An unidentified flying object, or UFO, is any apparent anomaly in the sky. (Photo : YouTube/ Mystery Universe)
Former NASA engineer James Oberg has decided to dig around the existing reported UFO sightings and stories from the International Space Station (ISS) by the help of science, leading him to a conclusion that most of these UFOS are only "space dandruff."
According to him, a human's brain often misunderstands the nature of space travel. In an interview with Atlas Obscura, Oberg said that human senses are often used to focusing on reasonably slow-moving objects and certain atmospheric and light conditions.
Hence, a person's sensory system functions flawlessly in conditions on Earth. But when they move beyond the earth's neighborhood, the visual logic gets confused, steering the brain into misinterpretations.
Some of the major UFO sightings that Oberg has demystified are connected to NASA astronauts who have, in the past, reported seeing UFOs and, who have reportedly been forced to keep silent. The former NASA engineer has said that this, is as a result of people watching too many sci-fi movies and not, in reality, understanding what space looks like.
According to writings on his website, Oberg assert that he has had enough experience with spaceflights to realize that what is being seen in UFO sighting videos is merely the normal-occurring phenomena in unearthly settings. The real story is that most of the observed anomalies are "space dandruff."
"Space Dandruff," according to Oberg, comprises of things that have shed off space crafts during flight like paint chips and ice flakes. Such flakes of "space Dandruff" are common, but they appear to look weird because the ISS travels at high speed and the objects themselves move at their speeds.
Consequently, some spots might seem to be appearing and disappearing, which scares control crew monitoring the space station on earth. Even so, such hair-raising phenomena are not unusual when one is on a space shuttle traveling at 28,000 km/h (17,500 mph).
In other cases, a spacecraft might even cast its shadow onto such objects, creating "twilight shadowing." This effect further causes the objects to appear as if they appear and then disappear.
So, whether ominous looking blurs, spaceship-looking clouds or even rogue meteors, the internet fraternity has been advised not to perceive every reported UFO sighting as it seems.
Here is a video of a "UFO" seen from the ISS:
