Drones Over New Jersey

Former Governor Larry Hogan (R) of Maryland indignantly posted a video of what he thought was a drone swarm on Twitter and insisted that the federal government was not doing enough to protect citizens from this menace.

But his “drone swarm” was the constellation Orion, which has three stars in the hunter’s belt, conveniently in formation. Orion is the first constellation I learned to recognize, very noticeable in the winter sky.

Most people don’t look at the sky. They don’t know what airplanes look like up there, particularly at night, and they don’t know what the stars and planets look like. They can’t estimate distance – which is tricky in the sky – and they aren’t aware of how things can seem to move. They aren’t aware of how to check if those objects in fact are moving.

There probably are some asshole drone owners who are adding to the confusion, more as the phenomena get more publicity.

A few people have waved lasers at the lights in the sky. DON’T POINT LASERS AT THE LIGHTS! Lasers can blind a pilot, and the aircraft that people are mistaking are likely to be trying to land, a particularly bad time for the pilot to be blinded. Also, DON’T SHOOT AT THE LIGHTS!

Here’s a video of what a laser looks like to a pilot, h/t Austin at Bluesky. Since there have been reports of eye damage to pilots, I’m guessing that it’s much worse than this. It’s hard to photograph lasers.

Shooting and pointing lasers are illegal. It’s fairly easy to track the lasers down. DON’T DO IT!

Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner