The question isn't whether it was aliens . . .

The question is why it would be aliens.

Okay, actually it was not aliens, it was a bolide, a large meteor that disintegrates in the atmosphere. This bolide was about the size of a baseball, which doesn't seem very large but is, mainly because the vast majority of meteors are dust-sized.

At any rate, it was over Florida last night: "Massive fireball blazing through the skies sparks fears of an alien invasion." Here is police dash-cam:

According to Bill Cooke of Marshall Space Flight Center “The meteor began 46 miles above the Gulf of Mexico and 8 miles from Sarasota.

“It then moved slightly north of west …before disintegrating at an altitude of 15 miles”.

At 11:18 PM Monday night the meteor the size of a baseball entered the earths atmosphere moving at about 40,000 mph.

The frozen water and carbon dioxide rapidly expanded as the rock ball heated and the meteor vaporized into a spectacular fireball illumination the night sky.

Classified as a bolide but not a superbolide, the meteor caused no damage.

There are probably more than 500,000 fireballs a year, but most will go unnoticed because most will occur over the ocean and half will occur during daytime.

Another view:



But the questions is begged: If indeed people called 9-1-1 expressing fears of an alien invasion or attack, why? (I am skeptical that The Sun's report of "panicked locals fearing a UFO invasion" is very reliable.)

By that I mean, why are we so conceited to think that there is any reason an alien species, advanced and wealthy enough to cross incalculable distances of interstellar space, would have the slightest interest in Earth or its inhabitants? Why do we think we are so special?

After all, the entire edifice of the assumption that life on other worlds exists at all, especially intelligent life, rests on the "Theory of Mediocrity," the idea that the Earth is merely mediocre, or average. But if we are average, why would we be of special interest to some advanced, space-faring species?

If there are alien space travelers, I think they would see us and snoooozzze right on by without a second look.