Earth Lights and Real UFOs

A large collection of sky located phenomena has been called Unidentified Flying Objects, flying saucers, alien driven space ships and even secret domestic military aircraft. Almost all of it has alternative explanations and the amateur observer can identify what kind of phenomenon they are observing by understanding a few ground rules. Most of what we see can fall into four main categories being, earth lights, genuine UFOs, misidentified objects like planets, clouds and the like and finally, fakes and forgeries.

Earth lights are thought to be the result of dynamic stresses in the earth's crust that causes changes in electrical conductivity and that this can couple with the geomagnetic field and atmosphere. As tensions build in seismically active areas, the rocks on either side of the fault begin to break apart at the atomic level. The conductivity of the region increases, allowing charges to dissipate into the atmosphere to create a variety of earth light phenomenon that typically manifest just prior to an earthquake and sometime after. Earth lights were seen in China prior to the earthquake near the Tibetan border. In New Zealand, the skies according to first hand witnesses lit up like an aurora just prior to the earthquakes in Christchurch. The March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan was also accompanied by earth lights before, during and after the main event. There were hundreds of aftershocks which accounts for the appearance of these lights after the main quake. In every instance, some notable characteristics emerge.

Earth lights can occur singularly or in random groups and this occur in the region where the earthquake rupture is about to snap with devastating results. In some cases, a bolt of lightning will erupt unpredictably from the ground. In most instances, ball lightning will manifest and these will float over the region, sometimes lasting for several minutes. In other cases, a bright light will form on the ground over a fault region and increase in intensity. This may go on for several minutes and cause aberrations in the atmosphere giving a distorted appearance of surrounding regions that appear to shimmer and shift. Smaller lights will shoot out of or coalesce into the larger ground based light that can be very bright. Earth lights almost always emerge from the earth and can be multiple, dim or very bright and singular. They may leap up or remain fixed to the ground. Sometimes they can manifest in large numbers and are sometimes called orbs. There are some reports that earth lights can emerge from the ocean, but this is unconfirmed.

Earth lights are now thought to be a precursor to earthquakes and may precedes them by hours or weeks. A general rule of thumb seems to be that the brighter and longer lasting the light, the more severe the earthquake. Those who are astute to such things, take note and prepare accordingly, especially if animal signs accompany these manifestations. If near a coast, they will follow the animals into the hills, or if in the water, make for the deep ocean away from the coast.

Earth lights can last for several minutes, appear out of thin air and disappear into thin air too. This is often described as characteristic of some UFOs and is thought by some as aliens appearing out of another dimension or a parallel universe. Both of these ideas are hypothetical at best and the ephemeral earth light appears to be the best explanation given the physics. In addition, this phenomenon exhibits sharp starts, stops and angular maneuvers. By contrast, they are often slow moving and desultory in their movement. Where they occur in groups of two or more, the motion and brightness are random and uncoordinated between multiple lights that reflects natural phenomenon that are subject to air currents and electrical paths of least resistance. UFOs are a different category altogether.

The true Unidentified Flying Object or flying saucer travel singularly with seeming deliberate purpose or in organized groups like geese will fly in a “V” formation or other artificial looking pattern. These will often fly with seeming purpose or toward a specific destination. These objects may emerge from the earth, the sea or the sky and exhibit behavior as described or hover motionless in a particular spot. UFOs or flying saucers are mot associated with earthquakes, but are often seen near power sources like electrical hubs or nuclear plants. Good sightings can be brief in duration or last for hours. Sometimes people will be lucky enough to capture some pictures of video footage, which display the characteristics of organized formations where a few or more are present. UFOs have been know to hover or travel at incredible speed with seeming purposeful and directed movement. Sometimes we get a close enough view to discern a definite shape and configuration. UFO brightness is uniform, but may increase as speed changes. They are mot known to cause visual aberrations or distortions, but they are known to emit beams of light that are similar to the appearance of a laser.

Natural or man made objects have been confused with the genuine UFO in cases of mistaken identity. Among these are the planet Venus and lenticular clouds. Man made objects that cause confusion can be weather balloons, unfamiliar aircraft or even a near earth satellite making a fatal reentry into the atmosphere.Then there are the secret and not so secret military craft that are true saucers. Sometimes this is what people see and these are driven by people and not aliens.

Earth lights and UFOs have some similarities. Light beams have been seen projected from both. In addition, they are usually poorly resolved in videos and photos. The trouble is that most of the evidence that we have is of poor quality and there is a large amount of faking going on that compounds the problem. There are ways to spot fakes, but it will take some sleuthing in these days of expert fakery and counterfeiting. As there are plenty of programs and courses on video manipulation, producing fantasy and fakes is a foregone conclusion, especially since you can get accreditation in an art of film school for doing just this kind of thing. There are ways to crop and superimpose images one upon another and to fuzz the edges just enough to create a good blend. Thus a toy object that looks a little like a saucer can be superimposed on a scenic background to effect a UFO photo. A silver sprayed Frisbee will do just fine. You might even throw it and photograph it in flight and have the camera on a slow setting to create a blur. Poorer photos will show mismatched pixellation between different parts. Videos are far harder to edit and hide the pixelation. Experts look for this to expose fakes and discredit all UFO sightings. Then there is magicians wire that is almost impossible to see even close up with the naked eye. This can be used to suspend objects to get that UFO photo that is really clear. Another trick is double exposure, but this is usually too evident and is not used for most fakes.