Editing Close encounter (section)

==Extensions of Hynek's scale==
After Hynek's death in 1986, his colleague [[Jacques Vallée|Jacques Vallee]] extended Hynek's classification system by two steps, specifically close encounters of the fourth and fifth kinds, as published in Vallee's book ''Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact'' (1990).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Vallee |first=Jacques |title=Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact |publisher=Anomalist Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-1933665290 |location=Charlottesville, VA}}</ref>

The [[Mutual UFO Network]] (MUFON) immediately adopted the extensions to the classification scale and has used them ever since.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

===Close encounters of the fourth kind (CE4)===
A close encounter of the fourth kind is a UFO event in which a human is [[alien abduction|abducted]] by a UFO or its occupants.<ref name="TimesOfIndia">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/Whatre-close-encounters-of-the-first-second-third-fourth-and-fifth-kind/articleshow/41097626.cms "What're close encounters of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth kind?"] S.P.S. Jain. ''[[The Times of India]]''. 22 March 2003. Retrieved 4 April 2014.</ref> This type was not included in Hynek's original close encounters scale.<ref name="UFO EXPERIENCE">{{Cite book |title=The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry |year=1972 |isbn=978-1-56924-782-2}}</ref>

Hynek's former associate [[Jacques Vallée]] argued in the ''[[Journal of Scientific Exploration]]'' that the ''fourth kind'' should refer to "cases when witnesses experienced a transformation of their sense of reality", to also include non-abduction cases where absurd, hallucinatory or dreamlike events are associated with UFO encounters.<ref>{{cite web |last=Vallee |first=Jacques |url=http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_12_3_vallee_2.pdf |title=Physical Analysis in Ten Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects with Material Samples |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706200144/http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_12_3_vallee_2.pdf |archivedate=2010-07-06 |date=1998 |work=Journal of Scientific Exploration |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=359-375 |accessdate=2009-08-23 }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}

The film ''[[The Fourth Kind]]'' (2009) makes reference to this category.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

===Close encounters of the fifth kind (CE5)===
As stated in Vallee's ''Confrontations'' (1990), a close encounter of the fifth kind is where an alien abductee receives some manner of physical effect from their close encounter, typically either injury or healing.<ref name=":0" />

Several years after Vallee's classification updates, some preferred that a close encounter of the fifth kind instead refer to human-initiated contact with extraterrestrial life forms or advanced interstellar civilizations, claiming direct communication between aliens and humans.<ref name="TimesOfIndia" /> This alternate interpretation of what a close encounter of the fifth kind (ce5) should represent has been attributed to [[Steven M. Greer]].<ref name="CE5">{{cite book |author=Greer, Steven M. |author-link=Steven M. Greer |year=1999 |title=Extraterrestrial Contact: The Evidence and Implications |publisher=Crossing Point Inc |isbn=0-967-32380-0}}</ref> While technically not an extension of the Vallee scale that measures result-oriented data, this replacement of the originally coined CE5 classification has become popular in marketing human-initiated contact events.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

In a CE5 event, individuals or groups use specific protocols to establish communication or interaction with extraterrestrial beings. These protocols primarily involve the use of contact meditation and use of sounds or signals. Close encounters of the fifth kind is also referred to as human initiated close encounter.<ref name="Beyond UFOs">{{cite book |author=Hernandez J.D. |first=Reinerio |title=Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness & Contact with Non Human Intelligence (Volume One) |last2=Schild |first2=Rudy |last3=Klimo |first3=Jon |publisher=The Dr. Edgar Mitchell FREE Foundation |year=2018 |isbn=1-548-72116-6}}</ref>

===Close encounters of the sixth kind (CE6)===
This the term used to describe a sexual encounter between a human and an extraterrestrial species.{{cn|date=May 2025}}