Brittany Webb
Staff Writer
A UFO was spotted during a routine star gazing at Staerkel Planetarium this past Friday evening. At first, many thought it was just a shooting star, but when it stopped moving and started to blink different colors, it was apparent that it was not.
The Zeiss Model M1015 star projector is the centerpiece of Parkland’s Staerkel Planetarium. “Carl”, as it is called, can be used to show the movement of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets through the sky. The planetarium will be presenting the feature “Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity” in March.
The Planetarium director was mapping the evening skies when he first noticed something a little “off” but didn’t think too much of it. He thought it could have been a shooting star, satellite, or something along those lines. Later on, in the mapping sequence, he noticed it was still there and moving at a rapid pace. It was moving faster than a typical satellite would, but slower than a spacecraft from Earth.
“I had no idea what it was,” Program Director at the Planetarium Josh Yufome said. “But the first thing that crossed my mind was UFO.”
Yufome immediately consulted his colleagues to get their opinions. Unanimously, they were in agreement it was a UFO. This prompted them to show the night gazing attendees to get their opinions as well.
“I was shocked,” Sandy Squarepants said, a frequent planetarium goer. “I have never seen anything like it. It was as if the UFO was trying to speak to us, with the blinking lights and stuff.”
Star gazing evenings attract many people, including families, students, clubs and the general public. These nights start with a discussion on what is present in the night sky (visible planets, stars, galaxies) and then some traditional stargazing, with some interesting spots pointed out by program directors.
The UFO was spotted again just 30 minutes into the 2 hour long session of stargazing, Yufome claimed.
“It surprised me, that’s for sure!” Yufome said.
The possibility of the UFO spotting being something other than a UFO is possible, but unlikely Yufome explained. The pattern in the lighting and the sudden stop of movement is not uniform with a satellite, the space station, or any star in the sky.
“There’s no way it’s anything other than a UFO,” Parkland student Lee Bing remarked. “We just witnessed history!”
The first well known UFO sighting in history was in 1947. Since then, thousands are reported every year, though none have ever been proven. Most were chalked up to be human made, astronomical and atmospheric.
“We are not really sure what we saw,” Yufome confessed. “But we are pretty sure it was not man made.”
Multiple government agencies were contacted, including National Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) as well as President Obama. Yufome said at first the agencies took it as a joke, explaining that they receive calls about UFOs all the time.
The planetarium sent documentation, and it turned into a matter of national security when the ship began getting closer to Earth.
“It ended up landing at Willard airport,” FBI Detective Lewis Bucanan said. “We were able to contact the ship and let them know where to land.”
The ship was immediately hauled to Area 51, where it will be studied to determine where it came from and how we can get there.
The situation sparked debate with Parkland students, as many do not believe in extraterrestrials.
“There is no such thing as aliens,” Gerald Iody said. “There is no way anything can live out there. Humans can’t even survive on the moon!”
Many other students here at Parkland disagree with Iody and believe that such an event is in fact possible.
“I definitely believe there is life on other planets,” Leslie Acreage said. “How could it be possible we are the only living beings anywhere in the universe?”
Information about the event is likely to become confidential in the coming weeks and those interested in learning more should turn to local news agencies for updated developments.
