Let me start by saying I'm a believer. But if you are expecting to see a UFO, you'd have to have the luck of winning a lottery to see one on these tours. I took the Sedona UFO Tour in mid-January 2021. Once at the parking lot, our guide(who was very likable and very knowledgeable) showed us his cell phone which had an app that showed the planets and their position in the night sky. All planets except Mars were chasing the setting sun. Plus, planets don't move very much during the hour you are on the tour. Then a short discussion about the possibility of seeing satellites and planes. Since satellites do not emit light(which the night vision systems needs to "see"), they cannot be seen unless they reflect sunlight. Furthermore, our guide said it's only possible to see them low on the horizon and only shortly after sunset(we were there just after sunset) or a few hours before sunrise(to reflect the sun's light). And planes have flashing green or red lights. Finally, he asks what else could be in the sky. Answer? The International Space Station. He then pulls out an iPad which has an app that shows the current position of the Space Station. During our tour, it was no where near us. OK. Got the set-up? Rule out planets, planes, say you can't see satellites and then dismiss the Space Station. If all those are true and you see something move across the sky(which you will), then it must be a UFO right? Wrong.
Within minutes, we see our first dot of light zipping across the sky followed by dozens more as the evening progressed. Every one of them moved at a constant speed and in a straight line. Real UFOs can change direction in the blink of an eye(witness the UFO over O'Hare in 2006). They can stop and take off again at incredible speeds. Some travel in formation(several lights maintaining a fixed distance between them) or are large enough to have multiple lights on them. There was none of that here. I did see one that increased in brightness which our guide said was a UFO "powering up", but doing some research, it was likely a satellite that was rotating such that one of its sides was more reflective than the others.
You can easily go to websites that track satellites. This one: www.in-the-sky.org (Click Spacecraft/Satellites in Your Sky/Search Overhead Passes) shows all satellites with selectable luminous magnitudes. I chose Flagstaff as my location and if you choose all magnitudes(because you have military night vision), you'll see hundreds of satellites passing overhead. Note the times. There are dozens and dozens of them between 18:00 and 19:00 hours while we were in the parking lot. Further note that anything above 70 degrees means it's almost directly overhead(90 degrees is max). Now, these satellites are anywhere from 200 to 500 miles up. They can easily reflect the sun that just set less than an hour ago. This fact proves what we were told by our guide. He said satellites can only be seen shortly after sunset. He was right. We were there right after sunset and saw a lot of satellites. However, the ones flying nearly overhead can still be seen shortly after sunset because they are so high above the earth.
Now don't get me wrong. If you want to hear about the three types of aliens that allegedly exist and if they mean harm to humans, or if you want to hear about the theories of aliens living at a base inside of Secret Mountain, then for sure, the hour is very entertaining. Maybe you can think of half your fee as being entertained by the guide. But the other half of your fee is going to seeing satellites and not UFOs. read more