HOW WERE RADAR SYSTEMS USED TO SPOT THE UFO?
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has spotted a Chinese balloon and three UFOs in the last month using its radar systems.
Officials said that the increased number of hits could be the result of recent changes made to the way analysts are interpreting radar information.
Certain filters have been removed which would normally limit the amount of raw data collected, and simplify the process.
This is making the radar systems more sensitive so they can pick up harder-to-detect objects.
But it also makes it harder to distinguish between actual UFOs and background noise.
However, this does not mean that NORAD has ruled out deliberate action from an adversary.
Radar is an acronym for ‘RAdio Detection And Ranging’, and was first developed in World War Two to aid fighter pilots
Radar is an acronym for ‘RAdio Detection And Ranging’, and was first developed in World War Two to aid fighter pilots.
It works by a machine sending out a high-frequency radio wave and then a separate sensor detecting it when it bounces back.
This is much the same way that sight works; light is bounced off an object and into the eye, where it is detected and processed.
Instead of using visible light, which has a small wavelength, radar uses radio waves which have a far larger wavelength.
By detecting the range of waves that have bounced back, a computer can create an image of what is ahead that is invisible to the human eye.
This can be used to see through different materials, in darkness, fog and a variety of different weather conditions.
Scientists often use this method to detect terrain and also see to study archaeological and valuable finds.
US Northern Command Commander General Glen VanHerck said that the recent UFOs objects produce a 'very, very low radar cross-section'.
A radar cross-section is a measure of how much radar energy an object reflects back to the sensors, and therefore how detectable it is.
It is dependent on the object's size, shape, material and orientation.
A low radar cross-section could be produced by a small, smooth object with lots of curves that is positioned edge-on towards the emitted signal.
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