Bright lights and hot orbs: UFO files shed light on sightings but leave interpretation to the public
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Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share WASHINGTON (AP) â Buzz Aldrin observing a âfairly bright light sourceâ while aboard the Apollo 11. A mysterious object making âmultiple 90-degree turnsâ at a speedy clip. A blaringly bright object doing corkscrew twists over the skies in Kazakhstan. Those are some of the details in a new batch of files on UFOs that the Pentagon began releasing on Friday as President Donald Trump taps into the publicâs long-held curiosities about âunidentified anomalous phenomenaâ in the broader universe. Though the Pentagon has been working on declassifying the documents for years, Trump put attention back on the topic months ago by teasing a major UFO document dump. âWhereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, âWHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?â Have Fun and Enjoy!â Trump wrote Friday in a Truth Social post. Trumpâs Republican administration says the public can draw its own conclusions with the information in the files, which includes old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed flights into space. A new Pentagon website housing the documents on UAPs has a decidedly retro feel, with black-and-white military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font. The files reflect cases that the government deems unresolved, meaning that for a variety of reasons they couldnât be explained with certainty. The Pentagon described the files as new and ânever-before-seen,â though some had been made public years ago. Read More Experts urge caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with military technology. A 2024 Pentagon report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.
AP AUDIO: Bright lights and hot orbs: UFO files shed light on sightings but leave interpretation to the public AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports the Pentagon has started releasing UFO files. Files describe numerous sightings of UAPs The initial release is a trove of videos, other imagery and testimony that is sure to stir more speculation among those who believe we are not alone in the universe. For instance, a State Department cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan in 1994 details how one Tajik pilot and three Americans saw a brightly lit UAP while flying a jet over Kazakhstan. The object, according to the cable, was âmaking 90 degree turns, doing corkscrews and maneuvering in circles at great rates of speed.â Thatâs not the only instance of erratically moving objects cited in the document release. A military report from the Aegean Sea in 2023 cited a UAP flying just above the surface of the ocean and making âmultiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mphâ (129 km/h). One interview with a U.S. intelligence official details an incident last year in which the official, doing a search on a helicopter, encountered a âsuper-hotâ orb hovering over the ground, traveling about 20 miles (32 kilometers) at a speedy clip, then spotted four or five more orbs that flared up and down. In a 1969 debriefing of Apollo 11 crew members, the astronaut Aldrin recalled spotting several unusual sights, such as a âsizeableâ object close to the moon and a âfairly bright light sourceâ that the crew felt could be a laser. One document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a âlinear objectâ with a light bright enough to âsee bands within the lightâ in the sky. âThe object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,â according to the FBI interview. Another file is a NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation.
