Subtitle Close Encounters Of The Third Kind -

The title of Steven Spielberg's 1977 masterpiece, , is not just a catchy phrase; it is a direct reference to a scientific classification system that anchors the film’s narrative in the reality of 20th-century UFO research. The Origin: The Hynek Scale

: A visual observation of an unidentified flying object (UFO) at a distance, typically less than 500 feet. subtitle Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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: The title of Steven Spielberg's 1977 masterpiece, ,

: 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. Air Force’s Project Blue Book