstanding of “evolution is just a theory”. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/499 "2026-08-25T14:33:43Z")
I agree. Basically, if they release the information “experts” claim it as proof of their existence, and if they don’t release for any reason they claim that it is a cover-up and thus it is proof of their claims. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2026, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/500 "2026-08-26T11:42:45Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > All UFO means is Unidentified Flying Object. It can be an airplane, satellite, drone, balloon, meteor, reflection, optical illusion, or any number of things I’d just like to point out that this quick explanation pretty clearly shows that the term “Unidentified Flying Object” is itself misleading – if the sighting is due to a reflection, or to an optical phenomenon like a Sundog (parhelia) or other ice crystal effect, or an erroneously-interpreted sighting of the Moon or Venus or other astronomical body, the thing sighted is certainly not “flying” and may not even be an “object”. Calling such things “OFOs” is prejudicial at best. Better to call them “unidentified aerial phenomenon” I’d like to register another complaint – investigators should ask people how large the thing sighted was. You can’t know how large something is unless you know how far away it is, and vice versa. And the history of investigation has shown that people are terrible at estimating how far away something is. They really ought to be asking how large an angle it subtended in their field of vision, although if you ask it that way you will more likely get confused stares than answers. Give an illustrative example instead (such as “Was it as big as a baseball held at arm’s length?” But be prepared to get a lot of bad answers.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108.md?page=26)