An acquaintance who recently found out that I was an astronomer decided to ask me questions about the night sky at lunch the other day. Instead of asking about the Moon or Venus or Orion, he asked if I had ever seen any lights in the skies or any unusual during my observation sessions. He wasn’t concerned with the next Europa transit or what constellations were going to be visible after sundown, he wanted to know about UFOs. It was enough to make me chuckle because the question is more common than many people would like to believe. I calmly said that I was always watching, but had never seen anything unusual that I couldn’t explain by natural means.
It was no surprise that he wanted to know about aliens and lights in the sky. Just watch any Hollywood film about UFOs or lights in the sky and you’ll see an astronomer somewhere in the center of the mix. It makes sense in other ways too since we spend most of our time looking up at the night sky. It stands to reason that if there is something to see that we’re going to see it. We both shared a laugh over the idea and moved on to other things. Unfortunately, that is not always the case when questions like this come up.
UFOs and alien visitors are taboo subjects for many in the general public, but I’ve never seen such a group of people get as upset over the topic as the amateur astronomers and scientists I’ve worked with in the last few years. I’ve been a witness to many star party visitors being chastised for asking questions about extraterrestrials and similar topics while looking through telescopes. A select few of these astronomers will roll their eyes when asked, but I’ve seen some change their tone and become very mean and testy with the offending person. This is not to say that every amateur astronomer is going to go off on you for asking about aliens and UFOs, but many consider it to be an insult to their credibility to even entertain the idea of “flying saucers” and strange lights in the sky just as my blog is liable to take some serious heat for even mentioning the topic. Some astronomers, such as myself, will tell you the truth about what we think and move on. How hard is that?
Image Credit: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Columbia Pictures
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