> -----Original Message-----
> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu]On Behalf
> Of Bob Axtell
> Sent: 17 March 2007 23:14
> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> Subject: Re: [EE] UFO
> 
> 
> Vasile Surducan wrote:
> > http://www.ufoevidence.org/photographs/section/recent/photo416.htm
> >
> > I hope UFO is not about religion, right ?
> >
> > Vasile
> >   
> I will not say anything against these photos.
> 
> One night in Garland, TX, my apartment neighbors and I watched an orange 
> disk fly over the
> apartment for about 15 minutes, witnessed by my first wife as well as no 
> less than 50 of my
> apartment mates, including two policemen. I was just a month less than 
> 20 years old. Made the
> local newspaper.
> 
> Haven't decided whether it was from outer space or from the future (or 
> past), but it really
> doesn't matter, does it? Who cares what I think? It certainly was an 
> interesting, never-forgotten
> evening...
on the subject of UFOs i remember a TV programme called "a very british ufo hoax" which followed a team whose goal was to produce a UFO hoax, they suceeded too!

one thing to remember is that the 3D infromation that results from having a pair of eyes rather than just one is only good for relatively short distances (i don't know the exact figures but i know its pretty short). Beyond that the only information our eyes give us is angle which is roughly equivilent to size/distance (times some constant). From this and a known approximate size we can figure out approximate distance.

however with a UFO people do not even have a rough idea of size, the result is a relatively small model (iirc the flying saucer they made in the TV program was a couple of meters accross) flying over at low altitude can be mistaken for something much much bigger.

in other words any size estimates of a UFO given by eyewitnesses are guesses based on thier preconceptions of UFOs (from movies etc) not usable data.



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