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The latest events on the record: hearings, official reports, releases and reported encounters. Each one links to its sources.
Sightings24 Feb 2018
A Phoenix Air Learjet pilot and the crew of American Airlines Flight 1095 told Albuquerque Center they saw an object pass high above them over southern Arizona. The FAA released the radio recordings but did not identify the object, saying it had no comment beyond the audio.
Photo: Jerry Gunner from Lincoln, UK, CC BY 2.0
GovernmentFeb 2018
Answering a written question from lower-house lawmaker Seiji Osaka, the cabinet said it had never confirmed UFOs thought to come from beyond Earth and had made no special study of how to respond if one entered Japanese airspace. The question also cited the U.S. Pentagon's UFO program.
Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office, Cabinet Secretariat of Japan, CC BY 4.0
Sightings16 Jan 2018
Hundreds of people saw and filmed a bright flash over southeast Michigan. NASA said a small meteoroid exploded with about 10 tons of TNT energy; NOAA's GOES-16 caught the flash and the ground blast registered like a magnitude 2.0 quake.
Photo: Philipp R. Heck et al., CC BY 4.0
Media3 Jan 2018
Fox premiered season 11 of The X-Files with the episode My Struggle III, continuing the revival in which agents Mulder and Scully search for their son William amid a looming global threat.
Photo: Fox Broadcasting Company, Public domain
Media2018
Filmmaker Jeremy Corbell's feature revisited Bob Lazar's 1989 claim of working on alien craft near Area 51. The Orchard acquired it in 2018 for release that year; it later reached Netflix in 2019, and Lazar then appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast. Lazar's education claims have long been disputed.
Sightings22 Dec 2017
A Falcon 9 carrying 10 Iridium satellites lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at dusk, leaving a sunlit plume seen across Southern California. Drivers stopped to watch and many people posted UFO fears; the Los Angeles Fire Department said the light came from the rocket launch.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jim Araos, Public domain
Whistleblowers18 Dec 2017
Two days after the New York Times revealed AATIP, former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo told CNN's 'Erin Burnett OutFront' he personally believed humans may not be alone, saying objects studied showed abilities beyond any known aircraft. He said he could not speak for the government.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
Military18 Dec 2017
Two days after the New York Times revealed AATIP, retired Navy Cmdr. David Fravor told ABC News about chasing a wingless, roughly 40-foot white object off California in 2004, saying he thought it 'was not from this world.' He later repeated his account under oath to Congress in 2023.
Photo: U.S. House Committee On Oversight and Accountability, Public domain
Media16 Dec 2017
The New York Times reported that the Pentagon had run a little-known Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, funded with about $22 million from 2008 to 2011. The story ran with two Navy videos and said Luis Elizondo had led the program.
Photo: United States Navy, Public domain
Media13 Dec 2017
The Breakthrough Listen project pointed West Virginia's Green Bank Telescope at 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object, across four radio bands. Its initial results found no sign of artificial signals, though most of the data was still being analyzed.
Photo: NRAO/AUI/NSF, CC BY 4.0
Government19 Oct 2017
The University of Hawaii's NASA-funded Pan-STARRS1 telescope spotted a small object whose path showed it came from outside the solar system, the first such visitor confirmed. Named 'Oumuamua, it became the center of later debate over whether interstellar objects could be artificial.
Photo: R. Ratkowski, Public domain
Sightings12 Oct 2017
A drone struck a Skyjet Beechcraft King Air with eight passengers inbound to Quebec City's Jean Lesage airport, causing minor damage. Transport Minister Marc Garneau called it the first drone collision with a commercial aircraft in Canada; the operator was not identified.
Photo: Harfang, CC BY 3.0
WhistleblowersOct 2017
Luis Elizondo, who said he ran the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, left the Defense Department in October 2017, citing a lack of support for the work, and joined Tom DeLonge's To The Stars Academy.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
Military21 Sep 2017
A U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk on a UN General Assembly security patrol struck a DJI Phantom 4 near Staten Island, taking minor damage. The NTSB found the drone pilot flew beyond visual line of sight; the FAA called it the first confirmed drone collision with an aircraft.
Photo: The National Guard Spc. Andrew Valenza/New York National Guard, Public domain
Media1 Sep 2017
Sony Pictures marked the 40th anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind with a 4K restoration from the original camera negative and a one-week U.S. and Canadian theatrical run of the Director's Cut starting September 1, 2017.
Photo: Owen Byrne from Mountain View, USA, CC BY 2.0
MediaAug 2017
To The Stars Academy's August 2017 SEC filing lists Christopher Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and Senate Intelligence Committee staff director, on its advisory board. He was presented with the team at its October launch.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
Sightings2 Jul 2017
Gatwick Airport said a reported drone near the airfield led it to suspend runway operations twice in one evening, briefly each time, causing go-arounds and diversions of several easyJet and British Airways flights. Police investigated. It preceded the far larger December 2018 shutdown.
Photo: Robin Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0
MediaJul 2017
In June 2017 the streaming site Gaia and journalist Jaime Maussan promoted a 'three-fingered' body said to come from Nazca, Peru. In July Peruvian scientists said they would file a complaint over altered ancient remains, with the Ministry of Culture and prosecutors to review.
Sightings29 Jun 2017
A NASA sounding rocket launched from Wallops before dawn released blue-green and red vapor tracers to test a new canister system. The glowing clouds were seen from New York to North Carolina, and NASA received nearly 2,000 reports and photos.
Photo: NASA/Terry Zaperach (Wallops Flight Facility), Public domain
Sightings6 Jun 2017
A meteorite struck farmland at Mukundpura near Jaipur in Rajasthan in the morning, leaving a pit in a field. After months of study, the Geological Survey of India identified it as a rare CM-group carbonaceous chondrite.
