UFO/UAP knowledge base
Explainers
Clear, source-linked guides to UAP terminology, evidence review, common misidentifications, reporting, and official programs.
BasicsWhat Does UAP Mean? Official Definition and UFO DifferenceUAP is a neutral official label for observations or detections that available data cannot yet identify; it does not mean alien spacecraft.2 minRead guideBasicsUFO vs UAP: Meaning, Differences and Official UsageUFO means unidentified flying object. UAP now means unidentified anomalous phenomena in U.S. official usage. Neither label establishes an object's origin.2 minRead guideEvidenceCommon UFO Misidentifications: Drones, Satellites, Planets and Camera EffectsMost reports begin with honest uncertainty. Time, direction, motion, weather, flight paths, satellite passes and original files are the strongest first checks.3 minRead guideReportingHow to Report a UFO Sighting: Where to Submit a UAP ReportRecord time, location, direction, duration, weather, witnesses and original files, then check aircraft, satellites, planets, balloons and drones before reporting.4 minRead guideOfficial recordsOfficial UAP Reports: Dates, Counts and ConclusionsRead a government assessment by separating its reporting window, case status and evidentiary limits. The 2024 annual report is a worked example, not a live total.3 minRead guideOfficial programsWhat Is AARO and What Does It Investigate?AARO is the U.S. Department of Defense office that coordinates official UAP review, case resolution and public reporting across multiple domains.3 minRead guideScienceNASA UAP Study: Findings and Remaining QuestionsNASA's independent study called for better data, calibrated sensors and transparent analysis; it did not conclude that UAP are extraterrestrial.2 minRead guideEvidencePentagon UFO Videos: Official Sources and Evidence LimitsOpen the Navy’s FLIR and GIMBAL recordings, separate filming from release and upload dates, and check what the images can actually establish.4 minRead guideEvidenceRadar UAP Evidence: Returns, Tracks and CorroborationLearn what a radar claim actually contains, how atmospheric effects can affect a display, and which records are needed to reproduce a claimed motion.3 minRead guideDocumentsUFO and UAP Files: Where to Find Official RecordsFind original records through NARA, the UAP Records Collection and official Navy video releases. Separate what a document records from what an investigation establishes.3 minRead guideBasicsAre UAP Aliens? What Would Establish Their Origin?Separate an unexplained observation from a claim of extraterrestrial origin, and check what NASA, AARO and SETI guidance actually address.3 minRead guideEvidenceDrone, Balloon or Satellite? How to Identify a Reported UFOMovement, lights, duration, wind and tracking records help distinguish common airborne and orbital objects before a sighting is classed as unexplained.4 minRead guideHistoryProject Blue Book: UFO Files, Findings and How to Read ThemTrace the Air Force programme, locate its records and distinguish a witness report, an investigative classification and a conclusion about the evidence.4 minRead guideOfficial recordsUAP Congressional Hearings: Testimony, Records and EvidenceUse selected 2022, 2023 and 2024 House records to identify who said what, how they knew it and which supporting material the public can inspect.4 minRead guideCase guidesBlack Triangle UFOs: Sightings and Possible ExplanationsReports often describe a dark triangular form with three lights. Comparing Belgium, Phoenix and aircraft-related explanations shows what the pattern can and cannot establish.4 minRead guideSkywatchingWhy Starlink Satellites Are Mistaken for UFOsNewly launched Starlink groups can look like a moving train of lights. Time, direction, launch records and satellite tracks usually provide the fastest identification checks.3 minRead guideSkywatchingWhy Venus Is Mistaken for a UFOVenus can appear unusually bright, stationary or colorful near the horizon. A sky-map check can often identify it within minutes.3 minRead guideEvidenceUFO Hoaxes: Staged Events, Fake Files and False CaptionsUse documented staging to understand how a real recording can support a false story—and why an unidentified image is not automatically a hoax.3 minRead guideCultureCrop Circles and UFOs: Human Makers and Evidence LimitsA crop formation can be real while its maker remains unverified. Compare documented circle-making with the much stronger claim that a pattern records a UFO visit.3 minRead guideSkywatchingMeteor or UFO? How to identify fireballs and bolidesBright meteors can produce sudden flashes, colored trails and fragmentation that look extraordinary on video. NASA terminology and event data provide a practical first check.4 minRead guideSkywatchingSpace debris reentry or UFO? How to identify a breakupReentering spacecraft and rocket bodies can create slow processions of glowing fragments across a wide sky. Timing, trajectory and reentry notices are central to identification.3 minRead guideSkywatchingLenticular cloud or UFO? How to tell the differenceSmooth lens-shaped clouds can resemble discs or stacked craft, especially near mountains and at sunrise or sunset. Weather context usually resolves the comparison.3 minRead guideEvidenceAutokinesis: why a stationary light can seem to moveIn a dark scene without visual references, a fixed point of light may appear to drift or dart. Aviation guidance treats this as a known perception illusion.3 minRead guideSkywatchingAircraft lights mistaken for UFOs: a night identification guideAn aircraft approaching nearly head-on can look stationary while its landing light grows brighter. Position, strobe and beacon patterns provide further checks.3 minRead guideEvidenceCamera bokeh and digital zoom in UFO videosA distant point light can become a disc, triangle or pulsing shape when focus, aperture, stabilization and enlargement interact. The recorded outline may belong to the camera.3 minRead guideEvidenceParallax in UAP videos: why objects can seem extremely fastA moving camera can make a distant, slow object appear to race across nearby terrain. Speed cannot be recovered from image motion without geometry and range.3 minRead guideEvidenceInfrared and FLIR UAP videos: how to read the displayThermal video maps infrared contrast, not ordinary color or a direct physical outline. Palette, gain, range, atmosphere and tracking mode all affect the image.3 minRead guideSkywatchingSatellite flares and tumbling objects mistaken for UFOsA satellite can brighten, fade or pulse as sunlight reflects from changing surfaces. One moving point behaves differently from a newly launched Starlink train.3 minRead guideEvidenceHow to verify a UFO sighting with flight, satellite and weather dataA repeatable workflow preserves the original record, reconstructs time and direction, and tests aircraft, orbital, astronomical and weather candidates before calling a report unresolved.3 minRead guideGovernmentPURSUE UAP Files: How to Search the Official ArchiveFind the official war.gov UFO files, read the catalogue fields and preserve a usable citation. Release dates, incident dates and witness descriptions answer different questions.4 minRead guideCultureExeter UFO Festival: History, Records and the 1965 IncidentA community festival and a historical UFO report share a name, but they are different research subjects. This guide records the 2026 edition and shows where to follow the programme and the original case.4 minRead guideGovernmentFBI UFO Files: The Guy Hottel Memo and Its LimitsRead the original memo alongside the FBI’s explanation, and distinguish a recorded allegation from a verified recovery.2 minRead guideGovernmentCIA UFO Files: Reading Room Records and Release DatesAn agency-hosted document can be a historical essay, a report or an attachment. Its evidentiary role depends on which one it is.2 minRead guideGovernmentUK UFO Files: Search the National Archives and MOD ReportsTwo official routes answer different questions: detailed archival files and short annual sighting lists.2 minRead guideGovernmentCanadian UFO Files: LAC Records and Project MagnetSearch historical Canadian records by agency, place and document date, without treating a research proposal as a demonstrated propulsion system.2 minRead guideGovernmentAustralian UFO Files: RAAF Records and Archive ResearchFind the historical record before deciding what an Australian sighting demonstrates.2 minRead guideGovernmentBrazil UFO Files: OVNI Records at the National ArchiveUse the Portuguese collection name and fonds code to trace Brazilian records, then read each item in context.2 minRead guideEvidenceGEIPAN: What Its A, B, C and D UFO Categories MeanFrance’s official investigation service separates insufficient information from an unexplained case studied in depth.2 minRead guideGovernmentAATIP vs AAWSAP: Names, Contracts and UFO ClaimsA contemporary contract briefing and a later government review describe different layers of the same contested history.2 minRead guideGovernmentSkinwalker Ranch UFO Claims: Reading the Official RecordsA guide to the documentary claims and their limits, separate from episode schedules and television storytelling.2 minRead guideGovernmentThe Condon Report: Conclusions, Case Studies and LimitsRead the scientific recommendation alongside the underlying case work rather than reducing a long report to a slogan.2 minRead guideGovernmentRobertson Panel: The 1953 UFO Review and Its RecommendationsSeparate a short Cold War review, its publicity recommendations and the evidence behind any individual sighting.2 minRead guideEvidenceGalileo Project UAP Research: Instruments, Data and LimitsUnderstand the project’s stated research scope and evaluate an instrument paper differently from a claimed discovery.2 minRead guideEvidenceSETI vs UFO and UAP Research: What Is the Difference?The possibility of life elsewhere is a shared question, but a radio signal and an unidentified light demand different tests.2 minRead guideEvidenceMUFON UFO Database: Access, Reports and Evidence LimitsUnderstand what the Case Management System contains and why a case number is not an independently verified identification.2 minRead guideEvidenceNUFORC UFO Reports: Search the Database and Read Its LimitsFind reports by event date or posting date, understand the tier labels and avoid turning a public map into a census of extraordinary events.2 minRead guideEvidenceBall Lightning or UFO? Observations and Evidence LimitsA rare atmospheric phenomenon is worth investigating, but its name is not a ready-made explanation for every glowing orb.2 minRead guideEvidenceRed Sprites or UFOs? Lightning Above ThunderstormsBrief red flashes above storms belong to a studied family of upper-atmospheric electrical events.2 minRead guideSkywatchingSpaceX Spirals in the Sky: Rocket Exhaust or UFO?A sunlit upper-stage cloud can be visible far from its launch site. Its expanding spiral differs from a Starlink train.2 minRead guideGovernmentUAP Disclosure Act: Read Proposals and Records LawUse the 2023 amendment and enacted records provisions as a worked example of how legislative versions differ.2 minRead guideEvidenceFOIA UFO Records: Find Files and Frame a Useful RequestStart with files already released, identify the custodian and ask for records that an agency can actually search.2 minRead guideGovernmentSky Canada Project Report: Findings, Methods and LimitsCanada’s June 2025 report studies how UAP reports are managed, rather than identifying a collection of mysterious objects.2 minRead guide