A UFOlogoist’s lot is not a happy one

News today of a Policeman who has compiled an online database of UFO sightings. There are two interesting things about this. Firstly – the reports are all from policemen, and hence the kind of people one would hope would be level-headed about this sort of thing. Secondly, the copper who has compiled them has managed to act like a quality-filter and brought the really interesting stories to the fore – for example, by finding several more CE2s of which I was not previously aware. This incidentally was one of my gripes against the material released by the Ministry of Defence: this and the fact that although they released all in bulk, they made no attempt to flag up any interesting bits.

What puzzles me most, though, is why UFOs – if they are indeed extraterrestrial craft – should be seen above the British Isles at all. Human rocket-scientists have found that the best place from which to launch a spaceship is as close to the Equator as possible – because then such a craft can make best use of the Earth’s rotation. This, incidentally, is why the Apollo landings took place in the Sea of Tranquility: because it lies on the Moon’s equator, this would assist the astronauts in launching from the Moon and returning to Earth.

Hence, if our extraterrestrial brethren are visiting us, one would assume they know at least as much about celestial mechanics as we do, and hence would concentrate their visits to Earth along our own Equator, the easier to make a quick getaway when it is time to leave. By rights therefore, the further away from the Equatorial regions a UFO is sighted, the less likely it is to be an extraterrestrial visitor.

This makes me think of a top-tip for speculating on real-estate on the Moon! We can assume that if anyone is going to make a go of settling on the Moon, one of the first things that will happen is that a Spaceport will be built, i.e. a permanent take-off / landing facility. This we can guess will be situated on the Luna Equator. It stands to reason therefore that the most valuable Luna real-estate will be that which is closest to the putative spaceport, i.e. nearest the Luna Equator, while the least valuable will be the most far away.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. The website of the policeman who has compiled all the UFO reports is here.