: The highest level of encounter in Hynek's original scale, involving the sighting of actual extraterrestrial beings or "animate occupants" in or near the craft.
The title is derived from the work of , an astronomer and former scientific advisor to the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book . In his 1972 book, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry , Hynek proposed a hierarchy to categorize reports of unidentified flying objects based on the proximity and nature of the sighting: subtitle Close Encounters of the Third Kind
: A UFO sighting accompanied by physical evidence or effects, such as scorched earth, broken branches, or electromagnetic interference in vehicles and electronics. : The highest level of encounter in Hynek's