Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Mystery Missile!: "Theories" I

Yes, even though it's 6-months later, even though it was a mass sighting and even though there may be some very good theories out there, this event and the object remain a mystery—a UFO.

What do people think this was? Well, this question prompts a dialog that extends to the weird and improbable. Theories abound but breakdown to these general categories:


It was a missile: When UFO Blog first saw it on TV, it looked like a missile, especially because newscast after newscast repeated that the "missile" originated 35-miles off the coast of California, northeast of Santa Catalina Island. In fact, it looked exactly like a submarine launched ICBM. But UFO Blog was not alone; this thing was was dubbed "Mystery Missile" from the beginning by news organizations.


Delta-II rocket
The main problem with the "Missile Theory" is the object was moving slowly but missiles are fast. Also, the billowing contrail emanating from the object was voluminous. Compare the photo to the right to the image of the "Mystery Missile" above. The picture to the right is a Delta Rocket II, T+ 47-seconds. Despite the thinner contrail, the similarity to the "Mystery Missile" is striking.


Another quirk is the object on-top of the "Mystery Missile appears to glow or shimmer, similar to a missile. This phenomenon will be explained-away in the theory It was a jetliner contrail.


In the final analysis, the "Mystery Missile" appears to not be a missile at all, mainly because no one has claimed it (more on this next episode). All government military agencies immediately denied any knowledge of a launch, except for one 3-days before—a Delta II Rocket fired from Vandenberg.


Also, the Military seemed caught off-guard; if they had launched a missile, it is likely there would have been a quick cover story, Remember, they had just launched that Delta Rocket just a few days before. The Military, our protectors from goofy missiles, was clueless! If it were a missile, it would have been caught on radar. 


It was an accident: The proponents of this theory are oblivious to the fact that there is a careful protocol for initiating a military missile launch; requiring the participation of more than one individual. If it were purposely launched off the coast of Southern California in a crowded airspace next to a gigantic urban center in broad daylight, it would have been no accident. Why would an armed submarine be near Hollywood?


As Fox News put it "If a test missile or an accidental missile was launched in the region it would have either come from Naval Air Station Point Mugu or Vandenberg Air Force Base. At sea it could have come from a U.S. submarine or a surface ship." But  from the get-go all Military or Aeronautic Agencies have denied any knowledge of a missile launch—including NORAD.


Continued