#Selfie

Reading several blogs and online magazines recently, I came across a handful of articles promoting a conclusion I had myself come to concerning UFO sightings in modern times. In the age of abundant camera- equipped smartphones, why have we not seen an increase in UFO sightings along with better photographic "evidence"? On the contrary, it seemed to myself as well as the fore-mentioned authors, that UFO sightings appeared to be in the decline. As one article, titled "TWILIGHT OF THE GULLIBLE", stated, reffering to a presentation by Ian Ridpath;

"Ridpath ... stressed that there had been no classic UFO sightings since the advent of the new generation of technology, and, especially, the mobile-phone camera, whose ubiquity, it might have been thought, should almost have guaranteed convincing photographic evidence of the inquisitive green men and their conveyances..."



At face value, this made very clear sense to me. If there truly are mysterious craft in our skies, it seems that I should be seeing them as often as I see #selfies.
One aspect of these articles did nag at me, however, No data or sources were sited.
A problem easily rectified, I decided to look up the annual UFO sighting data from the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC). I collected the totals from the past six years and found that sightings appear to be on a radical incline.

This new information was confounding. 7654 reports in 2013 and I certainly hadn't seen any damning evidence of inexplicable space craft. While I personally don't believe UFOs are anything more than misidentified ordinary phenomena, I still expected that those making these reports to have taken photos. How hard could that be? That was the question that got me thinking. I decided to conduct a simple test; photograph some natural aerial phenomena with a number of common devices. I had at my disposal an old ZTE cellphone, and 4th generation iPod Touch, and an iPhone 4s.
My first subject was the moon. The sky was clear enough and I could easily distinguish the surface details. If I extended my arm, the size was about equal to my index fingernail.

I made an attempt to take a subsequent series of photos of a low flying airliner, though I was unable to see the aircraft at all in the photos.

It seems that obtaining a quality photo of distant objects is a little beyond the average mobile device, at least in the hands of an amateur. I can only imagine that the results of lights in the night sky would be equally hard to distinguish. If, indeed, a "true UFO" was witnessed among the near 8000 annual sightings, how likely is it that it could be documented in great detail?
I feel I must point out that this article is not intended as apologetics, but it is only to serve as an example of keeping an open mind and challenging you own perspective. It's all too easy to wear blinders after you have made up your mind about something.