[Final Authority]

I have been a consultant for NASA working on optical space payloads in the LWIR. I have designed solid state spectrometers that will fly to IO someday when the flight is funded and authorized. Begin to grasp the physics of what you believe before you expect to be able to explain the science to others.

Gases absorb and radiate at very narrow and specific wavelengths. The visible spectrum is not narrow so even if a gas, in this case, air, which is mostly nitrogen, was energized it would create photons that are visible but would also radiate at specific wavelengths, for example, CO2 has a strong absorption/radiation band centered at 4.3 microns in the MWIR but it has none in the visible but will excite and cause photons in the visible however. If there was a plasma on the subject phenomena then it would be visible but the observers reported that it was seen on radar and in the IR only. I will agree however that a sheath of plasma on a body may obscure its shape. In this case this was not operative.

[Quix]

Thanks for acknowledging that the shape can be obscured.

Certainly I can't personally argue the science with you as it's out of my league in a list of ways.

Neither am I an idiot at my IQ level.

And I can easily recognize some closed mindedness and arrogance which tend to be plenty blinding regardless of the science or topic involved.

It is clear you have never read the book involved nor, evidently any other similar text. There's plenty of science in the text for you to digest.

You might consider reading more of the other side's SCIENTIFIC treatments of the topic; the other perspective on a topic before you pontificate so dismissively and so arrogantly.