Invasion!

Some kooks have recently (again) claimed that NASA is hiding a big secret: that a huge, planet-sized spacecraft has been spotted entering our solar system by one of the NASA telescopes, and is recorded on NASA’s own video feed. The “UFO” in question is seen above and looks very much like a Star Destroyer to these people.

 

Here is the “theory” of one such kook:

NASA is trying to hide the situation now but you can still see the first 2 days of the object's entrance at the lasco site. Click link below then input behindH12 for the telescope and the 26th through the 1st for the dates. Comparing it for size to the planetary objects that are seen in this telescope, if my calculations are correct, that thing is enormous.

The “if my calculations” part makes me laugh out loud. I can just picture some reclusive geek with just barely enough knowledge of telescopes to be dangerous, attempting to calculate the size of a lens aberration.

Yes, “that thing” has actually been seen before, many times. So persistent and chicken-littlish are these kooks that very often NASA has to eventually spend valuable resources assembling and releasing a press statement. Yet again, this Star Destroyer is not enormous, or even real: it’s an optics glitch caused by a bright object (in this case Venus) entering the lens’ field of view. Bright lights will flare lenses and cause optical anomalies, as any halfway decent photographer will tell you. I have no doubt that the official reply will not deter the kooks in the least. They will just concoct an even more elaborate conspiracy theory and keep right on thinking that the Earth will be vaporized any day now by an alien battleship.

From the NASA press release:

“The answer lies on the exact opposite side of the image. At the same time as this strange-looking feature starts being visible, the very bright planet Venus enters [the telescope’s] field-of-view from the lower left. This is not a coincidence. The strange-looking geometrical 'object' is actually an internal reflection of the planet Venus within the telescope optics. This effect has been seen many times before.”