The work was done by fellow skeptic Jeff Mcvicar at my request. His results are pretty illustrative. All though I have seen it asserted elsewhere that the moon is the object in question I have not seen anyone make such a stark comparison as this. Below we have included others assertions that this is the moon and some who say it isn't. Is this simply yet another sensationalistic Filer claim? I feel it is. One thing is certain here. There aren't any windows on the moon.
From Neil Bates Hi again Jeff,
Hello Jeff,
When I first read this link, I thought it was a practical joke! I'm a weather forecaster and have seen this phenomena (the moon being photographed by a weather satellite) several times. Good Grief! If you look at the image in question, basic features of our moon can be seen! I've been an amateur astronomer for over 20 years and I KNOW this is an image of the moon! The fact that this is even a point of debate is laughable. I still believe something is going on in regards to ET's, interdimensional beings, etc. But, this type of "actual UFO" garbage really strains the credibility of those sincerely pursuing the truth. Enough is Enough,
Neil Bates, Topsham ME
One question that may come up is this - If it's the moon on these images then why does the moon appear black on the infrared and water vapor imagery! Everyone knows the moon is COLD, it should appear white. Why then does it appear to be HOT! Please remind them the temperature of the moon in sunlight is 265F (130C), which is very hot indeed. Since the moon appears "full" on the visible imagery, we can assume that the surface is quite hot.
Best Regards, Neil
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From UFO UpDates-Toronto
I sent an e-mail request to NOAA for any other images of the full Earth they have which also include the Moon in the same pictures.
Until then, let's do a quick mathematical check to see if the alleged UFO Mother Ship was in fact the Moon.
The mean diameter of the Moon: 3475 km
The mean diameter of the Earth: 12,756 km
The mean distance of the Moon to the Earth: 384,500 km
The approximate distance of NOAA's GOES satellite to the Earth (since it is in geostationary orbit): 35,786 km
The approximate distance of NOAA's GOES satellite to the Moon (since the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth with respect to GOES, this will be 384,500 plus 35,786 or): 420,286 km
From trigonometry we get:
tan X(M) = 3475/420,286 = 8.268 x 10^-3 and tan X(E) = 12,756/35,786 = 3.564 x 10^-1
where X(M) is the angular size of the Moon and X(E) is the angular size of the Earth.
From the inverse tans we get:
X(M) = 0.47 degrees and X(E) = 19.62 degrees
The ratio in sizes of the Earth to the Moon in the GEOS images should be 19.62/0.47 = 41.7. In other words, the Earth should appear 41.7 times larger.
The diameter of the Moon (long axis) on one GEOS images I downloaded was about 3 mm (plus or minus 0.5 mm) and the diameter of the Earth was 96 mm (plus or minus 1.0 mm). This gives ratios as large as 97/2.5 = 38.8 or as small as 95/3.5 = 27.1.
Observations:
The object in the GEOS images is smaller than what we would expect for the Moon (assuming there is no pronounced distortions near the edges of the GEOS images).
Also, the axis of the nearly full Moon phase (less than two days from Full Moon), should be parallel to the Earth's N-S axis. It isn't (nonsymmetrical distortions?).
Yes, GEOS images of the Earth are taken every 30 minutes but it does not take up to 30 minutes to take this image so no trailing of the Moon should be evident. Note that the Moon revolves around the Earth once (360 degrees) in just over 27 days so in a 30 minute time frame the Moon would move in the sky by:
(360 degrees / 27 days) / (24 hours x 2) = 0.27 degrees in 30 minutes.
This is about a half Moon diameter, not the 15 Moon diameters you mention.
If we assume it is the Moon in the GEOS image, since it is a few lunar diameters from the edge of the Earth and it moves about half a lunar diameter in the sky each 30 minutes, there MUST be a few more images of the Moon in GEOS images taken before and after this one.
Conclusion:
The object in the GEOS image (taken November 21, 1999 at 14:45Z cannot be easily explained as the Moon - it remains a UFO.
Nick Balaskas Physics and Astronomy York University _____
From Bob Young
http://members.aol.com/MrAstro/NotUFO.gif
Clear skies,
Bob Young
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From: [email protected] Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 12:33:12 -0800 To: [email protected] Subject: add to Giant UFO Cc: [email protected]
From Nick Balaskas
Hello again Bob.
Jupiter was at opposition (opposite the Sun with respect to the Earth) a month before the November 21 GEOS picture. Why does it appear to be behind the Earth in the picture I thought? Well since the Sun was not shining directly down on the Earth but a little to the right (notice that the left edge of the Earth is not as sharp as the right edge), Jupiter would be roughly at the location where Sky & Telescope says.
Then I thought, where would the Moon be with respect to Jupiter? Well since the Moon moves by just over 12 degrees in the sky each day and according the my Observer's Handbook the Moon had the same R.A. or celestial longitude as Jupiter on November 20 at about 22:00Z, then 3/4 of a day later when the GEOS picture was taken the Moon be nearly 10 degrees further East (to the left of the picture). Since I calculated earlier that the Earth in the GEOS picture was about 20 degrees across, the Moon would indeed be in the general vicinity of the UFO is in the picture.
Conclusion: Our "...Giant UFO in Earth Orbit" (there is no way one can in fact tell) is now an IFO - the Moon. This conclusion agrees (well within an order of magnitude) with the relative sizes of the Earth and the Moon I got in the calculations I made in my earlier e-mail (taking the usual sources of errors into account).
I am still looking forward to seeing any other images of the Moon taken by GEOS, especially those just before or after where it was claimed that the UFO was "not seen in [GEOS] images taken prior or afterwards".
Nick Balaskas
Physics and Astronomy
York University
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From UFO UpDates-Toronto
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has several Geosynchronous Orbiting Environmental Satellites (GOES) in orbit watching the Earth's weather and environment. On November 21, 1999, at 14:45Z hours our satellites caught an amazing photo of a UFO at an estimated hundred miles above the Earth off the coast of the state of Washington.
Comment from Bob Young:
So does the Moon (about 15%). Astronomer Rik Hill checked this out and found that our natural satellite was at the right place, and showing the right phase to account for the oval image at the time the pix was taken.
Some additional information about this picture:
The shape of the object was due to the motion of the Moon, which caused trailing, even though the Moon phase was nearly Full, so the actual disk was about circular. The time between pictures was 30 minutes, not 15 minutes. Therefore the shifts of the Moon from one picture to the next are about 15 Moon diameters. The pictures are usually cropped and the Moon is not visible. The picture that you received seemed to have been cropped fairly wide, which made the Moon visible.
Clear skies,
Bob Young
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Dear Jeff Rense...
I checked on the subject 'UFO' caught by NOAA satellite...being an amateur astronomer and ham radio operator, I like to check on data to see if it is correct.
The UFO is the moon at 14:45 Z or UTC in about 80% phase to the satellite. Using software that hovers the earth at nearly the same distance as the satellite's view. The moon fits nicely in the position of the UFO.
I do believe they are out there , we just got to keep looking.
Thanks,
Tim SD USA
Giant UFO Orbiting Earth Caught By US NOAA Satellite
Comment
From Christopher Costello