Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is sounding the alarm over … stars?
A recent spate of drone sightings over New Jersey have sparked widespread confusion and some panic among lawmakers, now including Hogan, who took to X Friday to call on federal officials to do something about the lights he saw floating in the sky.
“Last night, beginning at around 9:45 pm, I personally witnessed (and videoed) what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky above my residence in Davidsonville, Maryland (25 miles from our nation’s capital). I observed the activity for approximately 45 minutes,” Hogan wrote in a post.
The former Republican governor included a two-minute video of the night sky, in which a few small lights can be seen, and it’s unclear whether the lights are static or in motion.
“Like many who have observed these drones, I do not know if this increasing activity over our skies is a threat to public safety or national security. But the public is growing increasingly concerned and frustrated with the complete lack of transparency and the dismissive attitude of the federal government,” Hogan wrote.
“The government has the ability to track these from their point of origin but has mounted a negligent response. People are rightfully clamoring for answers, but aren’t getting any,” Hogan continued, and he expressed frustration at not knowing the origin of the lights or whether they were dangerous.
“That response is entirely unacceptable. I join with the growing bipartisan chorus of leaders demanding that the federal government immediately address this issue,” Hogan wrote. “The American people deserve answers and action now.”
While Hogan may have been speaking to the legitimate concern of citizens of the Eastern seaboard, it’s not clear that what he was able to film were drones at all.
Matthew Cappucci, a meteorologist, replied to Hogan’s post with what feels like an important fact-check.
“With immense respect, Mr. governor, this is the constellation ‘Orion,’” Cappucci wrote in a post on X. He included an image of the lights in the video labeled as the stars Bellatrix, Bettleguese, Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak.
“It’s made up of stars between 244 and 1,344 light years away. The stars will be in a similar place tomorrow,” Cappucci added.
Last week, right-wing fear hustler Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was quick to use the drones to suggest that the federal government was failing to keep Americans safe. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump, clearly intent on taking the safety of his constituents seriously, used the drones to mock former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.