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Some time after that incident a known Japanese spy walked right by a military checkpoint by simply goatse.
("Is that the Japanese spy we are looking for?" - "Don't be silly, that is clearly Uranus, if we make another mistake like that we will never hear the end it it.")
Did they hit it?
Venus could not be reached for comment.
I can't squint hard enough to tell.
Trying to verify this. So far I found this but have not confirmed it's legit in any way:
Edit 1: Laundry, Shooting At Venus, and Surviving Two Back-To-Back Ship Sinkings Part 1 | archive.org
Edit 2: Laundry, Shooting At Venus, and Surviving Two Back-To-Back Ship Sinkings Part 1 | Vuink - Repost of article found in Edit 1.
Edit 3: USS Langley (CV-1) | World War II
On the entry of the US into World War II, Langley was anchored off Cavite, Philippines.[5][19] On 8 December, following the invasion of the Philippines by Japan, she departed Cavite for Balikpapan in the Dutch East Indies. In the natural state of alarm (the attack on Pearl Harbor had happened the day before) 300 rounds were shot at an object in the sky before it was realized that it was the planet Venus.[20]
Edit 4: This detailed history of the ship does not mention anything about firing at Venus:
Langley I (CV-1) | Naval History and Heritage Command
Wait a minute, they shot at Venus around noon?
That makes no sense at all. Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth does. This means when looking at Venus we are always looking towards the Sun. For this reason Venus is very visible during sunrise or sunset (depending on the position of Venus), so the Sun is behind the horizon whilst Venus isn't. As soon as the Sun gets above the horizon it becomes much harder to see Venus, because the Sun is much brighter in the sky and Venus is near it. When Venus is far away from the Sun, as we see it in our sky, it's also a very pronounced crescent, so they wouldn't mistake it for a balloon.
This sounds like a story someone made up somewhere, but has now been repeated so many times it's hard to tell if it's real or not.
Maybe. But Venus is occasionally visible in the daytime, so it's plausible if that happened to be the case.
Nah that article is about Venus being in a weird position where you can both see it around sunset and sunrise, usually it's one or the other. Venus visible at noon is a no-go except in something like a solar eclipse or a high altitude balloon or something.
It is possible to spot Venus during the day, if it's further away from the Sun (as viewed from Earth). It is bright enough to be visible during the day (just like the Moon and even the ISS and Jupiter under the right conditions), but is usually very close to the sun so it's completely blown out. When it is further from the Sun, it's a very noticeable crescent shape. So I doubt anyone would mistake it for a balloon, especially someone who has the job of watching the skies for such things.
And come to thing of it, how large did they think it was and how accurate can they shoot at long range with a boat? Even if it was a balloon, you wouldn't attack it from range right? You would wait for it to come closer and hit it with anti aircraft shells. It's just a very weird story.
I'd imagine they would be using binoculars with sun filters during the day, allowing them to see venus despite the sun's glare.
It is, but I still think it's plausible given the tech at the time. But yeah, definitely suspicious, I'd like more details/confirmation.
Found this article about it:
Must have been lousy shots, Venus is still there. I heard Uranus is wrecked though
Dunno, we haven't been attacked by Venusians since have we?
It's the military so yeah
Maybe they shoulda used a hurricane as an assist. I heard shooting those works pretty well
I found a reference in Wikipedia (edit 3) so afaic my work here is done.
Edit 1: Oh fuck, it's a circular reference. Dammit.
I’ll never forgive the Japanese
"It's a Japanese balloon! Shoot it down!"
"No, it's Venus."
"It's a Roman god, shoot her down!"
It brings us love, get it!
In 1960 the US DEW Line mistakenly thought the Soviet Union had launched a nuclear strike when it detected the moon rising. Luckily cooler heads prevailed when the radar operators quickly realized both the reported launch locations and target locations were crescent shapes and moving east to west as the moon rose.
We can’t let the protomolecule get a foothold
Venus doesn't look like a ball in the sky like that. It looks like a bright star.
The moon is what might look like something relatively balloon sized, but Venus? Nope.
Gtfo with this disinfo
Or maybe they said it was Venus, an unusual sight, to hide the fact that they were shooting at the moon, which would be significantly more embarassing...
They wouldn't be using the naked eye to spot the balloons. While I certainly am on the skeptical side that this happened. It is closer to being plausible than it originally seems. There are just some suspect details.
Exactly. And Venus is occasionally visible during the day, so that lends some credence to the story.
Visions of Golden Dome.
Showering us with its protection.