The Houston UFO?

[Valica]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/hundr ... 7031236832

This UFO was seen hovering over Houston during a rainstorm last week by hundreds of residents.
FINALLY, a picture of a UFO that is not a badly photoshopped flying cigar.
And not just one image.
Hundreds of people reported seeing a ring of blinking lights in the sky above Houston during a lightning storm last week.
Plenty of them had cameras.
Photographs and videos of the event have been circulating on social media, generating interest on social media.
The Huffington Post actually ran a poll on “The Texas UFO”.
Some of the best footage was recorded by Houston musician Andrew Pena.
He says he was videoing the spectacular lightning show while driving along the Interstate 45 freeway in the city’s south.
He also said he didn't realise what he had until he played it back at home.
The video, which shows bright lights moving around in the sky, has been called both “amazing” and “nothing” by UFO-logists and skeptics alike.
“I think the trick with UFOs is figuring out what else they could be,” Dr. Carolyn Summers, VP for astronomy at the HMoNS, told KPRC-TV.
“It’s easy to say that it could be aliens. The more people who see it in different directions, the more likely we are to figure out what it is.”
The UFO hovering in the clouds over Houston was seen by hundreds of people.
Mutual UFO Network chief investigator Fletcher Gray dismissed the object as “no more than light trapped in the side window” of Mr Pena’s car.
The UFO was reportedly hovering less than 20km from the Johnson Space Center.
This has lead others to speculate it could have been NASA testing its latest toy, a “supersonic flying saucer” which was launched from Hawaii.
The device, officially named Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, imitates the rapid inflation technique of the Hawaiian puffer fish.
The aim is to reduce the speed of descending spacecraft, making it easier to land on planets like Mars.
Other theories include a weather balloon, the reflection of a street light, stadium lights and an unmanned drone.
So far there has been no official explanation and no word from NASA.

Check out the article and all the pictures.
I saw this explode on Twitter when it happened.

I don't think I've ever seen such a mass-sighting of a UFO with evidence and pictures from tons of angles.

What do you guys think? Military Aircraft, UFO, or bullshit?

EDIT: I edited the article quote for formatting, visit the link for more detail.

[Dumb Ideologies]

"Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus".

[Valica]

"Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus".

Well that's 150% bullshit.

[Farnhamia]

It's an unidentified flying object, that's all. That means it's a flying object that no one can identify right off. "UFO" is not a synonym for "aliens."

[Novia Soviet Socialist Republic]

It's bizarre to say the least.

[Valica]

It's an unidentified flying object, that's all. That means it's a flying object that no one can identify right off. "UFO" is not a synonym for "aliens."

Slang and common use of words can change their meaning, though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change

UFOs are so immediately related to alien activity that we use the term to describe possible alien aircraft.

C'mon Farn.

But on a more general note, you are right. It has not been officially identified.

[The Fascist American Empire]

Fake. Hoax. Gobblety-goop. Whatever you want to call it, it isn't an alien spacecraft.

IF in the unlikely scenario it is real, it was a military experiment. Whether American, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, or whoever-ese.

[Farnhamia]

It's an unidentified flying object, that's all. That means it's a flying object that no one can identify right off. "UFO" is not a synonym for "aliens."

Slang and common use of words can change their meaning, though.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change

UFOs are so immediately related to alien activity that we use the term to describe possible alien aircraft.

C'mon Farn.

Yeah, yeah, I know but it's ridiculous. I'm surprised you got this far without anyone posting "I'm not saying it's aliens but ..."

[Ifreann]

It's an unidentified flying object, that's all. That means it's a flying object that no one can identify right off. "UFO" is not a synonym for "aliens."

Slang and common use of words can change their meaning, though.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change

UFOs are so immediately related to alien activity that we use the term to describe possible alien aircraft.

C'mon Farn.

Farn makes a valid point. You don't know what this flying object is, why assume aliens? Why even consider the possibility?

[Valica]

Fake. Hoax. Gobblety-goop. Whatever you want to call it, it isn't an alien spacecraft.

Then what is it? Obviously you were there and have evidence that the rest of society does not, else you wouldn't make that claim, right?

[Dumb Ideologies]

Any crop pyramids or cow circles been spotted?

[Valica]

Any crop pyramids or cow circles been spotted?

They are literally everywhere, Bob.

[Valica]

Slang and common use of words can change their meaning, though.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change

UFOs are so immediately related to alien activity that we use the term to describe possible alien aircraft.

C'mon Farn.

Farn makes a valid point. You don't know what this flying object is, why assume aliens? Why even consider the possibility?

Because we've never seen a circular aircraft with glowing fluorescent lights hovering over a large city before.
That and the US government and NASA have declined to comment on it.

That's why we consider aliens.

[Aequalitia]

"Weather balloon reflecting off the surface of Mercury"....

I serious stop reading at there. Now serious, it can likely be just a weather balloon but likely it is just light reflection from something on the ground.

Also, tinfoil.

[Valica]

"Weather balloon reflecting off the surface of Mercury"....

I serious stop reading at there. Now serious, it can likely be just a weather balloon but likely it is just light reflection from something on the ground.

Also, tinfoil.

I doubt it's a reflection if that many people saw it from that many angles.
And it was moving around the sky. Usually reflections don't behave like they did in the video.

[Ifreann]

Farn makes a valid point. You don't know what this flying object is, why assume aliens? Why even consider the possibility?

Because we've never seen a circular aircraft with glowing fluorescent lights hovering over a large city before.
That and the US government and NASA have declined to comment on it.

That's why we consider aliens.

But that makes no sense. NASA not commenting doesn't imply aliens. The US government not commenting doesn't imply aliens. A flying object you can't identify doesn't imply aliens. In fact, the only reason I can see to raise the possibility would be because you already believe it's aliens.

[Valica]

Because we've never seen a circular aircraft with glowing fluorescent lights hovering over a large city before.
That and the US government and NASA have declined to comment on it.

That's why we consider aliens.

But that makes no sense. NASA not commenting doesn't imply aliens. The US government not commenting doesn't imply aliens. A flying object you can't identify doesn't imply aliens. In fact, the only reason I can see to raise the possibility would be because you already believe it's aliens.

If it wasn't NASA or the US government, then it wouldn't be overtop a large US city.
If it somehow managed to get there undetected, that would imply stealth technology unknown to humans.

[Aequalitia]

"Weather balloon reflecting off the surface of Mercury"....

I serious stop reading at there. Now serious, it can likely be just a weather balloon but likely it is just light reflection from something on the ground.

Also, tinfoil.

I doubt it's a reflection if that many people saw it from that many angles.
And it was moving around the sky. Usually reflections don't behave like they did in the video.

We all know that there are lamps who can move 360 at all angles? I guess we should look there what the cause is.

[The Fascist American Empire]

Fake. Hoax. Gobblety-goop. Whatever you want to call it, it isn't an alien spacecraft.

Then what is it? Obviously you were there and have evidence that the rest of society does not, else you wouldn't make that claim, right?

Because it's the same flipping story every time. "Bright blinking lights! spaceship! Blah blah blah!" Besides, our planet is in the most out of the way system in the entire galaxy. Why would it be cost-effective for aliens to come here? If they have, why would they bother to come back? As far as resources go, we don't have that much, unless your talking water, over 99% of which needs to be desalinated anyway. And don't even get started on food, if aliens came here, they couldn't eat anything from this planet because they didn't evolve the capability.

Plus, if they are advanced enough to make it here, then obviously they would have to be advanced enough to receive and translate our news feeds. Surely that could drive anybody away.

[Farnhamia]

Farn makes a valid point. You don't know what this flying object is, why assume aliens? Why even consider the possibility?

Because we've never seen a circular aircraft with glowing fluorescent lights hovering over a large city before.
That and the US government and NASA have declined to comment on it.

That's why we consider aliens.

Aliens as an explanation has the least credibility of anything proposed. NASA hasn't commented on UFO sightings in decades, if ever. And you don't know that it was an aircraft, what you have are pictures of a ring of glowing lights. "We don't know what that was" is a reasonable explanation, there's no need to drag extraterrestrial beings into it.

[Ifreann]

But that makes no sense. NASA not commenting doesn't imply aliens. The US government not commenting doesn't imply aliens. A flying object you can't identify doesn't imply aliens. In fact, the only reason I can see to raise the possibility would be because you already believe it's aliens.

If it wasn't NASA or the US government, then it wouldn't be overtop a large US city.

That they haven't commented doesn't mean they weren't involved or don't know anything.

If it somehow managed to get there undetected, that would imply stealth technology unknown to humans.

What makes you think it was undetected? What makes you think there was anything to detect? What makes you think that humans don't have stealth technology?

[Valica]

Then what is it? Obviously you were there and have evidence that the rest of society does not, else you wouldn't make that claim, right?

Because it's the same flipping story every time. "Bright blinking lights! spaceship! Blah blah blah!" Besides, our planet is in the most out of the way system in the entire galaxy. Why would it be cost-effective for aliens to come here? If they have, why would they bother to come back? As far as resources go, we don't have that much, unless your talking water, over 99% of which needs to be desalinated anyway. And don't even get started on food, if aliens came here, they couldn't eat anything from this planet because they didn't evolve the capability.

Plus, if they are advanced enough to make it here, then obviously they would have to be advanced enough to receive and translate our news feeds. Surely that could drive anybody away.

I'm sure if Humans gained the ability to travel FTL, we would definitely observed a species for a long time before making ourselves known.
Why do humans study animals? We aren't taking their food or water. We aren't gaining resources.
It's not cost-effective to build zoos and institutes where we can study animals, but we do it nonetheless.
It's about information and expanding our knowledge.
I'd assume we look primitive to any alien species that has technology advanced enough to get here.

[Shove Piggy Shove]

Because it's the same flipping story every time. "Bright blinking lights! spaceship! Blah blah blah!" Besides, our planet is in the most out of the way system in the entire galaxy. Why would it be cost-effective for aliens to come here? If they have, why would they bother to come back? As far as resources go, we don't have that much, unless your talking water, over 99% of which needs to be desalinated anyway. And don't even get started on food, if aliens came here, they couldn't eat anything from this planet because they didn't evolve the capability.

Plus, if they are advanced enough to make it here, then obviously they would have to be advanced enough to receive and translate our news feeds. Surely that could drive anybody away.

I'm sure if Humans gained the ability to travel FTL, we would definitely observed a species for a long time before making ourselves known.
Why do humans study animals? We aren't taking their food or water. We aren't gaining resources.
It's not cost-effective to build zoos and institutes where we can study animals, but we do it nonetheless.
It's about information and expanding our knowledge.
I'd assume we look primitive to any alien species that has technology advanced enough to get here.

FTL travel is impossible.

[Valica]

I should clarify, I'm not saying it was aliens.
I just believe that it's as valid as some of the explanations given by officials within the article.
Until more evidence is available, if that happens, you should not dismiss extraterrestrial activity simply because you don't believe in it.

[Farnhamia]

Because it's the same flipping story every time. "Bright blinking lights! spaceship! Blah blah blah!" Besides, our planet is in the most out of the way system in the entire galaxy. Why would it be cost-effective for aliens to come here? If they have, why would they bother to come back? As far as resources go, we don't have that much, unless your talking water, over 99% of which needs to be desalinated anyway. And don't even get started on food, if aliens came here, they couldn't eat anything from this planet because they didn't evolve the capability.

Plus, if they are advanced enough to make it here, then obviously they would have to be advanced enough to receive and translate our news feeds. Surely that could drive anybody away.

I'm sure if Humans gained the ability to travel FTL, we would definitely observed a species for a long time before making ourselves known.
Why do humans study animals? We aren't taking their food or water. We aren't gaining resources.
It's not cost-effective to build zoos and institutes where we can study animals, but we do it nonetheless.
It's about information and expanding our knowledge.
I'd assume we look primitive to any alien species that has technology advanced enough to get here.

You're grasping at straws now. It would be very cool if it were an alien spacecraft. As the 1st Baron Keynes said, "When the data changes, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" Right now, "We don't know" is the most reasonable answer. Talk about cost-effectiveness and zoos is irrelevant.