Why do Aliens use lights on their ships??

If ET's are visiting us why in the world would they use lights on their ship?

If I were visiting another planet I would either make myself known...or make sure that I am NOT making myself known.

Why the cat and mouse game with hard to identify lights?

... I suppose it's either that they wouldn't be seen, ergo
no Spielberg 'Encounters' or that we're supposed to assume
they're aeroplanes.

Seriously, it's probably some sorta communication device
used between each other... nothing to do with us.

as far as i've heard, those lights could be produced by the anti-gravity "propulsion" systems they use... i've also heard that the one's that use natural electromagnetics have bluish lights, and the ones that use Element-115 or "dark energy" and electromagnetics have the bright white lights...

all of that, of course, is hearsay... though it doesn't hurt to hear it i suppose!!

I think that is an excellent question!! They surely would'nt need them for the same reasons we do would they? ie communication with each other. I'm sure they would have far more advanced systems for that.
Perhaps they are for OUR benefit, so if they for whatever reason, overlooked one of our approaching craft, we would see THEM and avoid a collision.

Its entirely possible that it is the equivalent to our human brethren zooming around our streets with 72 inch plane wings and bright pink and blue lights under their cars.. It stands to reason that there would be "adolescent" alien beings out there that like to show off..?

i remember hearing on some show, on the Discovery or History Channels, that if you were to take a roll of film, or the like, and put one end in Philadelphia, and roll it all the way to like, St. Louis or something - around 1,000 miles - then if the unrolled film represented the full spectrum of light, then the human eye could only visibly see about a foot-and-a-half's worth!!!

the question that i thought of first, was what can't we see?! what's occupying, or evening utilizing or harnessing, the light frequencies in the wavelengths our eyes can't see?!!

Wow, great answers! I really didn't expect to be taken seriously. I'm a skeptic but I like the propulsion system answers and the "baby" alien answer.

I've always thought that.. why not cloak the ship?? Then the age old, "you don't know what aliens think" come out and so we can only assume they don't want to be hit by small aircraft.. That's kind of them? Has anyone ever seen and ET vessel using it indicators?

Originally posted by adrenochrome
as far as i've heard, those lights could be produced by the anti-gravity "propulsion" systems they use... i've also heard that the one's that use natural electromagnetics have bluish lights, and the ones that use Element-115 or "dark energy" and electromagnetics have the bright white lights...

all of that, of course, is hearsay... though it doesn't hurt to hear it i suppose!!

This guy must be the next Einstein I never knew we had produced or discovered dark energy, but I guess we must have we know what colour it is.

They can certainly put them on and off at will. They can go out so you can't see them, then they will reappear at will. They do it like they're hiding then showing themselves to you, that's ufo orbs anyway. Maybe like a hello when they light up, we can't imagine their intentions, but they do seem to want to signal to us and they do it through light shown by some appearances on those STS NASA recordings.

Originally posted by adrenochrome
i remember hearing on some show, on the Discovery or History Channels, that if you were to take a roll of film, or the like, and put one end in Philadelphia, and roll it all the way to like, St. Louis or something - around 1,000 miles - then if the unrolled film represented the full spectrum of light, then the human eye could only visibly see about a foot-and-a-half's worth!!!

the question that i thought of first, was what can't we see?!

what's occupying, or evening utilizing or harnessing, the light frequencies in the wavelengths our eyes can't see?!!

Of course he maybe onto something here, if an alien cannot see in our visible light spectrum then they may not know that the ships are producing light that is visible to us. I mean before we had UV detectors we couldn't see the landing strips on flowers used by bees.

But these are government owned ships, not alien tech.

you are all thinking that "why do they have lights when they arrive here" you should be asking "why do they need lights where they come from" and the answer is simple: the same reasons our airplanes have lights. i doubt there is one spaceship per planet and maybe they have many lifting off at once. they need to make sure they don't hit each other i heard that the intergalactic 78th highway is a real bitch around noon

reply to post by Liberty1



Perhaps the lights are a requirement of the Galactic DMV.





[edit on 11/2/2008 by schrodingers dog]

Originally posted by Liberty1


If ET's are visiting us why in the world would they use lights on their ship?

If I were visiting another planet I would either make myself known...or make sure that I am NOT making myself known.

Why the cat and mouse game with hard to identify lights?

good question, the ones I saw were lit, not just any ole UFO

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
reply to post by Liberty1

 

Perhaps the lights are a requirement of the Galactic DMV.

You nearly had it, obviously the answer is because they are all from the Galactic Federation of LIGHT! It's their "thing"

reply to post by Liberty1


That's funny, I was just watching "Close Encounters" this morning and thought about the lights, portrayed in the movie like a house lite up for Christmas.

Good question OP.

Assuming that some of the UFO's that have lights are in fact alien craft... (which, like it or not, really is an assumption)

1) If such lights are simply meant for other purposes such as landing / take-off coordination, then the only possible reason why such lights would not simply be turned off while in Earth's atmosphere would be that the aliens are unconcerned with our reactions to them. I can't imagine why they would have such a nonchalant attitude, though, especially if they make all the effort to come here in the first place.

2) I doubt these lights would be a communication device for the sake of other such alien vessels. As mentioned above, there are plenty of wavelengths of light that can be used which would not be visible to the human eye, or interfere with human radio or satellite transmissions.

3) The lights being a side-effect of the ship's mysterious propulsion system (or other unknown systems) cannot be ruled out, simply because we're talking about purely hypothetical systems whose mechanisms might be totally unknown to us. However, it does stand to some reason that a society advanced enough to create such an incredible vessel should also be able to find a way to mask, redirect, or outright block this light from reaching our eyes. This again raises the question of whether or not these hypothetical aliens actually care about how we are reacting to their presence.

4) What seems to me to be the most likely possibility is that we are, indeed, intended to see these lights. Especially in the case of multi-colored, flashing lights... I mean, really, this seems like an undeniable communication method. But what purpose they might be trying to serve is totally beyond me. One idea I've heard that seems to bear some merit is the thought that aliens are trying to gradually get the human race accustomed to their presence by slowly increasing the number and the obviousness of their UFO sightings, so that a theoretical disclosure in the (perhaps relatively NEAR) future might have less of a chaotic impact on our cultures.

Originally posted by spitefulgod

Originally posted by adrenochrome
as far as i've heard, those lights could be produced by the anti-gravity "propulsion" systems they use... i've also heard that the one's that use natural electromagnetics have bluish lights, and the ones that use Element-115 or "dark energy" and electromagnetics have the bright white lights...

all of that, of course, is hearsay... though it doesn't hurt to hear it i suppose!!

This guy must be the next Einstein I never knew we had produced or discovered dark energy, but I guess we must have we know what colour it is.

Well we are just talking about possibilities here. His specifics should be taken as variables. The propulsion explanation opens my mind a bit to other possibilities. More conceptual information can be drawn: Do they know we can see it? Are they trying to make us see it? Are they failing at trying to hide? Etc.

If it seems I'm reaching...it's because I am. I'm a skeptic. So to be fair I have to play devil's advocate the absolute best I can if the search for truth is the goal.

thats like saying why do humans use flash on their cameras when they photograph insects

I've read in several places that the lights are a byproduct of their propulsion systems. People have compared the effects of a florescent bulbs reaction to those of the craft. Basically the particles are charged so greatly around the craft (or field) that they light up and cover the surface of the ship. Perhaps many more factors are in line here but that is just a rough sketch of what a lot of people have said.