This astrophysicist says he knows what UFOs are
And he's from Harvard, so he's automatically right
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An article from Popular Science has been getting a fair bit of press since the weekend, which to my mind, tells us just how hungry the public still is for UFO news. Any UFO news. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, says nothing revolutionary in the article. That’s because there isn’t really anything revolutionary to report. That’s good enough for Popular Science, apparently.
In short, the article covers McDowell giving three explanations for UFO reports:
Rocket launches. A rocket spins out, or spews a cloud of gas that gets lit up by the sun against a black sky, and makes an incredible colorful display;
Spacecraft and satellites. The classic Starlink train of satellites, or the brilliant ISS, or the re-entry of space debris leaving brilliant streaks in the night sky;
Celestial objects. As he notes "Venus is the classic UFO,” and it is, still responsible for more UFO reports than anything else in the sky. But other bright planets and objects have their place too.
It’s a fine list, and of course it’s correct, but it’s also incomplete; and does not include the explanations for most of today’s most popular UFO cases (the Navy videos, for example).