Sundogs bite as UFOs

Published January 20th, 2008 in Bizarre, Photos, Space, atmospheric events and Science.

Let me start by saying that I do not know what most people of north central Texas saw and reported as a UFO last week. If the published reports are accurate — then what they saw was very unusual at least, and if true, then we cannot rule out an extraterrestrial origin. However, I must emphasize that it is very big if.

In the imageon the topt, the large bright blob to the right is the overexposed image of the sun, whereas the smaller, conical blob to the left is a sundog.

Based on what I have heard in reports, no normal natural or manmade object would move in the way described. However, of the photographic “evidence” presented so far … let’s just say that I have my doubts. One video on CNN shows a dot in the sky, which in several frames appears to show a flashing light highly indicative of an aircraft of human origin. However, this is a low-quality cell phone image, and certainly subject to some interpretation. I do not think that anything definitive can be said, and as such skepticism should rule.

What really bugs me, however, is a photo published by the Fort Worth Star Telegram a couple of days ago. Now, truth be told, I consider Fort Worth my adopted home town, and the Star Telegram (which I used to refer to, years ago, as the “Startle-gram”) is the hometown newspaper. For years it was the home paper of a favorite of mine, Molly Ivins.

However, the Star Telegram has hit a new low with the publication of a photo by a Kentucky truck driver, of what he called a “curious object” in the sky near Cisco (Eastland county, near Erath county where the majority of reports came). Now the trucker’s description of this as a “curious object” is not unreasonable. Although the object in the photo is neither alien nor greatly unusual, it is unfamiliar to many people. The photo very clearly shows what is known as a “sundog” or “mock sun,” a multi-colored image resulting from sunlight reflecting off ice crystals high in the atmosphere. Granted, this is not seen every day, but it is completely natural and well known. It is hardly unusual and certainly not alien. Given this, the further description given by the Kentucky truck driver is at best a major embellishment and, perhaps due to the excitement of the moment, a serious if not necessarily intentional fabrication.

Sundogs, which this unquestionably is, do not move or act in the manner the Kentucky truck driver described. I can’t say that he was drunk, but I would not be far off by saying the he was perhaps “absolutely chock clean through with wild blueberry muffins.” No sundog acts as described, and frankly this is this kind of garbage that gives a black eye to every legitimate claim of anything unusual in the sky. Instead of ranting and raving at me (which some UFO fanatics undoubtedly will do), those who believe in an honest investigation should spend time working to educate the media, whose mandate appears to present anything sensational, without any concern for reality or truth.

Now, again, I do not know what everyone who reported a UFO in the Stephenville area last week saw. But it is abundantly clear that at least some of the folks who were successful in getting media attention absolutely do not know what they are talking about. There are legitimate UFO researchers who believe that there is reason to investigate some UFO reports, and that they may conceivably be explained by extraterrestrial visits to Earth. I do not deny this as a possibility and I do agree that reasonable research needs to go forward. But I also feel that everyone needs to act logically, assess reasonably, and to rely on the concepts of science rather than emotion.

You can claim anything you want to if you don’t have any evidence that can be examined. There may turn out to be something to the Stephenville UFO reports. But until there is good evidence, it’s best not to make wild claims.