Speed of Light

Re “Down-to-Earth About Aliens,” July 19.

After reading this article about the Mutual UFO Network, I thought I would offer something to think about.

Light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. The number of seconds in a day multiplied by the number of days in a year times 186,000 equals one light-year--the number of miles light travels in a year, on the order of 6 million-million miles.

Escape velocity from Earth is about 7 miles per second, roughly 25,000 miles per hour.

If we were in a spaceship that could attain and maintain this speed, we could reach Alpha Centauri--the nearest star, approximately 4.3 light-years away--in about 31.7 years.

Our present laws of physics don’t seem to indicate that we can build anything to approach the speed of light. Even if we could, it would still take 4.3 years.

Further, the kinetic energy and momentum stored at such speeds would probably guarantee instant vaporization of the project if it collided with even minor interstellar space debris.

If we apply these rudimentary principles and calculations to what we know about meteor showers and other objects free-flying in space to what we believe to be UFOs, I find it difficult to accept that we are being visited on a regular, “commute” basis by aliens.

GEORGE MARSHALL, Ojai