By Tim Binnall
A peculiar object spotted hovering over a city in India caused something of a stir among observers who theorized that it was from out of this world, though officials later explained that it had an Earthly origin. According to a local media report, the initially-unidentified aerial oddity was seen floating over the sizeable city of Hyderabad on Wednesday morning. Social media in India was quickly flooded with photos and videos of the mysterious object along with all manner of ideas as to its nature with many wondering if it was some kind of alien craft.
Such speculation was soon squelched when the director of the Planetary Society of India explained that the UFO was actually just a very large helium balloon carrying a capsule that was part of a project aimed at studying the atmosphere. Despite being identified, it would seem that the object was not quite done confounding people as, later that afternoon, the scientific instrument descended from the sky and landed in the village of Mogiligidda, which is around 60 miles from the city where it had been seen earlier in the morning.
Much like the witnesses in Hyderabad, the villagers who saw the contraption land in a field reportedly thought that the object was extraterrestrial. In fact, one particularly brave farmer even went so far as to knock on the side of the capsule in an effort to assure its suspected alien passengers that it was safe for them to exit their craft. Hopes that Mogiligidda would be the historic site of humanity's first contact with ETs were dashed when officials arrived on the scene to retrieve the high-tech weather balloon that had everyone talking.