Home UFO sightings over Washington – is our smart tech tricking us more than ever or are “they” really here?

UFO sightings over Washington – is our smart tech tricking us more than ever or are “they” really here?

Depending on your view of the UFO (or UAP to use the trendy, less-tainted vernacular) “scene”, the strange lights appearing over the Capitol building in Washington DC this week have caused an international stir, with news outlets the world over-reporting the potential phenomena.

Only a few days ago I watched the hearings at the Oversight Committee – actual Governmental-level debate around what UAPs could actually be, as a swathe of high-level witnesses proclaimed to know things our Governments are keeping from us. Somewhere, Mulder was sitting at home with a smile on his face watching the TV.

Regardless of what may or may not be going on, not only at a Governmental level but potentially an interstellar one too, the lights over DC have thrown up some interesting arguments.

‘The picture is clearly a glare reflection off of the lens of the camera of the street lights below it,’ argued a former paranormal investigator, Average Chris. ‘Same spacing, just inverted pattern.”

It’s true many streetlights have been changed over the last few years to brighter, LED lamps that last longer and react differently when imaged. Not to cause drama, but to save towns and cities money

Whether the explanation above is or is not the case, and it is by far from “clear” it is as the lights were imaged from many locations and glare doesn’t really work like that – see the video on X below – many of us have probably witnessed anomalies of our own when taking photos with our smartphones.

My iPhone 15 Pro Max has a strange tendency to include a row of green dots on photos at night for no obvious reason. It’s ruined some great pics and if I was taking a nighttime image of the Capital building and then posting a row of green lights above the Hill it could garner the same excitement as what we have seen over the last day or so.

But is it that simple? Air Force pilots have reported seeing “craft” that could not be from this planet pulling crazy G-Force moves that no human would be able to survive, at least with the tech we know we currently have.

Again – weather phenomena, tricks of the light, and so on are the mundane explanations for this stuff to make those suggesting otherwise look like nothing more than the village idiot.

This kind of high-level event probably can’t be explained away by lower-quality consumer tech not playing nice with the night sky, but as now everybody has a camera in their pocket and potentially capturing photos that could show something that simply isn’t there, we need to be more careful than ever not to muddy the waters further.

Technology is getting smarter and Dwarflab’s newest smart telescope, the Dwarf 3, has a UFO tracking mode built in. You can basically leave the scope outside and it will capture video of any unusual lights that cross its path. That’s an actual mode and we will have a review soon of the device because it is an amazing piece of kit. Now while it will capture planes and maybe the ISS passover or even Elon’s Starlink satellite train, maybe just maybe if you want to believe…

Drones too are an issue. Many people are not used to seeing even small drones zipping around the sky with their lights on and could easily be tricked into thinking it was something from further away than the kid two doors down. Another instance of our own tech causing confusion.

Indeed, there have been stories this week in the UK of drones being spotted over three US airbases on multiple nights. More lights in the sky, and a potential threat from much closer to home.

Maybe one day we will open up the curtains and see a city-sized saucer hovering above us, maybe we won’t, but until the point the situation becomes clearer we definitely need to double-take any odd lights we see up there on the internet and make sure our own pocket tech isn’t playing tricks on us.

Featured Image: Dennis Diggins

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The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Paul McNally
Gaming Editor

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine,…

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