Editing Close encounter (section)

{{Short description|Event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object}}
{{other|Close Encounters (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Alien encounter|the former Walt Disney World attraction|Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter}}
In [[ufology]], a '''close encounter''' is an event in which a person witnesses an [[unidentified flying object]] (UFO) at relatively close range, where the possibility of mis-identification is presumably greatly reduced. This terminology and the system of classification behind it were first suggested in astronomer and UFO researcher [[J. Allen Hynek]]'s book ''The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry'' (1972).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hynek |first=Allen J. |publisher=Da Capo Press |orig-year=First published 1972 |date=1998 |title=The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry |isbn=978-1-56924-782-2}}</ref> Categories beyond Hynek's original three have been added by others but have not gained universal acceptance, mainly because they lack the [[scientific rigor]] that Hynek aimed to bring to ufology.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jerome |last=Clark |title=The UFO Book |url=https://archive.org/details/ufobookencyclope0000clar |url-access=registration |location=Detroit |publisher=Visible Ink Press |year=1998}}</ref>

Distant sightings more than {{convert|500|ft|m|order=flip|spell=us}} from the witness are classified as ''daylight discs'', ''nocturnal lights'', or ''radar/visual reports''.<ref>Hynek, 1972, 1998, p. 6</ref> Sightings within about {{convert|500|ft|m|order=flip|spell=us}} are sub-classified as various types of close encounters. Hynek and others argued that a claimed close encounter must occur within about {{convert|500|ft|m|order=flip|spell=us}} to greatly reduce or eliminate the possibility of misidentifying conventional aircraft or other known phenomena.<ref>Hynek, 1972, 1998, p. 20; see also the program ''[[UFO Hunters]]'' episode "Alien Contact" aired on 23 April 2008 on the [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]].</ref>

Hynek's scale became well known after being referenced in the classic sci-fi film ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'' (1977), which is named after the third level of the scale. Promotional posters for the film featured the three levels of the scale, and Hynek himself makes a [[cameo appearance]] near the end of the film.{{fact|date=September 2024}}