At the beginning of July, many countries around the world celebrate a holiday called UFO Day. However, this tradition originated in the United States, when in 1947 a real “flying saucer” crashed near the small town of Roswell (New Mexico).
It should be noted that contacts with UFOs were not uncommon for Americans in the second half of the 40s of the twentieth century. Skeptics explained this by testing new secret aircraft.
Several decades have passed, but neither amateur enthusiasts nor scientists have been able to find out whether a UFO exists. However, “” have firmly established themselves not only on the pages of mystical magazines, but also in some scientific publications.
Secret weapon?
Let's assume that the famous "flying saucers" were designed not by aliens from outer space, but by ordinary scientist-engineers. In this case, UFO eyewitnesses could observe not alien guests, but classified advanced technologies.
Why is nothing known about the development of such technology? The answer is obvious - it is beneficial for its inventors to maintain secrecy. An unregistered aircraft capable of stealthily entering the territory of a mock enemy is an important strategic advantage.
In the 80s of the last century, the territory of the Soviet Union was literally flooded with UFOs. In the Urals, a “flying saucer” was noticed on April 26, 1989. Around the same time, numerous unidentified objects appeared over the Yenisei. In December 1989, Krasnoyarsk law enforcement officers, who arrived on call, observed dark aircraft illuminated by multi-colored lights for some time. The objects hovered over power lines supplying electricity to the aluminum smelter. This encounter with a UFO received wide publicity in the press.
UFO over Alaska
I was lucky enough to personally find out whether a UFO exists 
passengers on a Boeing flight from Paris to Anchorage in 1986. The flight proceeded without any incidents until two unidentified objects “hovered” on the left side of the airliner. The “plates” accompanied flight 1628 for half an hour.
It should be noted that suspicious objects came under American radar, and all records and evidence of this incident were confiscated by FBI representatives. However, it is known for certain that the “flying saucers” were observed by more than 200 people. Not all contacts with UFOs take place in the presence of so many witnesses.
The sad incident of Captain Schultz
Think twice about whether you really want to find out if a UFO really exists? Your psyche may not be able to withstand this spectacle and play a cruel joke on you. In 1981, Captain Schultz flew over Lake Michigan in a small passenger plane. Suddenly, a silvery, round-shaped object appeared on the starboard side. Along the circumference of the “plate” there were protrusions resembling portholes.
For about five minutes, the alien ship was accompanied by Captain Schultz's plane. Then he picked up fantastic speed and literally disappeared over the horizon in a split second.
Two years later, Captain Schultz was admitted to a psychiatric clinic with a nervous disorder. A year later he died. The assistant who accompanied the pilot during the ill-fated flight over Lake Michigan has left aviation.
Does a UFO really exist? Or are there secret developments, optical illusions, and also? So far, ufologists and skeptics have not been able to come to a consensus on this matter. We can only hope that someday the universe will reveal its secrets...
An unidentified flying object remains one of the most misunderstood mysteries for humanity to this day. So are they there or not? We will try to figure this out!
Undoubtedly, there are many others along with our civilization. We do not have concrete evidence, we can only make assumptions that are based on the visions of many people in villages, forests and even at home. Many scientists do not recognize the existence of UFOs, but try to justify the appearance of saucers as atmospheric phenomena or some objects whose existence they can scientifically prove.
There are people who see alien ships and saucers in any celestial object. Many people claim that aliens took them for experiments or simply tried to make contact with them. Most often, these people are recognized as not entirely normal. Doctors assume that they have experienced some kind of stress, or that their head is not all right.
On television we see less and less of those people who allegedly saw aliens; now they are increasingly talking about the end of the world, about the secrets of ancient cities. Newspapers avoid this topic, considering it impossibly outdated and hackneyed.
The media also claim that with today's technology it is possible to present to the world at least every day that UFO objects exist. But every person who, one way or another, has encountered moments that directly indicate that aliens exist will disagree with us.
How can one prove that aliens exist?
Probably, this requires some photographs with attached documents of national importance, which really confirm the existence of alien creatures. After all, there are also ufologists who can provide you with evidence that can give you reason to think that UFOs exist. These are supposedly fragments of heavenly ships and the bodies of aliens. Some people believe in this, while others still consider these to be old wives’ tales and tales.
The question of whether aliens exist has worried humanity for many years. Enough time has passed since people began to study space, but even today no one is able to definitively confirm or refute the fact of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. If there is no other life outside our planet, then how can we explain the appearance of mysterious objects in the sky? And why are there no photographs and videos proving the presence of aliens on Earth? Today no one can give unambiguous answers to these questions.
The birth of interest in UFOs
People started talking about aliens seriously in the 19th century. It was at this time that the first mentions of strange creatures visiting the Earth appeared. However, at that time no one called them aliens, and the cars in which they flew to our planet were UFOs. The question of whether there were aliens was of little concern to people in those days.
What fell near Roswell?
They began to study in detail the question of the possibility of the existence of intelligent life beyond the Earth in the middle of the last century. In 1947, information appeared in the media about the crash of an unidentified aircraft near the American city of Roswell (New Mexico). It was even rumored that the bodies of aliens in the UFO fell into the hands of the military. The news caused an unprecedented stir in society, but the American authorities managed to calm the public by declaring that it was not a flying saucer that fell near Roswell, but a weather balloon. But many were skeptical about this statement, being confident that an object of extraterrestrial origin crashed in New Mexico, and the US government hid this information and classified it from others.
What is behind the Roswell incident?
Was there contact with aliens back in 1947? History is silent about this, but over time, news of the UFO crash has acquired new rumors. Witnesses of the crash of an unidentified object said that they noticed scattered bodies of aliens around the plate. Their number, according to different indications, ranged from three to five. The governor of New Mexico claimed to have seen four small male creatures after the disaster, three of whom were dead. They all had large heads, huge eyes, and thin mouths. The administrator of the Roswell hospital also said that she looked at the bodies of dead aliens and remembers exactly that they had 4 fingers on their hands. There was also an eyewitness who claimed to have personally observed the surviving alien when he was in a military hospital. In addition, some military personnel who took part in cordoning off the disaster site admitted over time that they promised not to disclose to anyone what they saw near Roswell.
The testimony of eyewitnesses to the disaster largely coincided, but the US government never confirmed the version of a UFO crash in New Mexico. People interested in whether aliens exist have not received an answer to their question to this day. It is unknown what happened to the surviving alien, if he actually existed. The story of the fall of the mysterious object was called the Roswell incident and to this day attracts researchers of the unusual.
Contacts of ancient people with aliens: versions
Modern ufologists cannot completely confirm or deny the fact of the existence of intelligent life on other planets. But they have a lot of indirect evidence of the presence of mysterious creatures on Earth. Many scientists today are convinced that most ancient artifacts (Mayan complexes, pyramids in Egypt, Stonehenge, huge stone balls in Costa Rica, etc.) are of alien origin. They motivate their version by the fact that in ancient times humanity did not have the technologies and devices that would allow them to create such structures.
Did ancient people have contact with aliens? Ufologists, having examined drawings that are several thousand years old, are inclined to believe that aliens used to actively visit our planet and repeatedly caught the eye of people. Otherwise, why are there so many images of creatures with large heads and short bodies among examples of ancient art? Scientists are sure that unusual people are aliens, because people in ancient times sketched everything that surrounded them. But it is clear that this is only an assumption, since ancient images cannot be direct evidence of the presence of aliens on Earth.
Modern UFO eyewitnesses
If we can only guess about the visits of the inhabitants of other planets of the Earth in ancient times, then how should we treat the statements of our contemporaries who prove that they saw a UFO? News that flying saucers, spherical, cone-shaped or cylindrical objects have been spotted somewhere, constantly excites the minds of fans of the unknown. Could there really be doubts about whether aliens exist after this? Photos of UFOs taken by eyewitnesses are available to anyone today. They recorded mysterious aircraft or an incomprehensible glow in the sky. However, it often turns out that the captured object in the photo is a cloud, satellite or aircraft of an unusual design, and the mysterious light and flashes are a common atmospheric phenomenon. But it is possible that some photographs actually contain flying objects of extraterrestrial origin.
Encounters with aliens
What about people who claim to have come into contact with aliens and even been abducted by them? Practice shows that such statements are most often made by mentally ill people and should not be taken seriously. Representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations are usually endowed with great intelligence, so even if they visit Earth, they are unlikely to come into contact with humans and thereby reveal their existence. But even against the backdrop of such disappointing conclusions, ufologists do not cease to carefully study all the information about UFOs and aliens that they receive. It is not known whether there are aliens on Earth, but scientists tend to believe that there are guests from other civilizations on our planet and even have their own bases here, one of which is located in Crimea.
So should you believe in aliens?
Thanks to science fiction writers and films, people have formed the opinion that the alien looks like a small man with a large head, huge dark eyes, flabby skin and no genitals. But no one knows who representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations really look like. How can you tell if there are aliens? Photos of mysterious creatures appear in the media every now and then, but the authenticity of these photographs is questioned by scientists.
Many are confident that ufologists today have much more information about aliens than it seems to ordinary citizens. However, all information concerning life outside our planet is classified and therefore not available to the general population. One can only guess about the plausibility of this version. Only one thing is obvious: scientists today cannot or do not want to answer the question of whether aliens exist.
Are there other civilizations in the Universe besides humans? What exactly are unidentified flying objects? And why did people begin to constantly observe them in the second half of the 20th century?century?
These questions were answered by the director of the astronomical observatory of Irkutsk State University, professor at ISU, senior researcher at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics SB RAS, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Sergei Yazev. He gave a lecture “UFOs and everything, everything, everything: a revolution that we did not notice” at the “By the way” science festival in Novosibirsk on October 27.
Timeline of UFO studies
- The birth of a myth. In 1947, the so-called incident in the Cascade Mountains occurred in the United States, when American businessman Kenneth Arnold reported that while flying on his own plane he saw strange objects in the sky that looked like “flying saucers.”
- Research of the problem. Since 1952, official investigations began in the United States within the naval and air forces.
- Informal research in the USSR began in the 1970s, thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts, for example, the popularizer of astronomy and associate professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute Felix Siegel.
- Petrozavodsk phenomenon. On September 20, 1977, according to widespread eyewitness accounts, an object shaped like a jellyfish, with luminous rays diverging to the sides, appeared over Petrozavodsk. The investigation very soon showed that the object observed in the sky was a rocket launched at the same time from the Plesetsk military cosmodrome. It was this case that first hit the press and gave rise to the study of UFOs in the USSR.
- Official studies in 1978-1991 in the USSR. The “Grid” project was developed, which was carried out by two departments: the Ministry of Defense and the Academy of Sciences. Mass surveillance was carried out throughout the country, including with the help of military personnel and conscripts.
- Closing the problem for professionals. This happened back in the 1980s of the last century, but the topic of UFOs still excites ordinary people, ufologists and the media.
— I would like to quote a wonderful statement, which is called Occam’s razor: “The number of entities should not be increased beyond what is necessary.” This is a useful rule that often allows you to understand complex things,” Sergey Yazev began the story. – If your wallet is missing, then, of course, you can argue that it was stolen by the Martians, or that it fell apart into separate molecules, but for a start it’s a good idea to look in another bag or think about where you left it.
The work of human hands
“Scientists around the world have come to the same conclusion: 80% of all observed UFOs are our own missiles,” said Professor Yazev.
Flight of the Soyuz-2.1a medium-class launch vehicle with the Meridian communications spacecraft from the Plesetsk cosmodrome.
— It would seem, how can one confuse a rocket with a flying saucer? The fact is that as soon as the rocket rises high enough, we see only the engine flame and optical effects: a bright light source “plays” on the clouds, in the fog, emits rainbow rings, spirals, and so on. Moreover, the length of the engine flame at high altitudes is many hundreds of meters and even kilometers.
The most surprising thing is that it often does not occur to people that the observed phenomena may be related to some kind of cosmodrome. For example, Irkutsk is located three thousand kilometers from Baikonur, but when the Soyuz launches, it passes over us exactly eight minutes later, and at that time the third stage is over Altai. When we look at it from the observatory, it is an enchanting sight!
In 2009, residents of the Norwegian town of Tromso were stunned by a terrible sight: a luminous rotating spiral that flew out from behind a mountain. Well, what could be said about this? Of course, these are aliens - no options! In fact, this was a test of the Russian Bulava missile, which was launched from a submarine in the Barents Sea.
Tests of the Russian Bulava missile over the Norwegian city of Tromsø.
In the 70s of the last century, up to 120 satellites were launched annually in the Soviet Union from the Baikonur and Plesetsk cosmodromes, that is, every three days a satellite. Add to this the launches in the USA, China, France, Japan and you get more than 200 launches across the entire surface of the planet. All this is visible over vast areas, so people constantly saw a large number of strange effects in the sky, not understanding what was happening.
International statistics say that about 10% of all UFOs are cylinders, that is, devices that are lighter than air. If you look at them from afar, you may not recognize what's going on.
There are giant balloons that rise to great heights, there are sounding balloons, pilot balloons, and atmospheric observatories. They are carried by the wind for weeks - at an altitude of tens of kilometers, across all borders.
Aircraft are used for illumination during night exercises by the military, and ordinary citizens like to launch Chinese lanterns for any reason or occasion.
Another 10% of UFOs are terrestrial technology. Nowadays, all kinds of drones have become very common, the number of which will only grow. So, before talking about Martians, we must first go through all the above hypotheses.
The main idea is this: trying to reduce all unidentified flying objects to one cause is a dead end. There are a huge number of reasons.
Natural and mental phenomena
“It must be said that there are also natural phenomena, well studied or not, which are sometimes mistaken for something mystical: haloes, clouds, northern lights and others,” continued Sergei Yazev.
“Nowadays we most often look at the monitor or iPhone and rarely at the sky, so many natural things seem surprising. People who lived, say, in the 19th century saw the same halo every day, because in frosty weather, ice crystals in the air, when illuminated, always give optical effects. Physics described this a long time ago.
Or, for example, during volcanic activity, emissions of ash, particles of which rub against each other, are accompanied by electrical discharges - these are amazingly beautiful phenomena. In the second half of the 20th century, previously unknown strange electrical phenomena were discovered at high altitudes in the atmosphere (up to 100 kilometers), which were called sprites, elves and jets. These are very beautiful luminous figures that can be seen even from the ISS.
In October 1989, a powerful series of solar flares led to enormous magnetic storms and auroras everywhere, even at low latitudes. Our newspapers were full of reports that people saw some red luminous balls in the sky. This is also not a very common, but quite natural phenomenon.
A UFO is, to be honest, often a product of the human psyche. There are people who are convinced that this is all true. If in past centuries people talked about devils, demons, goblins, brownies, then in our time they talk about aliens - all this is written in textbooks on psychiatry.
The image of an alien that was once created by director Steven Spielberg turns out to be a standard picture for everyone. Any grandmother from the most distant village or child recognizes this image - this is already a cultural code.
A certain woman constantly calls our observatory and asks about the end of the world and alien invasion. We are wondering: where did you get this from? I watched REN-TV, she says. Don't watch REN-TV!
We must speak frankly: many UFOs are the product of conscious hoaxes. I myself did such things as a student: I hung the lid of a tank on a fishing line for developing photographs against the background of clouds, took photographs and published them in the local newspaper on April 1. No one could tell it was a fake! And nowadays, with the capabilities of Photoshop and the Internet, this is not a problem at all.
Sergei Yazev noted that the surge in reports of UFO sightings occurred in the second half of the 20th century, which exactly coincides with the beginning of the mass launch of satellites and rockets: in 1947, after the end of World War II, the American military began testing at its test site taken from defeated Germany German rockets.
Summarizing his story, Professor Yazev said:
- Despite the fact that science does not deny the possibility of the existence of intelligent life beyond the Earth, there is not a single reliable evidence of aliens visiting our planet today.
People have been arguing about whether aliens really exist or are just fictions and misconceptions for decades. But the search for extraterrestrial life does not stop.
I have collected 20 unusual facts that could confirm the existence of aliens, of course, for those who take such facts quite seriously.
1. Insurance against alien abduction
More than 20,000 people have purchased alien abduction insurance. There are insurance companies that are willing to pay $1 a year for the next million years to anyone who is abducted by aliens. If desired, you can insure yourself against alien abduction, extraterrestrial pregnancy, alien rapists and death caused by aliens.
2. Firefighters against UFOs
Some firefighters in the United States are trained to provide first aid in the event of a UFO accident or invasion. What's even more interesting is that they are also trained to help injured aliens.
3. They look at the Earth and see dinosaurs
If aliens 65 million light years away look at Earth through a telescope, they see dinosaurs. True, this will require a giant super-powerful telescope.
4. Aliens have already made contact with humans
Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, claimed that "aliens have made contact with humans several times." The lunar module astronaut also claimed that the government is still hiding the truth from the people.
5. Mathematical probability of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life
There is a 2% chance that alien life will be discovered within the next 10 years. The mathematical probability of intelligent life existing on other planets has been calculated by scientists from the University of East Anglia.
6. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is kidnapped by aliens
The Chairman of the International Chess Federation believes that chess was invented by aliens. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov from Kalmykia claims that he was abducted by aliens wearing yellow spacesuits on the night of September 17, 1997.
7. UFO Landing Pad
In an effort to attract tourists (and possibly aliens), the world's first UFO landing site was built in St. Paul, Alberta. It is a platform with a map of Canada painted on the wall. Below the platform are stones, with each stone taken from a specific Canadian province.
8. Apollo 11
On the third day of the Apollo 11 mission, its crew reported a strange flying object not far from the ship. Initially, the astronauts assumed that it was a stage of the SIV-B rocket. But later they received news that this stage was located 10,000 km away from them. NASA still can't explain what kind of object it was.
9. 17,129 nearest stars
Astronomers Margaret Turnbull and Jill Tarter from the Carnegie Institution in Washington have compiled a list of 17,129 nearby stars that should have planets suitable for highly organized life. Margaret argues that the planet must be at least three billion years old for intelligent life to evolve on it.
10. The first scientific attempt to contact aliens
Astronomer Frank Drake made the first scientific attempt to contact extraterrestrial beings in 1960. In his experiment, he used a 25-meter dish antenna to pick up signals from two nearby stars that resemble the Sun.
11. Egyptian frescoes
Some researchers claim that aliens visited the ancient Egyptians, telling them about future descendants. A number of Egyptian frescoes feature images of helicopters, submarines and jet aircraft.
12. Alien radio interception
Since 1995, the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California has been working on a project to scan more than 1,000 stars for alien radio communications. The cost of the project is $5 million per year, and it is financed from private sources. They hope the giant Allen Telescope Array will help pick up the signal by 2025.
13. Underground shelters on Mars
The most likely locations for alien life in the solar system: underground refuges on Mars, hot spots on Saturn's moon Enceladus (whose south pole is dotted with geysers), and Jupiter's moons Europa and Callisto (whose icy crust may hide oceans of water). And scientist David Grinspoon from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science believes that aliens could theoretically inhabit Venus, with its average temperature of 454 degrees Celsius.
14. Light circles in the sky
The earliest UFO sighting dates back to 1450 BC. The Egyptians noticed strange light circles in the sky.
15. Napoleon Bonaparte claimed that he was abducted by aliens
Napoleon Bonaparte claimed that he was abducted by aliens. He actually disappeared for several days in July 1794, and later said that he was kidnapped by strange people. It's hard to believe, but scientists have discovered tiny foreign objects in Napoleon's bones and said they could be microchips.
16. Barking Aliens
In 1957, Brazilian farmer Antonio Villas-Boas claimed that he was abducted by barking aliens who covered his body with gel and then mated with him. This was one of the first kidnapping stories to become known to the general public. Antonio was 23 years old at the time of his abduction.
17. Sexual experiments of aliens
In a 2003 Harvard study, 7 out of 10 people who claimed to have been abducted said they had been used for sexual experimentation by their alien abductors after being put into a hypnotic trance. Susan A. Clancy published a book in 2005 that attempts to explain scientifically what makes people truly believe in abductions.
18. People could scare aliens
Scientists attempted to describe humans to aliens in 1972: Carl Sagan and Frank Drake made a drawing of a naked man and woman. The drawing was placed on board the Pioneer 10 spacecraft.
19. Airbase, anti-aircraft guns, UFO
On February 24, 1942, Los Angeles Air Force Base received hundreds of reports of a UFO seen in the air. The UFO was repeatedly fired upon by anti-aircraft guns, but it remained undamaged.
20. Martian rock in Antarctica
Researchers recently discovered a Martian rock in Antarctica that contained fossilized traces of nanobacteria. There really could be life on Mars. Huge amounts of methane have been discovered on the planet. At the same time, on Earth, almost all methane is produced by living organisms.