Is this an invasion? The US military has been shooting down unidentified flying objects left, right and centre. Some fear we are on the brink of triggering an intergalactic war.
Alien fever as mystery craft keep on coming
Is this an invasion? The US military has been shooting down unidentified flying objects left, right and centre. Some fear we are on the brink of triggering an intergalactic war.
<h2 class=" eplus-wrapper" id="crosshead">War of the worlds</h2>
On 4 February, after days of wrangling and panic, the US air force shot down a balloon that had been making its way slowly over the USA. The USA claimed that it was equipped with Chinese spying equipment. China insisted it was a weather balloon that had gone off course.
It seemed like just another flashpoint in the growing tensions between the US and China. But then the story got strange.
In the last few days, three more objects have been downed over Alaska, Canada, and MichiganA state in the northern USA.. The general in charge of the operations says no-one is certain where the devices are coming from, or even how they are moving.
And he told reporters that he was not willing to rule out the possibility that they were extraterrestrial objects.
This suggestion would have been met with howls of derision only a few years ago. UFOs were the stuff of conspiracy theory and science fiction.
But the USA is taking them seriously, after a spate of sightings of unexplained objects in the sky around its territories.
If they are UFOs, think some, then it might be time to worry. It would be very easy for these small acts of aggression to trigger an all-out war.
But others say we have nothing to fear. They think it is hardly likely that these objects are UFOs. The best estimate for the number of alien civilisations in the Milky WayThe galaxy that contains our solar system. It has the structure of a disc, but looks to us like a band because we are inside it. is around 36.1 In a galaxy with 100 billion planets, the chances of any of those stumbling across us are astronomicalEnormously large or great..
And either way, the closest planet outside the solar system that is capable of supporting life is Proxima Centauri b, which is 4.2 light yearsA unit of measurement equal to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 times 1012 km. That's nearly 6 million million miles! away. It would take Earth technology more than 6,000 years to get there.
So even if the aliens are highly advanced, and as close as they can possibly be, we will have plenty of time to prepare for the next assault.
Yes: It cannot be a coincidence that all these flying objects have appeared at once. Their technology is clearly very advanced. We should assume that they come from a more sophisticated civilisation.
No: The world is full of manmade flying objects. Previously, the US would simply have ignored them. We are only hearing about them now because it is taking extra caution after the "spy balloon" incident.
Or... It might be worse news if these objects do come from Earth. It suggests hostile powers have much more developed technology than we thought. Global tensions will only increase.
Michigan - A state in the northern USA.
Milky Way - The galaxy that contains our solar system. It has the structure of a disc, but looks to us like a band because we are inside it.
Astronomical - Enormously large or great.
Light years - A unit of measurement equal to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 times 1012 km. That's nearly 6 million million miles!
Alien fever as mystery craft keep on coming

Glossary
Michigan - A state in the northern USA.
Milky Way - The galaxy that contains our solar system. It has the structure of a disc, but looks to us like a band because we are inside it.
Astronomical - Enormously large or great.
Light years - A unit of measurement equal to the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.4607 times 1012 km. That's nearly 6 million million miles!