UFO!!!!!

[Diadem]

Upon departure this morning, well before sunrise, I noticed what appeared to be an aircraft beacon on the horizon, pulsing steadily between white and red. This was in an extremely remote part of the country, and it was so early in the morning that I didn't expect anyone else to be anywhere nearby. There was no one else in the area talking to centre or calling on 126.7, and it appeared that we were closing on them, so I waited to catch up to them and see who it was; I had a faint hope it was a Russian interloper and I would get to see a Bear intercepted by a CF-18. Every time we seemed to get closer to them, however, they pulled away, and occasionally appeared to turn back and forth. After a few minutes the beacon went from a steady red-white-red flashing to red-white-green-white-red, as though the aircraft were orbiting. After some time, without getting any closer, I began to suspect that it might not in fact be an aircraft, and a quick look at the Air Almanac confirmed that it was, in fact, Venus. Being so close to the horizon, the atmosphere refracted its light in such a way that it appeared to pulse steadily and distinctly between red and white - and later red, white and green - at roughly the same frequency as an airplane's beacon. Without any distinct reference points near it, not even a star, autokinesis gave the impression that it was moving erratically.
The lesson is that the human brain is easily fooled, so we can't always trust our own eyes. If something seems unusual, approach it with some skepticism and seek a rational cause before resorting to pseudo-science for an explanation. Not every light which seems to be darting around the sky is a flying saucer.

[Meatservo]

I'm more surprised that a pilot has a current air almanac on board than I would be if I saw a genuine UFO...

[Beefitarian]

I hope you did the right thing and called it in before figuring out what it was.

[benoit.baril]

THE AIR ALMANAC IS A BIG CONSPIRACY...
THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE IT WAS VENUS.
IT WAS AN UFO.

[AirMail]

I'm glad you managed to avoid a collision with Venus, a maneuver only a few (one) pilot has managed to accomplish. Congrats!

[Diadem]

I'm glad you managed to avoid a collision with Venus, a maneuver only a few (one) pilot has managed to accomplish. Congrats!

Ha! I considered making mention of that particular event, particularly in regards to how similar Venus actually looked to an aircraft's lighting. I wasn't as well-rested as that pilot though, which could explain why he took evasive manoeuvres while I just daydreamed about scrambling fighters.

[DHCdriver]

I personally ran into 2 UFO's in our local coffee shop, nice guys( Ukranian Farmers from Ontario ).

[x-wind]

I've got the an iPad with the Star Walk app. You point it towards the celestial body and it shows it's name & constellations etc. I've tried a few apps and I recommend the Star Walk.

[bmc]

I've got the an iPad with the Star Walk app. You point it towards the celestial body and it shows it's name & constellations etc. I've tried a few apps and I recommend the Star Walk.

...and if you pointed it at yourself, it would identify it as Uranus? bada bing

[Expat]

I've got the an iPad with the Star Walk app. You point it towards the celestial body and it shows it's name & constellations etc. I've tried a few apps and I recommend the Star Walk.

My S3 does it also...
It could also find the ka band satellite needed to point our internet dish!

[Expat]

I've got the an iPad with the Star Walk app. You point it towards the celestial body and it shows it's name & constellations etc. I've tried a few apps and I recommend the Star Walk.

...and if you pointed it at yourself, it would identify it as Uranus? bada bing

Useful to find the kling ons, though!

[I WAS Birddog]

Air Almanac confirmed that it was, in fact, Venus....

wait...there's more

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/20 ... 54374.html

[Beefitarian]

That was yesterday. We should have went to check it out.