UFO/alien evidence

Wolfe Tone

This is something I have always had an interest in but know quite little about besides what I have read about Roswell.

I believe, and always have, that there is life, intelligent life on other planets. I am certainly open to the idea that they have, and currently do "visit" Earth. After all, we fly to different planets to gather rocks and soil, why wouldn't they do something similar? I certainly believe that if they where governments would cover it up.

So anyway,what do you guys feel is the best evidence to support the theory that alien life visits this planet? Inadequately explained sightings, abduction accounts, pictures, unusual phenomena etc?

MagicMarker

There is no ''best evidence'' because there is no ''evidence'' to begin with.

Hookah

Read a book called Mirage Men.

Roswell and other famous incidents were concocted by the US military to mask their own activities.

Wolfe Tone

MagicMarker wrote: »

There is no ''best evidence'' because there is no ''evidence'' to begin with.

Well mate thats you opinion, I'm sure there are plenty of people who will point at certain things as good evidence.

MagicMarker

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Well mate thats you opinion, I'm sure there are plenty of people who will point at certain things as good evidence.

Of course they will, and they'd be wrong.

Kadongy

http://vault.fbi.gov/hottel_guy/Guy%20Hottel%20Part%201%20of%201/view

My name is URL

There's loads of stuff that could be put forward as evidence, but not so much that is accepted as such!

Humanji has a thread on disclosures made recently by the MoD in the UK - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056198037

Dave!

OP do you not think it's a bit wierd how there are thousands if not millions of amateur astronomers pointing telescopes and cameras at the sky every day of the week, yet UFO sightings are almost never by astronomers? Surely with all the reported UFO sightings, we'd have good unambiguous photographic evidence available by now.

Priori

John E. Mack might make for interesting reading.

Passport to the Cosmos

I honestly don't know what to make of the entire phenomenon.

Wolfe Tone

Dave! wrote: »

OP do you not think it's a bit wierd how there are thousands if not millions of amateur astronomers pointing telescopes and cameras at the sky every day of the week, yet UFO sightings are almost never by astronomers? Surely with all the reported UFO sightings, we'd have good unambiguous photographic evidence available by now.

Even if its all a load of crap its still interesting... Thats a good point. But what about occasions when pilots etc see them? And all the times various government agencies have recorded them and covered them up? Half of the explanations are ridiculous. These people are seeing something.

Heres a site, some cool photos there.

http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures.html

Brenireland

So interesting points,for some seeing is believing.....:(

Dave!

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

Even if its all a load of crap its still interesting... Thats a good point. But what about occasions when pilots etc see them? And all the times various government agencies have recorded them and covered them up? Half of the explanations are ridiculous. These people are seeing something.

Heres a site, some cool photos there.

http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures.html

Pilots are prone to being mistaken just like anyone else. In most cases they just report seeing "lights" of some sort, which may be interesting, but it's hardly conclusive of anything. If we were to believe everything that eye-witnesses report, then we'd be living in a world where Bigfoot, Nessy, Elvis, and 2pac, are all kicking about. Fact is people can be mistaken about what they think they saw, they can make stuff up for a variety of reasons, and they have a tendency to distort or romanticise memories. I read a news story about a pilot recalling a UFO he saw as a pilot in the 50's! How anyone can be confident of something they saw 50 years ago is beyond me. Another example I often point out from my own experience is:

Another time I saw what one could be forgiven for thinking was a bunch of spacecrafts having a dogfight miles up in space! Just looked like dots of light moving around each other randomly. As we turned the corner and looked up, they were gone. My paranormal-loving friend saw it too, and was clearly pleased to see that I had had a paranormal experience. I just said that I didn't know what it was, and left it at that. Saw the same thing the next day on my own, and walked further on, they disappeared again. Forgot about it, until I looked up about 5 minutes down the road, and there were a bunch of seagulls flying around in front of a billboard, being lit up by the lights Showing that (a) humans often confuse 'big but far away' with 'small but close', and (b) just because an explanation is not forthcoming or apparent does not mean it's not something mundane. Seagulls in front of a billboard would be the last thing that I'd consider.

As for government cover-ups, I'm not aware of any examples of them covering up a 'proven' alien encounter. If you think that militaries aren't conducting secret research, etc., then you're mistaken. There are plenty of reasons why governments might want to cover up this research, and new weapons and hardware that they're testing. Particularly during the Cold War, when sci-fi was also becoming quite popular, and lots of UFO sightings were coincidentally being reported!

Not sure what explanations you find ridiculous; military research could cover alot of them, but if in doubt, Chinese lanterns are usually a safe bet

Fact is that to date, despite claims that there have been alien visitations since the 50's at least, we do not have a single bit of concrete, unambiguous evidence. All we have is stories. Either every consecutive administration, from different parties, ideologies, etc., in dozens of countries around the world, are all in on this conspiracy, and are carrying out the most effective ever clean-up operation on these crash sites (plus all the astronomers who can't seem to capture clear pictures of these crafts, but can capture clear pictures of Mars)... or there's a widespread psychocultural phenomenon going on, being influenced by films/tv, books, pictures and stories, and making people make the leap from "I don't know" to "alien spacecraft", and connecting dots that aren't there. My money's on the latter.

BTW, take with a pinch of salt stories that you read on the internet. There's a widespread belief that former US President Jimmy Carter saw a spacecraft of some sort; the Skeptics Guide podcast in my sig interviewed him about it, and he made it clear that all he saw was a bright light that he couldn't explain. He made no claims that it was a spacecraft or anything. The hosts conclude that it was probably a planet (can't remember which -- Mercury?) illuminated in a manner that it infrequently does, but which is often claimed as a UFO.

nyarlothothep

SETI are scanning for radio signals when any advanced spacefaring alien civilizations would use ftl communications. We don't know what to look for because we don't have the technological or theoretical appartus to look for it in the first place. One of the possibilities for 2012 is a fullscale disclosure of alien involvement on Earth. Of course I think governments are completely terrified of these aliens, they have no human compunctions towards human emotions or concerns and are vastly more advanced than us. This is really scary and whatever happens we may have to fight for our very survival as a species.

caseyann

Dave! wrote: »

OP do you not think it's a bit wierd how there are thousands if not millions of amateur astronomers pointing telescopes and cameras at the sky every day of the week, yet UFO sightings are almost never by astronomers? Surely with all the reported UFO sightings, we'd have good unambiguous photographic evidence available by now.

If you read up on it a bit,you will see they had made accusations of them coming from the oceans and not all from the skies at all,There was some big article about it.And the other theory is some come from a portal.

http://thetruthbehindthescenes.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/us-ufo-war-in-southern-ocean/

MagicMarker

caseyann wrote: »

If you read up on it a bit,you will see they had made accusations of them coming from the oceans and not all from the skies at all,There was some big article about it.And the other theory is some come from a portal.

http://thetruthbehindthescenes.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/us-ufo-war-in-southern-ocean/

Please tell me you're taking the piss.

caseyann

MagicMarker wrote: »

Please tell me you're taking the piss.

You ask them are they taking the piss.


"What Einstein worked out with pencil and paper nearly a century ago continues to hold up to scientific scrutiny," said Stecker. "High-energy observations of cosmic gamma rays don't rule out the possibility of extra dimensions and the concept of quantum gravity, but they do place some strict constraints on how scientists can go about finding such phenomena."

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/1212einstein.html

MagicMarker

caseyann wrote: »

You ask them are they taking the piss.

Okay, I'll rephrase, do you believe any of what's contained in the link you posted?

caseyann

MagicMarker wrote: »

Okay, I'll rephrase, do you believe any of what's contained in the link you posted?

I dont believe anything until i see it myself.
But i will read everything and leave it open for being proved and wont knock it either.
Funny people said the same things to Einstein and bell etc....
They didnt believe in medical science and the earth was flat shall i go on

Favour MagicMarker if you dont mind.:) Can you go to strangle blue light thread and print screen the webcam link for people to see,please.As i cant seem to be able to get it.Thanks
http://122.20.254.201:443/Camera08

MagicMarker

caseyann wrote: »

I dont believe anything until i see it myself.
But i will read everything and leave it open for being proved and wont knock it either.
Funny people said the same things to Einstein and bell etc....
They didnt believe in medical science and the earth was flat shall i go on

Favour MagicMarker if you dont mind.:) Can you go to strangle blue light thread and print screen the webcam link for people to see,please.As i cant seem to be able to get it.Thanks
http://122.20.254.201:443/Camera08

lol at comparing Einstein's theory to a secret war with UFO's based under water. There's no facepalm worthy enough for that shoite you've linked us to. I mean how gullible can anyone really be? Even people who commented on that ''article'' think it's BS.

And only idiots thought the Earth was flat btw.

Abelloid

MagicMarker wrote: »

Okay, I'll rephrase, do you believe any of what's contained in the link you posted?

You mean you don't believe Jupiter is hollow, and has a sun inside it? ..and maybe Earth is the same?

MagicMarker

JustinOval wrote: »

You mean you don't believe Jupiter is hollow, and has a sun inside it? ..and maybe Earth is the same?

Well no one has proved otherwise, so I'm open to the idea... :pac:

caseyann

MagicMarker wrote: »

lol at comparing Einstein's theory to a secret war with UFO's based under water. There's no facepalm worthy enough for that shoite you've linked us to. I mean how gullible can anyone really be? Even people who commented on that ''article'' think it's BS.

And only idiots thought the Earth was flat btw.

So if there is such thing as portals and its proven before you die can we call you an idiot? I merely gave a possible reason as to why star gazers dont see them.
And dont face palm me because you are being condescending for absolutely no reason other than to think you are some how superior.
Do i call your closed mind gullible and face palm you for having an opposite opinion?

And most of the world didnt believe in any of it so most of the world are were idiots?They were told impossible and they believed it.Something like you are doing now?

MagicMarker

caseyann wrote: »

So if there is such thing as portals and its proven before you die can we call you an idiot? I merely gave a possible reason as to why star gazers dont see them.
And dont face palm me because you are being condescending for absolutely no reason other than to think you are some how superior.
Do i call your closed mind gullible and face palm you for having an opposite opinion?

Firstly, I didn't call you anything, as you said you didn't ''believe anything until you see it''. What I am saying is anyone who does believe there's been a secret war going on against UFOs that are based under the southern ocean for the last 7 years is a complete and utter retard.

caseyann wrote: »

And most of the world didnt believe in any of it so most of the world are were idiots?They were told impossible and they believed it.Something like you are doing now?

What?

caseyann

MagicMarker wrote: »

Firstly, I didn't call you anything, as you said you didn't ''believe anything until you see it''. What I am saying is anyone who does believe there's been a secret war going on against UFOs that are based under the southern ocean for the last 7 years is a complete and utter retard.



What?

Ok fair enough i thought you were face palming and calling me guillable because i am keeping open mind waiting for it to be proven.


I mean when they came out with the theories long ago,the most educated people in world and governments fobbed it off as madness.And all the people believed them until it was proven fact.So were they all idiots?

MagicMarker

caseyann wrote: »

I mean when they came out with the theories long ago,the most educated people in world and governments fobbed it off as madness. fact.

Not quite a fact, considering Einstein was regarded as one of the worlds leading scientists, and his theories were accepted by other leading physicists.

caseyann wrote: »

And all the people believed them until it was proven, So were they all idiots?

Why would someone be a retard if they don't believe something that hasn't been proven?

Lefticus Loonaticus

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

So anyway,what do you guys feel is the best evidence to support the theory that alien life visits this planet? Inadequately explained sightings, abduction accounts, pictures, unusual phenomena etc?

There are various videos on the net that are the best evidence. These videos are all clear smoking guns, but they get lost in the noise of disinfo and nonsense.

They are as follows -

The tether incident -

In 1996, a 12 mile long tether was released into space while nasa were filming. Nasa then accidently filmed hundreds of massive ufos that swarmed around the tether. Some of the ufos were miles in diameter.
The astronauts and base control people doing commentary on the video were so stunned they only barely managed to keep it togather while staying within their protocols for such events.
This is the clearest and probably most shocking video on the subject as it clearly shows the massive level of traffic in space. Nasa were unable to cover it up because it was broadcast and recorded by many people.
The sceptics claim its space dust and ice particles, which is absolutely hillarious and has been proved wrong since many of the ufos actually go behind the tether and some of them even change direction. Watch it for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuFBUS0kiSA


The disclosure project witness testimony interviews -

Most people are aware of the disclosure project conference in 2001, but what most people dont know is that there was a documentary released at the same time which has 2 hours of raw interviews which up to 100 of the witnesses, as compared to just 12 or so in the actual conference.
This is the hardest collection evidence ever contained in one documentary, and in actual fact it was produced to be presented to the US congress.
Part 1 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6552475158249898710#
Part 2 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4694075066240662837#

It contains interviews with people from -
-CIA
-NASA
-NRO
-Senior airport staff from US and Mexico
-and a whole host of others from pretty much all departments in the US

The evidence includes testimony of crashed and retrieved ufos from people who were involved and who saw ETs, assasination programs for whistleblowers, senior airport staff talking about how ufos were harassing airports and even planes, ICBM testers witnessing ufos knocking their missiles out of the sky, nuclear missile launch operators who had their nukes disabled by ufos, nasa people who saw photos of alien bases on the moon and who were witness to airbrushing of ufos out of satallite photos, control room people who were seeing traffic coming to and from earth on radar screens.

Its basically the real deal packed into 2 hours. A must watch that is undebunkable and rock solid.


The Belgium ufos -

My personal favourite, the Belgium ufos of the early 1990's. Tracked by radar for days on end and caused panic across the country.
The airforce eventually came out and admitted that they had been chasing vehicles that were going so fast that could not have contained human pilots.

The head of the airforce gave a press conference and spilled the beans in a way that no other military leader from any other country would dare.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7psGj4M1ZI
Hes a brave man.

vampire of kilmainham

MagicMarker wrote: »

Of course they will, and they'd be wrong.

how do you know they'ed be wrong really so sure of yourself arent ya:p

Watch Ryder

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

This is something I have always had an interest in but know quite little about besides what I have read about Roswell.

I believe, and always have, that there is life, intelligent life on other planets. I am certainly open to the idea that they have, and currently do "visit" Earth. After all, we fly to different planets to gather rocks and soil, why wouldn't they do something similar? I certainly believe that if they where governments would cover it up.

So anyway,what do you guys feel is the best evidence to support the theory that alien life visits this planet? Inadequately explained sightings, abduction accounts, pictures, unusual phenomena etc?

The ancient's are often remarked as having 'alien' like qualities like advanced technology and ways.
I think the question of it being extra-terrestrial is wrong somehow. extra-dimensional is much more likely...

kryogen

"The thether incident" is one of the more boring things i have ever sat through

you would need a pretty good imagination to make something out of that

Lefticus Loonaticus

kryogen wrote: »

"The thether incident" is one of the more boring things i have ever sat through

you would need a pretty good imagination to make something out of that

Dont need any imagination at all, its a very clear video.

Are we watching the same video......?

Lefticus Loonaticus

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

The tether incident -

In 1996, a 12 mile long tether was released into space while nasa were filming. Nasa then accidently filmed hundreds of massive ufos that swarmed around the tether. Some of the ufos were miles in diameter.

What exactly is this based off?

Lefticus Loonaticus

King Mob wrote: »

What exactly is this based off?

The tether is 12 miles long. At certain stages you can see the ufos fly behind the tether, you can thus use the tether as a ruler to measure the diameter of the ufos.

At about 1:42 a large one goes behind the centre of the tether and takes up about 10% or more of the length. This means this ufo is over a mile in diameter.

Many ufos float behind the tether during the video, you can use the tether to measure them all.

They are fcuking massive.

Lefticus Loonaticus

I am well aware thats its so unbelevable that it just cannot simply be true. But really, your looking right at it, are you not?

Lefticus Loonaticus

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

The tether is 12 miles long. At certain stages you can see the ufos fly behind the tether, you can thus use the tether as a ruler to measure the diameter of the ufos.

At about 1:42 a large one goes behind the centre of the tether and takes up about 10% or more of the length. This means this ufo is over a mile in diameter.

Many ufos float behind the tether during the video, you can use the tether to measure them all.

They are fcuking massive.

But this assumes that the tether is at it's full extension and that all the "UFOs" are at the same distance as the tether.

Now is it possible that the objects are only appearing to go behind the tether because the quality of the footage isn't great and they get washed out by the much brighter tether as they pass in front?

Lefticus Loonaticus

King Mob wrote: »

But this assumes that the tether is at it's full extension and that all the "UFOs" are at the same distance as the tether.

Now is it possible that the objects are only appearing to go behind the tether because the quality of the footage isn't great and they get washed out by the much brighter tether as they pass in front?

How much do they pay you ?

Dave!

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

How much do they pay you ?

The aliens?

Lefticus Loonaticus

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

How much do they pay you ?

Ah of course, if I ask too many questions I must be a paid agent of the shadowy government out to get you.

Much easier to accuse someone of that than answer very simple questions.

My name is URL

The objects in that tether video look like Airy Disks caused by the collimation of distant light sources.

Lefticus Loonaticus

King Mob wrote: »

Ah of course, if I ask too many questions I must be a paid agent of the shadowy government out to get you.

Much easier to accuse someone of that than answer very simple questions.

Did it ever occur to that what you see in the video is what you see in the video?

MagicMarker

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

Did it ever occur to that what you see in the video is what you see in the video?

You mean bullshít?

Why yes, yes it does.

My name is URL

MagicMarker wrote: »

You mean bullshít?

Why yes, yes it does.

Are you saying that the video is bull**** or just the claim that the objects are UFOs?

Lefticus Loonaticus

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

Did it ever occur to that what you see in the video is what you see in the video?

But what I'm seeing is poor quality footage of dust particles reflecting light into a camera.
But I'm open to other possibilities.
Hence why I'm asking you whether it's possible that the objects are only appearing to go behind the tether because the quality of the footage isn't great and they get washed out by the much brighter tether as they pass in front? And if it's not possible, how you are able to exclude this possibility?

Has it ever occurred to you that it might something entirely more mundane than you're imagining?

MagicMarker

My name is URL wrote: »

Are you saying that the video is bull**** or just the claim that the objects are UFOs?

A little from column A, a little from column B.

The video itself means nothing, I see the same crap when I rub my eyes really hard.

My name is URL

MagicMarker wrote: »

A little from column A, a little from column B.

The video itself means nothing, I see the same crap when I rub my eyes really hard.

But the video itself is very real. Instead of just posting throwaway remarks about it being generically bull**** you could always try to discuss it in a civil manner and perhaps explain your position.

Lefticus Loonaticus

King Mob wrote: »

But what I'm seeing is poor quality footage of dust particles reflecting light into a camera.
But I'm open to other possibilities.
Hence why I'm asking you whether it's possible that the objects are only appearing to go behind the tether because the quality of the footage isn't great and they get washed out by the much brighter tether as they pass in front? And if it's not possible, how you are able to exclude this possibility?

Has it ever occurred to you that it might something entirely more mundane than you're imagining?

To answer your question, its is absolutely impossible that these things are anything else other than giant ufos.

The ONLY other alternative is that nasa faked it on purpose. This is very unlikely obviously.

It was filmed with some special camara or somthing like infra red or ultraviolet, this is why its all glowly and why the some of the ufos seem to be see-through. They are actually not visable to the naked eye.

Theres other videos on youtube that show the trajectory of the ufos and you can see some of them doing turns and changing direction very sharply.

You can also make out the specific shape of the ufos, they all seem to have a notch cut out of them. Some of them are also pulsating very brightly. Notice the camara man trying to change the settings to get rid of them, but he or she cant.

MagicMarker

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

To answer your question, its is absolutely impossible that these things are anything else other than giant ufos.

The ONLY other alternative is that nasa faked it on purpose. This is very unlikely obviously.

It was filmed with some special camara or somthing like infra red or ultraviolet, this is why its all glowly and why the some of the ufos seem to be see-through. They are actually not visable to the naked eye.

Theres other videos on youtube that show the trajectory of the ufos and you can see some of them doing turns and changing direction very sharply.

You can also make out the specific shape of the ufos, they all seem to have a notch cut out of them. Some of them are also pulsating very brightly. Notice the camara man trying to change the settings to get rid of them, but he or she cant.

So why would NASA themselves deny that they are UFOs? Proof of the existence of extraterrestrials would be something they'd be shouting from the rooftops.

zenno

heres a link for people that want to read older ufo reports from the 1800's up to the present day. some interesting reports on this ufo problem. http://www.ufocasebook.com/casefiles.html

Lefticus Loonaticus

MagicMarker wrote: »

So why would NASA themselves deny that they are UFOs? Proof of the existence of extraterrestrials would be something they'd be shouting from the rooftops.

Why is there a cover up about ET civilizations? The answer to that is very long and complex. There are many reasons, its about money, power, religion, history, politics and technology.

One of the main reasons is that the USA does not want everyone to know that they are not the boss.

Nasa are a military wing of the US government btw, they do what they are told. Not withstanding that they do awesome work on alot of things, but the ET question is not in their control.

Lefticus Loonaticus

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

To answer your question, its is absolutely impossible that these things are anything else other than giant ufos.

Ok, why specifically is it impossible?

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

It was filmed with some special camara or somthing like infra red or ultraviolet, this is why its all glowly and why the some of the ufos seem to be see-through. They are actually not visable to the naked eye.

How do you know this?

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

You can also make out the specific shape of the ufos, they all seem to have a notch cut out of them. Some of them are also pulsating very brightly.

And URL posted an example of a light effect that can explain this.

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

Notice the camara man trying to change the settings to get rid of them, but he or she cant.

Or she could have been trying to clear up some pretty crappy footage?

Nasa are a military wing of the US government btw

No they aren't.

argosy2006

MagicMarker

Lefticus Loonaticus wrote: »

Why is there a cover up about ET civilizations? The answer to that is very long and complex. There are many reasons, its about money, power, religion, history, politics and technology.

One of the main reasons is that the USA does not want everyone to know that they are not the boss.

Nasa are a military wing of the US government btw, they do what they are told. Not withstanding that they do awesome work on alot of things, but the ET question is not in their control.

NASA are not part of the military. The fact is that proof of ET's would greatly improve their funding, NASA's whole purpose is to find out ''what's out there''. It seems unlikely that they would encounter UFO's, deny they encountered UFO's and yet release a video of the ''encounter''. That wouldn't exactly be a very good cover up would it?

Here's a comment I found on another site that seems to explain it quite well...

Guys, let's do some mathematics here.

To say in advance, this is NOT any footage of aliens floating around and feeding on energy, and the objects are not even unidentified. They are small (and I mean small) frozen waterdrops previously ejected from some tank on the space shuttle. They do NOT change direction, and they are not even pulsing. So if you are a die-hard believer and don't want to get disappointed, then skip this post. Othwerwiese read on.

First of all, NASA would not hide the fact that they saw something mysterious. The fact that there's something out there would increase their budget immensely for coming projects, and hundreds of scientists within NASA would surely not keep their mouth shut about this. Mankind has been craving for evidence of extraterrestrial life for decades. Why do you think there' something like SETI ? (http://www.seti.org) Btw, SETI projects are sponsored by NASA.

And just because some NASA ground technician doesn't immediately understand the "things swimming in the foreground" in the footage, does that mean its extraterrestrial? Why do conspiracy people doubt obvious "flag on the moon" photos, and then fall for such a simple optical illusion? Also, why are they so quick to calculate the size of the blobs in relation to the tether, but don't question the size of the tether itsself?

Here's the (mathematical) explanation. First the facts:

- The tether is 20 km (~12 miles) long, and only a meter in diameter
- The footage shows an aspect ratio (length of the tether, divided by it's diameter) of 12:1
- The actual aspect ratio, based on the facts, is 20.000:1

Even if we were to assume that the tether broke before it was fully extended, we would NEVER ever get close to the "observed" 12:1 aspect ratio. So, where does this obvious discrepancy come from? In the footage, the tether should be 1.600m in diameter, when in fact it's only 1m. Even to a viewer of the footage, who does not do this equation, the tether seems much too wide in relation to its length.

In other words: you are not seeing the actual tether, but an overcontrasted hallow of a very thin black pole VERY far away (> 100 km), that has gone through some image enhancement inside the infrared camera. Now, don't you think these "enhancements" apply to all objects in the footage? On top of that, the intense light of the sun, it's position, and the curvature and diffraction of the lens do their part on the actual image. You are seeing ALTERED REALITY.

You can read on in the wiki article on "diffraction". If you scroll down to the chapter "Diffraction limit of telescopes", there's a nice image that resembles the blobs in the footage. However, this time it's not about stars, but about tiny frozen particles NEAR the shuttle that are way out of focus. Also from Wiki: "Even if a lens is designed to minimize or eliminate the aberrations described above, the image quality is still limited by the diffraction of light passing through the lens' finite aperture."

So, things to watch out for when looking at the footage again:

1. Some of the flying blobs have two notches that change size and position as they move, and their circular shape distorts towards the edges of the frame. These are typical optical effects when changing the position of objects in relation to their light source.

2. The pulsing of the blobs comes from the frequency of the camera's power supply or some electromagnetic waves in the shuttle. In fact, even the outside rim of the footage seems to have this pulsing effect. Remember your flickering television, or a computer screen that starts to wiggle when your mobile phone is connecting to the nearest antenna. It's as easy as that. No aliens feeding on energy.

3. The "changing of direction" of the blobs results from the zooming of the camera and the curvature of the lens.

4. The observation, that the blobs seem to travel BEHIND the tether, is an illusion coming from the contrast enhancement of the camera and the fact, that the actual thether is only a tini black rod inside the enhanced hallow you are seeing. The tiny frozen drops also have this enhanced hallow. The actual drop is the tiny black (out of focus) spot inside the hallow. Remember what astronaut Franklin says in an answer to the "swimming things" from the technician at ground control: "it's illuminated by the Sun at such a low angle, so there's a lot of stray light". You would never be able to tell (in the poor resolution of this footage), whether an out-of-focus and overexposed water drop between 10 to 100m distance of the shuttle is before or behind a massive rod at 100 km (!) distance. It's an optical illusion. Did you ever believe that a rainbow actually touches the ground at the position you are seeing it? Your brain is inclined to those kind of illusions.

So people, don't SEE WHAT YOU BELIEVE, but BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE. If you can't see "aliens feeding on energy" without the notion of a doubt, then don't believe it! To quote another similar thread: "Don't be a believer or a non-believer. Be a thinker and a questioner, and you will be more than either." I know it would be just too cool to be true, to finally find another form of life out there, and I'm sure some day we will. But I'm sorry, NASA did not find one yet, and surely not on this tether mission.

About me: I'm a computer scientist and software developer in the field of image processing and enhancement. My company is located in Munich, Germany. If you want to see what I'm doing, click on the link below.

Henning Kuersten
http://www.CodedColor.com
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