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"We were able to assess that they were all in those cases looking at Starlink flares."
SpaceX's Starlink Internet satellites are responsible for more and more public reports of unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAPs), but most recent cases remain unsolved, according to a US government report released Thursday.
Starlinks often move across the sky in "trains" that appear like gleaming gems in the blackness of space. They are particularly visible to the naked eye shortly after each Starlink launch.
In recent years, leaks and disclosures from government officials have revitalized open discussion about mysterious lights and objects, some of which move in, to put it bluntly, unquestionably weird ways. Some of these images, particularly those from sophisticated instruments on military fighter jets, have made their way into the national discourse. The New Yorker, Ars' sister publication, has a thorough report on how UAPs—you might know them better as UFOs—became mainstream.
23 sats \ 2 replies \ @jgbtc 18 Nov
I still call them UFOs. I find it interesting that the acronym has been changed. Was this done to create confusion, make it sound more legit, or some other reason?
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I don't have the slightest idea about the acronym change.
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33 sats \ 0 replies \ @alt 18 Nov
I think UAP is an attempt to be more general and not include implicit assumptions.
A UFO is unidentified, but it might not actually be "flying", and it might not actually be something that can be considered an "object".
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I recently saw a line of a few Starlinks rising. It was fascinating, it really looked as if they were much lower than one would expect them to be over Europe. Easy to mistake them for UAPs.
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