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What you can also do is pick 4 cities, like Miami, Detroit, Seattle, San Diego, find the 6 straight-line distances between them, and try to plot them to scale on a flat surface: it won't work, because the triangles involved need to be spherical and not flat. You can also do this on a global...

refraction does affect these measurements what you can do is climb up a mountain with a transparent tube, a funnel, and some water containers, and set up a water level (colored water works best), and then sight along that and see that the horizon is far below. See e.g...

Well, we have new evidence, reported by the Washington Post. (indirect quote due to paywall) “By the time a Chinese spy balloon crossed into American airspace late last month, U.S. military and intelligence agencies had been tracking it for nearly a week, watching as it lifted off from its home...

It didn't stop, though, it's simply not being displayed. I've selected 2/10/2023, 0Z and 12Z soundings. So the balloon in question didn't go all the way to 10 mb, but it doesn't look that out of place. When I look at a longer time span, like 2 weeks, there are several graphs that end...

Source: https://twitter.com/wildweatherdan/status/1624166450670755850 So it was likely a weather balloon? Do not know but that is a possibility. The location of the balloon does NOT track back to China but it does track back to the Bering Sea. I think it might be the NOME 12 Rawinsonde. It...

so, anywhere within air traffic control coverage? :p

More examples of weirdly shaped balloons at https://www.metabunk.org/threads/big-balloons-that-are-not-round.12577/ (welcome back!)

At least 25,000 traffic filters similar to those found in low-traffic neighbourhoods already exist across the UK, research has shown, with campaigners saying it proves both the efficacy of such schemes and the futility of demands to scrap them. Dozens have been built in cities over the last...

note that a zero pressure balloon "inflates" as it rises and the gas inside expands, and "deflates" as it drops. The (partially) deflated balloon could have all sorts of weird shapes, especially if the payload is no longer attached.

That kind of remark just invites speculation: what if "they" were tracking the balloon via satellite, and then signaled it to drop a data payload where an operative could recover it? It just fortifies the image in the audience's mind that it's nefarious. What really helps is to emphasize that...

That conviction would be founded on no evidence.

When I read something like that, I look for the immediate source. Excerpts: A US official told CNN over the weekend there has been caution inside the administration on the pilot descriptions of the unidentified objects due to the circumstances in which the objects were viewed. "These objects...

Gliders use a different transponder standard because their electrical systems don't support ADS-B transponders; theirs has a much lower range. So the challenge of finding the output power for that ADS-B transponder on a light balloon is substantial. The other challenge is that a miniature ADS-B...

The 3 latest balloons are not part of the same Chinese program because they're much smaller and thus can't carry the kind of equipment that the "spy balloon" did. The explanation proferred by the military is that they're now detecting them when they previously didn't, so they're seeing more...

The transcript is up at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/02/13/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-national-security-council-coordinator-for-strategic-communications-john-kirby-february-13-2023/ . Excerpts: Aliens And one last thing before I turn...

Is that still possible with today's LEO satellite swarms? Apart from the fact that the launch of a helium-filled balloon has absolutely no characteristic that makes it more easily detectable than a balloon in flight.

The NTSB Aviation Accident and Incident Data System (NTSB) has zero reports involving collisions with a 'weather balloon'. For comparison, the database returns over 200 results on 'bird strike'.

I've found two accidents involving unmanned floating balloons (manned balloons have accidents rather more frequently). On September 16th, 1970, a MiG-19PM hit a hydrogen-filled weather balloon over Hungary at ~15,000 ft; the balloon exploded and damaged the aircraft, which crashed. NTSB...

"I'm not going to categorize these balloons" is political for "don't antagonize #ufotwitter". Until the debris has been recovered, it could be a "breakthrough" antigravity device to anyone who uses the word "mainstream" when talking about science. (It's a balloon though).

Press briefing excerpts These are very, very slow object in the space, if you will, going at the speed of the wind essentially. [...] So as Assistant Secretary Dalton talked about, radars essentially filter out information based on speed. So you can set various gates. We call them velocity...