THE SIGHTINGS DESK · what the record says, and what is still unexplained
THE SIGHTINGS DESK · CH 03 · receiving
Air Force files, intelligence reports, NASA’s panel, the famous cases and the ordinary lights that fool all of us. Every card on the board is one case file: when and where it was reported, what investigators found, and whether anyone has explained it.
15 case files · signal weak · newest first
1952–1969 · Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
For seventeen years the U.S. Air Force collected and classified UFO reports. Its final tally was 12,618 sightings, and 701 of them stayed unidentified.
The Record▶ Tape
2004–2021 · U.S. military airspace
Nine pages, 144 reports and one confident explanation. What the Office of the Director of National Intelligence actually said in June 2021, and what it carefully did not.
The Record▶ Tape
2022–present · Department of Defense
The Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office was set up in 2022 to collect and resolve UAP reports. Here is what it does, who it hears from, and what its historical review found.
The Record▶ Tape
2022–2023 · NASA independent study
NASA asked an independent panel how science should approach UAP. Its September 2023 report said the main problem is poor data, and laid out how to fix it.
The Record▶ Tape
July 1947 · Roswell, New Mexico
A rancher found debris, an Army airfield announced a captured flying disc, and a day later the story became a weather balloon. Here is the paper trail, from 1947 to the Air Force reports of the 1990s.
Famous Cases▶ Tape
March 13, 1997 · Arizona
On March 13, 1997, thousands of people across Arizona looked up. They were not all seeing the same thing. Separating the evening's two events is the key to the case.
Famous Cases▶ Tape
November 2004 · Pacific Ocean off Southern California
Two Navy aircrews, a cruiser's radar and an infrared recording. What is documented about the November 2004 encounter off Southern California, and what is still argued over.
Famous Cases▶ Tape
1966–1969 · University of Colorado
In 1969 a University of Colorado study concluded that further UFO research was unlikely to advance science. The Air Force used it to close Blue Book. The study's own pages are more complicated.
The Record
Since 2019 · Worldwide, around dusk and dawn
A perfectly straight line of lights gliding silently across the sky looks like nothing you have seen before. It is very often a fresh batch of satellites. Here is how to check in two minutes.
Identify It▶ Tape
Any clear evening or pre-dawn sky
A brilliant light low in the west that doesn't seem to move, or seems to follow your car. Planets and bright stars have fooled pilots, police and astronomers. Here's how to rule them out.
Identify It▶ Tape
Anywhere people fly things · day or night
Hovering lights, slow drifting orbs and objects that seem to go against the wind. Before calling it unexplained, test the three most common things people send up into the sky.
Identify It▶ Tape
Whenever it happens · wherever you are
Most UFO photos are a blurry dot. You can do better with the phone in your pocket, and the details you save around the picture matter as much as the picture itself.
Report It▶ Tape
Any clear night
Some lights cross the sky in minutes, some in a second, some hang and fade. Learn the speed and shape of each and most of the night sky becomes readable.
Science & Sky
Centuries of reports · worldwide, often during storms
Glowing spheres in thunderstorms, red flashes above the clouds, steady lights in a Norwegian valley. Some rare natural lights are well understood. Others are still a puzzle for physicists.
Science & Sky▶ Tape
Your backyard · any clear night
You don't need a telescope to identify most of what you see at night. A pair of binoculars, a red light, a notebook and some free tools will take you a long way.
Science & Sky
hearings, briefings and interviews from the record
60 Minutes · Read UFO-007
NASA Video · Read UFO-004
C-SPAN's American History TV · Read UFO-005
Reading the pills
We mark every file with the state of the record, not with our opinion of what people saw.
| Status | Case file | Reported |
|---|---|---|
| Unexplained | UFO-001Project Blue Book: what the Air Force investigated, 1952–1969 | 1952–1969 · Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio |
| Unexplained | UFO-007The 2004 Nimitz "Tic Tac" encounter: the public record | November 2004 · Pacific Ocean off Southern California |
| Unexplained | UFO-008The Condon Report and why the Air Force closed Blue Book | 1966–1969 · University of Colorado |
| Unexplained | UFO-015Ball lightning and other rare atmospheric lights | Centuries of reports · worldwide, often during storms |
| Open | UFO-002The 2021 ODNI UAP report, read line by line | 2004–2021 · U.S. military airspace |
| Open | UFO-003What AARO is and what its reports have concluded so far | 2022–present · Department of Defense |
| Open | UFO-004NASA's 2023 UAP study: what the panel recommended | 2022–2023 · NASA independent study |
| Open | UFO-006The Phoenix Lights, 1997: two events, one night | March 13, 1997 · Arizona |
| Explained | UFO-005Roswell, 1947: what the documents say happened | July 1947 · Roswell, New Mexico |
| Explained | UFO-009Is that a UFO or a Starlink train? How to tell | Since 2019 · Worldwide, around dusk and dawn |
| Explained | UFO-010Venus, Jupiter and the bright "lights" people report most | Any clear evening or pre-dawn sky |
| Explained | UFO-011Drones, balloons and lanterns: ruling out the usual suspects | Anywhere people fly things · day or night |
| Guide | UFO-012How to photograph something strange in the sky | Whenever it happens · wherever you are |
| Guide | UFO-014Reading the night sky: satellites, meteors and flares | Any clear night |
| Guide | UFO-016A skywatcher's starter kit for under $100 | Your backyard · any clear night |
THE SIGHTINGS DESK · weekly
Every Monday: one sighting, document or patch of sky, with what was reported, what the record says, and what is still unexplained.