How should I report a UFO sighting?

Originally posted by Palasheea
At any rate, there is a lot of UFO activity going on over the lake and my only hope is that FreezeThought's presentation and subsequent banning from this forum will not have a negative influence on those reports of sighting by others, like myself, who live by or on the lake who are hoping to capture some of those UFO's that are flying up there and then showing it here on ATS.

ABSOLUTELY NOT. If you get footage, present it with ALL the known facts and you're not trying to hoax a community of people THIS SMART you'll NEVER have a problem here.

Originally posted by Palasheea
Looking forward for the new ATS UFO Reporting Center! It's about time that something like this is being set up here where we know that our photo's and movies will also be shown with our reports. Davenport's site does not include photo's and movies sent in by witness's ... at least the vast majority of them, at least at this time, but the fact that ATS's center will include that information with those reports will make it THE UFO CENTER to visit to see what new sightings are being seen out there at any given time.
This is very exciting!

Just realize this is a HUGE coding project and it is ging to take time. Like everything else we do here at ATS, this is going to be "First Class" or we won't put it out there.

Springer...

Oh I'm absolutely certain it's going to be the BEST Ufo Center on the net! And however long it's going to take to set it up... it will be worth the wait!
Keep us updated and can't wait to see what you all come up with!

[edit on 21-2-2007 by Palasheea]

I've been giving this concept of the online reporting form some more thought Springer.

There will probably be many that won't have the opportunity to photograph of videotape their sightings... And many will not take the time out of their schedules to sketch or draw what they've seen either. So what if there was a easy identifier chart that they could click on or numerically choose the closest representation of what it is they claim to have witnessed.

For example:





And I don't believe I've ever seen any form that had such a concept before... And it would be easier for the witness and bring those reading the report one step closer of an idea of what the witness saw.


Johnny

[edit on 2-3-2007 by JohnnyAnonymous]

That's an outstanding idea. Is that image your creation? If so will you license use to use it? If not, can you tell me where you got it so I can ask the creator for permission to use it?

Springer...

Johnny A i think your idea will help ALOT.

Many people cannot get their vision across. With the chart they could relate to an image helping in many ways.

Originally posted by Springer
That's an outstanding idea. Is that image your creation? If so will you license use to use it? If not, can you tell me where you got it so I can ask the creator for permission to use it?

Springer...

I wish I could take credit for that chart but I've had that in my 'toolbox' for quite some time now.. I will attempt to sift through the 1000's of bookmarks I have to find it for you... If were unable to find the source of it, I will volunteer to create a similar (and more up to date as there are other shapes not listed in this one) version that ATS could call their own... and not have to worry about any licensing..

UPDATE
I did find that same photo/jpeg of the "UFO ID Chart" while I was searching on Google, but I will add that the one I originally found was located on a different UFO site.. this linked site appears to no longer be updated. It also appears to be copied (perhaps from the same site I found mine at) as it appears to be close but not as clean of a copy as the one I have..

www.geocities.com...

[[FOOTNOTE: I will keep searching through my bookmarks for the original ID Chart.]]

I'd like to also throw this concept into the mix. There are a number of Photos and 'frame-stills' from film and video that also could be used as another means of helping the witness identify the shape for their report. Thumbnails or small-sized photos such as what are on this website could be utilized. And what may be missing (in the future or present) could be added by an artists rendition.

www.uforth.com...
www.geocities.com...


Another link that has a very basic Shape identifier is here:

stormbear.com...



Another couple of interesting illustrations and articles from the MUFON UFO Investigators manual and formulated by Vallee are here. The first link has another "Iconic" image for use in sightings... I feel it also could be useful if not as a model for ATS to create for our reporting form.

mufondfw.org...


This next is of how to gauge the arcing/degrees of the sighting, again the concept of keeping it easy for the 'reporting witness':




UFO Size Estimator:

mufondfw.org...


And in regards to the evaluations of the reports themselves The MUFON group has a online evaluation estimator that uses a point system for prioritizing a report and estimating the reliability of the report (for use by their investigators). It's very well thought out and we may be able to glean a few ideas from it also... I've used it a number of times and it is amazingly very accurate despite the different events reported..

mufondfw.org...

An excellent article with a wealth of astute information is here, entitled:
"Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports
The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the
Pocantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York
September 29 - October 4, 1997"

www.scientificexploration.org...

A excellent article entitled "BlurFOS are not UFO's" is very informative with photos and illustrations on how we can be easily deceived by the "I didn't see it, but the camera captured something" department:

www.rense.com...


EDIT (TYPO's) & (Updated info)

[edit on 8-3-2007 by JohnnyAnonymous]

Why would anyone one to report a UFO?

Like life is not hard enough as it is, just be happy that you saw one is what I say

I never reported it, but I saw a very close UFO in July of 2003. Would it be a waste of time to report the sighting now?

It is totally up to yourself whether you report, but from what I ve seen on the ufo tracker search engine, MOST reports seem to be long after the initial sighting, so it is not unusual at all. People are naturally reluctant to come forward, but the sighting stays with them because they can't explain it. Where and to what you report to is definately worth considering, but most legitamate organizations very much appreciate it as at the very least it allows them to correlate with other possible sightings in the area. If no one reports, then the possibility of discovering other witnesses in the area is nil.

Originally posted by Esq
Is it possible to see an orbiting satellite with the naked eye on a clear day? I mean, just looking up and seeing what looks to be a spinning satellite, out of pure chance...is it probable? I know what I saw, but people have told me this isn't possible at all. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yes it is possible, but the conditions need to be right. If the sun is high in the sky (around mid-day), it is less lightly, but towards the start of the day, and the end, when the sun is lower in relation to the horizon, the chances of seeing one are much higher. A "daylight flare" as it's called, is quite a common event, but goes un-noticed by most usually, since they can be hard to see unless you are looking for them.

There is a web site which works out when a daylight flare will be visible if you give it the coordinates of your observing site. Here's the link

Go and try to observe some flares, but even if they look nothing like what you saw (sometimes tumbling space junk/satellites can just give off a brief intermittent flash, depending on the way they are tumbling), don't completely discount satellites. Sometimes a re-entering satellites or bits of junk can be seen burning up (they tend to look more like the images we saw as Columbia disintegrated). There is also a slim chance you saw a daylight meteor, as another possibility.

By the way, the web site above also shows the times for night time flares, which can be very spectacular, especially those from satellites belonging to the Iridium Network. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in UFOs go out and try to see these, just so when they do happen to observe one, by chance, they don't come here screaming that they've just seen a UFO!

Tip for anyone trying to pick which flare to watch: Go for the more NEGATIVE magnitude value flares. A "-8" is the brightest (for night time Iridium flares), and "0" is the dimmest. Each step in magnitude is 2.5x the last so, a "-8"mag. flare is 2.5 x brighter than a "-7".

Once you are out there, you can usually spot the satellite long before it catches a reflection from the sun and flares, if you have a clear, and dark sky, which is un-obstructed in the direction you need to look in. Getting away from city lights will help you in this respect.

Feel free to ask if you have any more questions on the subject.

Another good place to report sightings or encounters:

National UFO Reporting Center

They do a very good job of databasing the reports making them searchable and available to the public.

Originally posted by ShadowWorks
Why would anyone one to report a UFO?

Like life is not hard enough as it is, just be happy that you saw one is what I say

From my own perspective, I had an ET/UFO encounter 38 years ago. I never even saw a UFO after that until last August when I was taking a ferry from Edmonds to Kingston Washington and photographed a UFO from the ferry.

Then again I photographed a similar object this March of 2007, and then again on May 3rd.

I actually got a formation of six of these objects on May 3rd.



I would really like to hear from others who have seen and or photographed similar objects. Come visit my blog at www.eskimo.com... or forum at www.eskimo.com.... Yes, it's little tiny compared to ATS, but very much dedicated to the topic of ET/UFOs in an attempt to better understand the phenomena.

I've had my fair share of sightings but not as many in a formation as nookster had in his photo. I have seen only three ufos in a similar formation over brooklyn about four years ago, which appeared to look like metallic, close to spherical ,objects which I haven't encountered that type again even 'till this day.

haha! back in the day...

About 10 years ago I found an 'official' UFO report document, that was circulated around South Africa about 40 years ago.

All hogwash my grandmother said! (so sweet)

It was a lot like an accident insurance form. Explain the sighting, weather conditions, time, whereabouts...

I made copies (with my address where the official one used to be) and posted them up at my primary school in the hope that I'd find someone who's actually made contact. Cute little ufologist hard at work.

I'll try find one of the copies (no originals around I'm sure)

If you report a ufo to the government all your going to get is some feeble explanation nothing more thats what governments do is it not

reply to post by iamian

And make sure you know what it is your looking at cuz it may as well be a plane in the distance

I have not seen anyone talk about MUFON as a reporting site. They have investigators who will contact you to assist in determining if a ufo has a manmade explanation. I made a report at Mufon and an investigator has contacted me to talk about it further. At this point they seem very professional and thier reports page is more current than NUFORC, although NUFORC has a nice format to their database.

I think it is important to report ufos. I think it is important to discover trends in sightings and especially if one has a very close encounter. A ufo sighting in one location might be the exact same ufo someone else saw on the other side of the nation. As reporting becomes more common, the statistical data that could be derived could be beneficial in studying this very important phenomenom.

I hope this reply conforms to policy. In no way have I intended to violate any policy of this site.

reply to post by Gazrok


Thank you for this link. Even though I only had a brief encounter of a somewhat distant sighting I felt intrigued enough to submit a form. It was approximately 2 years ago. I wish I would've done this at the time.

Forget the media and the government. PUT IT all over the internet!!!!!!!!! that is the best thing to do nowadays. Oh and make copies of video and give it out to friends in case they take your original.

Tell your close-friends & family about your so-called UFO-sightings. They're the ones you should trust.