Waar worden UFO's het vaakst gesignaleerd?

©Shutterstock

Waar worden UFO's het vaakst gesignaleerd?
UFO’s worden al lang geassocieerd met buitenaards leven. Elk jaar melden duizenden mensen over de hele wereld dat ze vreemde objecten door de lucht hebben zien vliegen, en recente trends laten zien dat dit aantal zelfs toeneemt door de groeiende belangstelling van het publiek.

Maar sommige landen spannen echt de kroon wat betreft het aantal gemelde waarnemingen. Terwijl de meeste landen wereldwijd slechts een paar UFO-meldingen hebben, zijn er andere waar hele databases ermee overspoeld worden. Beniewd in welke landen de meeste UFO's worden gesignaleerd? Klik dan verder.

©Getty Images

Wat zijn UFO's?
De afkorting UFO staat voor ‘ongeïdentificeerd vliegend object’, terwijl UAP staat voor ‘ongeïdentificeerde abnormale verschijnselen’. Beide termen verwijzen in feite naar iets dat iemand in de lucht, op zee of in de nabije ruimte waarneemt en dat nog niet is geïdentificeerd.

©Getty Images

Waarom de naam is veranderd
De term UFO was ooit alomtegenwoordig, maar veel instanties geven tegenwoordig de voorkeur aan ‘UAP’, omdat die term breder klinkt en minder beladen is. De term omvat niet alleen objecten in de lucht, maar ook vreemde waarnemingen op verschillende gebieden.

©Shutterstock

Onbekend betekent niet buitenaards
Het sleutelwoord is ‘niet-geïdentificeerd’. Dat betekent niet automatisch dat er buitenaardse wezens in het spel zijn. Het All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) zegt dat het geen bewijs heeft gevonden voor buitenaardse technologie, en veel gevallen blijven onopgelost.

©Shutterstock

Het land dat bovenaan staat
Er worden in de Verenigde Staten de meeste UFO’s gemeld. In de wereldwijde database van Enigma Labs, een onderzoeksgemeenschap die zich bezighoudt met UAP’s, staan de VS met een enorme voorsprong op de eerste plaats, gevolgd door Canada, het Verenigd Koninkrijk, Australië en Frankrijk.

©Shutterstock

Het huidige wereldwijde klassement
In de Verenigde Staten zijn er ongeveer 252.100 meldingen van UFO’s geweest, terwijl dat aantal in Canada 15.300 bedraagt, in het Verenigd Koninkrijk 14.638, in Australië 5.531 en in Frankrijk 5.010.

©Getty Images

Waarom Amerika de statistieken domineert
De Verenigde Staten staan waarschijnlijk bovenaan, deels omdat het een groot land is met een hoge bevolkingsdichtheid, een levendige luchtvaartindustrie, een uitgebreide internetverbinding en de bakermat van enkele van ’s werelds beroemdste UFO-verhalen. Meer mensen die omhoog kijken en meer plekken om waarnemingen te melden, betekent doorgaans ook meer waarnemingen.

©Shutterstock

De belangrijkste staat van de VS
Binnen de Verenigde Staten is Californië veruit koploper wat betreft het totale aantal meldingen in de belangrijkste openbare databases. Volgens het National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) zijn er in Californië ongeveer 17.100 waarnemingen gemeld.

©Shutterstock

Andere staten
Na Californië zijn de Amerikaanse staten met de meeste meldingen van UAP’s Florida (met 8.800 meldingen), Washington (7.600 meldingen), Texas (6.700) en New York (met 6.600 meldingen).

©Shutterstock

Het halve verhaal
Het is ook belangrijk om te bedenken dat een staat met een grote bevolking veel waarnemingen oplevert zonder dat dit per se opvallend is. Daarom zijn kaarten per hoofd van de bevolking van belang: die laten namelijk zien waar meldingen vaak voorkomen in verhouding tot het aantal inwoners.

©Shutterstock

Washington en Vermont
Uit een voor de bevolkingsomvang gecorrigeerd overzicht op basis van NUFORC-gegevens blijkt dat Washington en Vermont bovenaan staan, met elk bijna 1.000 waarnemingen per miljoen inwoners. Dat wijkt sterk af van de ranglijst op basis van de ruwe totalen.

©Shutterstock

Wat onderzoekers op nationaal niveau hebben vastgesteld
Uit een in de VS gepubliceerd, door vakgenoten beoordeeld onderzoek, waarbij meer dan 98.000 openbare meldingen werden geanalyseerd, bleek dat er in het westen van de Verenigde Staten en in het uiterste noordoosten veel meer waarnemingen werden gedaan, gecorrigeerd voor de bevolkingsomvang, dan in het grootste deel van de rest van het land.

©Shutterstock

Washington, D.C.
Uit het onderzoek bleek ook dat er verspreide concentraties te zien waren rond Washington D.C. en in het drielandengebied van Illinois, Indiana en Kentucky, in de buurt van Evansville. Uiteindelijk bevinden niet alle significante concentraties zich in het verre westen.

©Shutterstock

Waarom er in het Westen wellicht meer wordt gemeld
Onderzoekers hebben vastgesteld dat het aantal meldingen toeneemt op plaatsen waar mensen beter zicht op de lucht hebben en waar zich boven hun hoofd meer objecten kunnen bevinden, zoals vliegtuigen en militaire installaties.

©Shutterstock

Lichtvervuiling
Uit het onderzoek bleek dat er een verband bestaat tussen meer lichtvervuiling en minder meldingen. Een helderdere hemel kan sterren, satellieten, meteoren en andere vreemd uitziende verschijnselen doen vervagen voordat mensen ze opmerken.

©Shutterstock

Bomen en zichtbaarheid
In het nationale onderzoek bleek er ook een verband te bestaan tussen een dichter bladerdak en een lager aantal meldingen. Een belemmerd uitzicht betekent dat er minder dingen aan de hemel worden opgemerkt, dat er minder mysteries ontstaan en dat er minder gelegenheid is voor mensen om een officiële UFO-melding in te dienen.

©Getty Images

Luchtverkeer
Er werd een verband gelegd tussen meer vliegverkeer en meer meldingen, aangezien een druk luchtruim meer kansen biedt dat vliegende objecten verkeerd worden geïdentificeerd. In een druk luchtruim krijgen mensen te maken met meer onbekende lichtverschijnselen en bewegingen die ze moeten interpreteren.

©Shutterstock

Militaire gebieden
In datzelfde onderzoek werden militaire installaties als een van de factoren genoemd. In de publieke opinie wordt al lang gewezen op strategische militaire locaties (zoals Area 51) als plekken waar het aantal UFO-waarnemingen sterk toeneemt. Dit bewijst echter niet dat er in militaire gebieden iets vreemds aan de hand is.

©Shutterstock

Wat de regering vaak besluit
Van alle door AARO geregistreerde UFO-meldingen werd ongeveer 75% van de afgesloten zaken toegeschreven aan ballonnen, 16% aan drones, 6% aan vogels en telkens 1% aan vliegtuigen, satellieten en andere oorzaken.

©Shutterstock

Wat mensen het vaakst zeggen te zien
Volgens AARO meldden mensen in ongeveer 46% van de gevallen dat ze 'lichtjes' hadden gezien, terwijl er in ongeveer 31% van de gevallen sprake zou zijn geweest van lichtbollen, ronde vormen of bollen.

©Shutterstock

Waarom eenvoudige dingen er vreemd kunnen uitzien
De waarheid is dat vogels, puin, ballonnen, vliegtuigen, drones, satellieten, raketlanceringen, Venus, Jupiter en meteoren allemaal vaak als UAP’s worden gemeld. Onder vreemde hoeken of bij slechte zichtomstandigheden kunnen gewone dingen er buitengewoon uitzien.

©Shutterstock

Beweging kan het oog bedriegen
Een andere reden waarom mensen in de war kunnen raken, is bewegingsparallax: een stilstaand of langzaam bewegend object kan snel lijken te bewegen omdat de waarnemer zelf snel beweegt. Dat verklaart mede waarom sommige spectaculaire waarnemingen vanaf de grond uiteindelijk heel alledaags blijken te zijn.

©Shutterstock

Satellieten
De toename van satellietverkeer, met inbegrip van felle lichtflitsen en schitteringen, draagt waarschijnlijk bij aan het huidige aantal UFO-meldingen. Onderzoekers hebben inderdaad herhaaldelijk vastgesteld dat satellieten vaak voor verwarring zorgen.

©Shutterstock

Ballonnen
Ballonnen (met name die welke door meteorologen worden gebruikt) verdienen een speciale vermelding omdat ze op onvoorspelbare wijze kunnen afdrijven, op grote hoogte blijven hangen, zonlicht weerkaatsen en geen duidelijke markeringen hebben.

©Shutterstock

Rapportage versus voorval
De plekken waar de meeste UFO’s worden gemeld, zijn niet per se de plekken waar de meeste vreemde gebeurtenissen plaatsvinden. Het kan gewoon zijn dat mensen daar vaker omhoog kijken, dat de lucht daar helderder is, of dat ze weten waar ze een melding kunnen doen.

©Shutterstock

Canada
Canada is veruit de belangrijkste speler buiten de VS als het gaat om meldingen van UAP’s, wat waarschijnlijk te danken is aan een combinatie van het uitgestrekte grondgebied van het land, de weidse lucht, een actieve cultuur van burgermeldingen en een goede zichtbaarheid in minder dichtbebouwde gebieden.

©Getty Images

Verenigd Koninkrijk
Het Verenigd Koninkrijk onderscheidt zich niet alleen door de omvang, maar ook door zijn buitengewoon rijke officiële archief. Het Nationaal Archief bewaart tientallen jaren aan UFO-documenten, correspondentie en beleidsdossiers die verband houden met de manier waarop de overheid met meldingen omgaat.

©Shutterstock

Frankrijk
Frankrijk valt vooral op omdat het binnen het Franse ruimteagentschap een officiële, aan de staat gelieerde instantie heeft, genaamd GEIPAN (Groep voor Onderzoek en Informatie over Onbekende Lucht- en Ruimteverschijnselen). GEIPAN verzamelt, analyseert en archiveert casusmateriaal en maakt dit openbaar, waarbij de anonimiteit van getuigen wordt gewaarborgd.

©Shutterstock

Australië
Australië komt veelvuldig voor in internationale databases en beschikt bovendien over een omvangrijke gedocumenteerde geschiedenis. Uit openbaar archiefmateriaal en latere berichtgeving blijkt dat waarnemingen soms zo serieus werden genomen dat ze in de nationale archieven werden opgenomen.

©Shutterstock

Uitgebreide aardrijkskunde
De enorme omvang van Australië, de relatief donkere hemel in veel regio’s en de grote afstanden tussen bevolkingscentra kunnen helpen verklaren waarom er daar steeds weer meldingen van UFO’s worden gedaan. Omstandigheden die het zicht verbeteren, kunnen het mysterie ook vergroten.

©Shutterstock

Andere brandhaarden wereldwijd
Maar afgezien van deze landen zijn er ook diverse gebieden in andere delen van Noord-Amerika, het oostelijke Middellandse Zeegebied tot Zuid-Azië en Oost-Azië waar veel UFO-waarnemingen worden gemeld. Het lijkt erop dat het zien van UFO’s een wereldwijd verschijnsel is.

Bronnen:

1. (AARO)
2. (Enigma Labs)
3. (NASA)
4. (National Institutes of Health)
5. (National UFO Reporting Center)

{ Stars Insider }

Radio signals detected from a planet beyond our Solar System. Landmark discovery could help us search for habitable worlds

Radio signals detected at a planet beyond our Solar System

BY Iain Todd

Researchers have captured direct radio wave emissions originating from a planet outside our Solar System.

Using South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope array, an international team of astronomers successfully detected variable radio bursts coming directly from Beta Pictoris b, a massive gas giant exoplanet located about 63 lightyears away.

But while many of us may hear of radio signals detected at a distant planet in our Galaxy and instinctively imagine a detection of alien life, in this case the discovery is not a sign that E.T. has been detected.

The discovery is, however, a landmark find that will help astronomers learn more about the types of planet that exist beyond our Solar System – and where we might find life.

More signals in deep space

• Scientists detected a signal from deep space lasting seven hours
• The story of the strange Wow! signal and what it could be
• Three signals we thought were aliens – and two that still could be

Credit: honglouwawa / Getty

Chasing signals across the cosmos

For decades, scientists have hunted for radio emissions in deep space.

When it comes to exoplanets – planets beyond our Solar System – astronomers are interested in detecting radio waves similar to those produced by the large gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Scientists say Jupiter is the strongest auroral radio source in our Solar System.

So, learning more about radio waves emitted by other Jupiter-like planets across the Galaxy could reveal more about what those planets are like, what their magnetic fields are like and whether they produce visual displays of aurora like the Northern and Southern Lights on Earth.

It could also tell us whether those planets have protective magnetic fields that could protect emerging life from the ferocious power of their host stars.

However, separating an individual planet's faint signal from the radio signal of its host star is difficult.

Targeting a distant system

The team behind this study targeted planet Beta Pictoris b, which orbits star Beta Pictoris, 63 lightyears from Earth. That's just a stone's throw in cosmic terms.

Beta Pictoris made headlines in July 2026 when astronomers photographed one of its other orbiting planets, Beta Pictoris d, making it the faintest exoplanet ever directly imaged from Earth.

The subject of this study, however, is Beta Pictoris b, which is about 10–12 times the mass of Jupiter.

Crucially, the star it orbits is magnetically quiet, say the researchers, which enabled them to isolate a particular radio signal to Beta Pictoris b.

It's the first time a radio signal has been confirmed as coming from a single planet, rather than from the whole star system in general.

Magnetism and aurorae across the Galaxy

The team say the physics behind the signals is the same as the mechanisms that power aurora displays on the planets in our Solar System.

As energetic, charged particles from the Sun spiral down along magnetic field lines toward a planet's polar regions, they excite particles in the atmosphere, creating the colourful aurora displays we see on Earth.

And because the aurora correlates with the planet's magnetic field strength, the detection has allowed the team to calculate the strength of Beta Pictoris b's magnetic field. It's thousands of times stronger than our planet's.

A new era for exoplanet science?

The discovery is a milestone in the study of distant planets and the search for life beyond our Solar System.

Because magnetic fields play a vital role in protecting planetary atmospheres from being stripped by stellar winds – just as Earth's magnetic field protects us from the power of the Sun – understanding them is crucial in the search for habitable worlds beyond our Solar System.

And with more powerful radio observatories on the horizon, astronomers may be able to use the lessons learned from this study to target other gas giant planets.

That could give us a new, unique way of learning more about the types of planets orbiting stars scattered across our Galaxy and whether they might be able to host life.

• Read the full paper via arxiv

{ https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/ }

Scientists have detected radio signals from a planet beyond our Solar System

First time a radio signal has been confirmed as coming from a single planet rather than an entire system

BY  Iain Todd

• Giant exoplanet: The targeted planet is a massive gas giant located about 63 lightyears away from Earth.
• Magnetic fields: Studying these radio waves could reveal details about the magnetic fields of other Jupiter-like planets across the Galaxy.
• Quiet star: Because the star it orbits is magnetically quiet, the researchers were able to isolate the particular radio signal.
• First confirmation: This marks the first time a radio signal has been confirmed as coming from a single planet rather than an entire system.
• Habitable worlds: Understanding planetary magnetic fields is crucial in the search for habitable worlds because they protect atmospheres from stellar winds.

Credit: Rytis Bernotas / Getty Images

{ https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/ }

Milky Way may have begun as thousands of galaxies, new simulations suggest

by Louise Lerner, University of Chicago

In the early days of the universe, our home looked very different from how it does today. Back then, the region in our universe that would eventually become our Milky Way neighborhood was a collection of thousands of smaller galaxies—some pumping out tons of new stars, others filled only with gas or littered with dead stars and black holes.

You can watch how these galaxies coalesced over time and formed the familiar spiral disk we see today, thanks to a new set of simulations by a group of scientists led by Harley Katz, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

The simulations, which took three years to run even on high-powered supercomputers, are the most detailed model to date of how a galaxy like the Milky Way might have evolved over the first several billion years of its existence.

"What does the Milky Way look like at what we call cosmic dawn?" said Katz. "For the first time, we can directly predict what the early Milky Way would have looked like to telescopes like Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope."

The six papers from the project, which is named MEGATRON, provide new insight into the makeup of early galaxies and how the elements formed over time. The papers are published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics.

How the Milky Way evolves over time

Since we cannot travel to the dawn of the universe to study it, one of the only ways we have to understand how space evolved over time is to build detailed computer models based on what we know about the laws of nature.

"Essentially, we put in all of the physics we think is relevant—gravity, hydrodynamics, radiation, chemistry, etc.—and then let it evolve and see if it reproduces what we actually see when we look around us today," said Katz.

New data coming in from the powerful James Webb Space Telescope has added a new dimension to our understanding of the universe. So three years ago, a team of scientists undertook a project to incorporate this newfound knowledge into a model of what our galaxy might have looked like back in the first billion years of its existence. Now they can compare it to the readings Webb gets today to see what matches and what's missing.

If you run the clock back, the scientists said, you see a web of large and small galaxies of all different types, which will eventually merge into the modern Milky Way.

"We follow thousands of subsystems in the model and directly compute what they all would have looked like with our most powerful space telescopes, which is many orders of magnitude more than what had been simulated before," said Katz. "Within those you see an incredible diversity. Some of them are bursting out in star formation, others are dead, others are in the process of dying."

One unique finding was that the model predicts the existence of "galaxies" that don't have any stars at all but still shine. Some of these might have once had stars that exploded or collapsed directly into black holes; others might have only ever contained gas.

Another discovery addresses a long-standing puzzle in stellar astrophysics. In our Milky Way, we typically see that smaller and fainter galaxies have less iron. However, this trend breaks down in extremely faint systems where the amount of iron appears constant, independent of mass. Thus far, simulations have been unable to reproduce this behavior.

The culprit, the simulation suggests, is explosions from an exotic type of star left over from right after the Big Bang. These stars, known as Population III stars, are so old that they are made of only the first elements that existed in the universe—hydrogen and helium—and when they explode, they can produce more iron than other supernovae do. If a galaxy is large enough, it will have enough gravity to hold on to this iron; but if it's too small, the iron will be lost to space.

These Population III stars, in fact, are so old that none have ever been directly seen by telescopes. Another paper in the set is the first to show how these stars form in an environment like the Milky Way and predicts where these stars would be most likely to exist if any still do—which may help astronomers search for them.

The physics of stars and elements

A hallmark of these simulations is that they are much more complex than anything attempted before.

"What's unique about our simulation is that it's the first time we have modeled the enrichment of individual chemical elements from individual stars after the Big Bang, coupled to detailed models for gravity, chemistry, radiation and stellar processes," said Katz.

This model, for example, was the first large-scale simulation to include a detailed computation of "non-equilibrium physics." Most physics models assume, for the sake of simplicity, that a system's chemistry is more or less in equilibrium. But of course, in the real universe, galaxies are constantly evolving, which often breaks this key assumption.

Scientists weren't sure how much this would affect the end result—and including it in a simulation slows down the computation significantly.

However, two of the papers that are part of the study show that adding non-equilibrium physics made a real difference—especially when dealing with flows of gases around galaxies, known as the circumgalactic medium.

Adding this complexity allows scientists to more accurately interpret observations and to put limits on the number of possible answers to many questions about the formation of the universe.

"Looking at these results, it's very clear that the physics happening right after the Big Bang has a direct impact on what we see today in the local universe," said Katz.

"But there are also things we're not getting right, which is interesting too—what are the parts we're still missing? That can lead you into new directions and new questions."

{ https://phys.org/space-news/ }

NASA chief Jared Isaacman wants to stay 'open-minded' about UFOs: 'If it's aliens, I think NASA should have a seat at the table'

NASA Administrator  Jared Isaacman delivers remarks at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) ASCEND 2026 Conference on May 19, 2026 in Washington, DC.

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Could unidentified anomalous phenomena — a new catch-all term for unidentified objects in the sky, oceans or space — be pushing the United States towards another "Sputnik Moment"?

That's the belief of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who compared the uptick in reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) sightings in recent years to the Cold War paranoia stirred up when the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to circle Earth in 1957.

Isaacman made the comments in a recent interview with Blake Burman, host of NewsNation's "The Hill" broadcast on Sept. 25 that touched upon a range of space-related issues. And one of those was probing the space agency chief about he thinks UAP might be.

Flight characteristics

Burman made note of pilot reports and videos released of objects with flight characteristics unlike anything previously seen.

"When you watch these videos," Burman asked Isaacman, "do you believe that anything that we've seen in any of this is potentially extraterrestrial. Is it military? What is it?"

'This is unprecedented': Why the Pentagon's recent UFO file releases are so important

The US government is 'sincere in its efforts to understand UAP', new White House council chair says

White House appoints Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb to lead new UFO study group

Isaacman said that NASA has had "a seat at the table" since U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year called for releasing Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) and UAP files. That call is now officially known as the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE).

"My position going into every one of these: one, be open-minded. I mean, it is kind of our job to go out and try to answer the question 'are we alone?' And I said look, if it's aliens, I think NASA should have a seat at the table in this for sure," Isaacman said.

The NASA Administrator also said that, "if it's a Sputnik moment, we did really well the last time that happened. Which means, is this potentially red technology? Is this an adversary that's testing some next generation propulsion? It's certainly in the realm of the possible." (In military exercises, adversary forces are generally referred to as "red.")

TV host Burman then asked Isaacman, "but what does your gut tell you?"

"I would say I would lean toward it's either some phenomenon that can happen," Isaacman responded. "There are things that can happen just like natural phenomena that can be observed. I also think there's a good chance that there could be a Sputnik Moment that's happening and people are testing new stealthy or next generation type technologies," he said.

'We Want to Believe' book explores the reality of UFOs: 'It's always going to be more likely that someone is wrong about what they saw' (interview)

'That's going to come back and bite us': Former NASA chief questions Artemis moon lander plans

Trump is proposing a US Space Academy — if created, it could blur the lines between NASA and the military (op-ed)

Our own backyard

Isaacman continued by noting that space missions have barely explored our own backyard.

"Do you know there are moons out there […] Saturn's moon Enceladus has an ocean. Europa has an ocean. It has complex chemistry. We couldn't tell you conclusively that there isn't life in our own backyard let alone the billions of other stars in the Milky Way galaxy, or the two trillion other galaxies out there. It's why NASA's mission is so important," Isaacman concluded.

Whistleblower woes

In a related UAP side saga, in early September, the U.S. Department of War issued a "legal waiver" for those wishing to disclose information regarding UAP, a hybrid term also linked to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

Military service members, civilian personnel, and contractors are purportedly green-lighted to disclose once protected information, such as under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

What's old news is that this waiver is not really new, said Robert Powell, an executive board member for the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies in Austin, Texas. This same protection was provided to whistleblowers if they reported UAP information to the U.S. government's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

"This was established via the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which stated that, 'Individuals with current or previous access to UAP-related information subject to a U.S. government NDA are authorized to provide that information to AARO representatives.' This waiver simply adds a second agency that can collect information," Powell told Space.

PURSUE and release

It is important to note that this is not permission for a whistleblower to talk to the press, a researcher, or the public," said Powell. "The same is true of this latest whistleblower waiver."

The new waiver states, "This waiver removes those barriers by explicitly authorizing covered disclosures to PURSUE representatives without triggering breach-of-agreement penalties or standard NDA violations."

"The NDA relaxation is only if the whistleblower reports their information to PURSUE representatives," said Powell.

"However, the waiver does not state how a whistleblower can identify the PURSUE representatives or how to reach them. So will anything change? It will take a year or two to determine if any whistleblower stories are made public or if a whistleblower realizes that an individual's story will go no farther than the PURSUE representative," Powell said.

He said/she said

Furthermore, Powell points out, this new waiver does not clearly waive criminal statutes, for example Espionage Act/unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

"How does a whistleblower know if their information violates criminal statutes versus civil statutes? The new waiver does not protect a whistleblower from an NDA with a civilian corporation," said Powell.

Let's assume someone comes forth and says that they know that there is an alien spacecraft being held at Edwards Air Force Base in California, said Powell. How is that claim verified?

"If it is not verified then there is little value in the efforts put forth by the whistleblower. To date, Congress has not seemed willing to use its subpoena powers to force a military branch to provide information, concluded Powell, and until Congress is willing to push the point and investigate claims, "it just remains 'he said, she said.'"

{ https://www.space.com/space-exploration }

Strange lights over Cyprus: what are people seeing?

From a 1985 sighting off Chlorakas to reports involving Starlink and military activity, specialists say most unusual sightings over Cyprus have ordinary explanations

Most things people see in the skies above Cyprus have perfectly ordinary explanations. Every night, satellites pass overhead, meteors streak across the night sky, and aircraft fly back and forth over one of the busiest regions in the world. Yet from time to time, something catches someone’s attention that they can’t immediately explain. For decades, those moments have given rise to reports of unusual aerial phenomena across the island.

One of the most well-known cases occurred in September 1985, when fishermen off the coast of Chlorakas reported seeing a bright white glow on the horizon that gradually expanded into a rainbow like arc. According to Dr Georgios Florides co-founder of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Cyprus Centre, the phenomenon lasted around 35 minutes and coincided with a power cut in nearby Kissonerga. At around the same time, commercial pilots flying between Cyprus and the Aegean also reported an unusual luminous object. The incident was covered by local press and attracted the attention of aviation authorities, but no definitive explanation was established.

Nearly four decades later, reports of unexplained aerial phenomena continue to capture public attention. International interest has grown following US government disclosures and a renewed willingness among scientists to discuss the subject openly. But behind the headlines there’s a more intriguing question. What do those who dedicate their lives to studying the skies over Cyprus really think about the island’s reports of unexplained phenomena?

What people are seeing in Cyprus skies

For Chief Operating Officer of the Troodos Observatory Agapios Elia reports of unusual lights are a familiar part of the job.

“This happens very frequently,” he says. “Often people write or call in to report strange sightings or they mention things they have seen at one time or another during our public sessions. Nowadays a lot of people just post online about unusual lights they see and they are frequently directed to us for clarifications”.

More often than not, those sightings have ordinary explanations. Many recent reports have involved SpaceX’s Starlink satellites or military activity in the Middle East, Elia says. Other common explanations include missile plume cones, high altitude aircraft reflecting the setting sun, unusual cloud formations and meteors.

“I have to say no,” he says when asked if he’s ever found a phenomenon that ultimately defied explanation. “Any strange looking phenomenon ultimately turns out to be one of two things: man-made and nature-made.”

This is not to say that people are imagining what they see. Instead, Elia says, many unusual sightings come down to perspective. “From a practical standpoint, the biggest misconception is a lack of understanding regarding scale and distance,” he says. “People often struggle to judge how large, how fast, or how far away a light in the dark sky truly is.”

How UAP reports are investigated

But explaining what people see is only part of the story. Just as important is what happens after someone reports an unexplained sighting.

For Florides, every report begins the same way: with an investigation. Established in 2022, the centre investigates unexplained aerial phenomena in Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean from a scientific perspective. When a report is received, investigators visit the location where possible, interview the witnesses, measure distances and viewing angles, analyse photographs and compare the location and time of the sighting with flight paths, satellite movements and astronomical data.

The centre receives numerous reports each year, but Florides says all those investigated so far have had conventional explanations. “Most submissions consist of either a photograph of a distant, undefined speck of light or a written account describing such a light,” he says. In some instances where higher quality images or more detailed observations were available, they ultimately ended up being Venus, military drones, distant aircraft, Starlink satellites or meteors.

For Florides, the biggest misconception isn’t witnessing something unusual; it’s the assumption that “unidentified” means “unexplainable”.

“Based on the received reports and the work the centre is doing, we believe the single biggest misconception people have about UAP is that any unidentified light in the sky is inherently extraordinary or ‘otherworldly’,” he says. “In reality, the vast majority of reports have mundane explanations”.

Why scientists are still interested

Nonetheless, conventional explanations doesn’t mean that the subject lacks scientific value. For president of the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO) George A Danos, unexplained aerial phenomena are worth investigating precisely because science is driven by curiosity and evidence.

Cyprus’ location may also make it particularly interesting for UAP reporting. Danos points to UAP reporting maps published by the US Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which show concentrations of reports in the broader Middle East and eastern Mediterranean region.

“Science ultimately requires empirical evidence to reach results,” he says. “Right now, that conclusive evidence regarding UAPs as non-human technology isn’t yet readily available or conclusive, but the scientific community is now establishing the rigorous, objective frameworks necessary to properly investigate these anomalies.”

Danos believes that, regardless of where the evidence ultimately leads, asking questions is fundamental to scientific progress. “Scientists constantly seek to expand the frontiers of knowledge,” he says. “If there are objects in our skies performing maneuvers we don’t understand, we need to investigate and learn rather than being afraid to study the data due to the professional stigma that historically surrounded the topic.”

For Danos, curiosity remains one of science’s greatest strengths. “The cosmos is limited only by our capacity to wonder.”

Find out more

• Troodos Observatory: https://www.troodosobservatory.com/,
• UAP Cyprus Centre: https://www.uapcy.org/,
• Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO): https://www.spaceexploration.org.cy/#!/Home,
• All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO): https://www.aaro.mil/

 { https://cyprus-mail.com/category/cyprus }

Pastor who sparked doomsday panic claims the Rapture is just DAYS away

• MORE: Noah's Ark resting place '100% confirmed' after 4,300 years as astonishing 'man-made' structure is detected buried deep underground

By CHRIS MELORE, US DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR

The Christian pastor who sparked panic with a failed prediction of the Rapture has made a new claim that the end-times belief is near.

Pastor Joshua Mhlakela, a South African preacher, recently said he has calculated the exact time of the biblical event in which believers are lifted into the clouds to meet Jesus Christ, claiming that it will happen between October 12 and 13.

The Rapture is a belief held by some Christians called 'eschatology,' which is the study of end-times events, marking the Second Coming of Jesus and Judgment Day for non-believers.

Mhlakela has claimed in multiple interviews and his own videos online that both God and Jesus have appeared to him in visions, revealing when the Rapture would take place and what the fallout on Earth would look like.

The controversial pastor declared: 'God told me because there's no other date coming out, 12 to 13 October, which is the true feast of trumpets, which is when I will be meeting my savior face to face in the rapture.' 

Mhlakela has drawn widespread skepticism and criticism for his wild predictions, including incorrectly marking the date of the Rapture multiple times in 2025.

He sent social media into a frenzy when he alleged the biblical event would take place on September 23, 2025, convincing scores of believers who watched his predictions online to sell their homes and cars and even quit their jobs.

'There's no other final. I mean, there's no other rapture date. This is the final date for me,' Mhlakela claimed in an interview on September 17.

Pastor Joshua Mhlakela (Pictured) has falsely predicted the biblical event known as the Rapture. He recently said it will now start on October 12, 2026

The Rapture is considered a kind of rescue, where believers are instantly taken away from Earth to avoid a coming period of intense suffering called the Tribulation

(Stock Image)

The pastor claimed his previous false predictions were not errors, but the work of God, who was delaying the final judgement to give humanity more time to repent.

He said the delay was actually fulfilling Scripture, which says the Tribulation days will be shortened for the sake of the 'elect' - meaning the people God has chosen before Jesus returns.

This event is thought to be a kind of rescue, where believers are instantly taken up from Earth into Heaven to avoid a coming period of intense suffering called the Tribulation.

Biblical texts describe the Tribulation as a seven-year period of chaos and disasters, where evil rules on Earth before Jesus returns again to set up a peaceful kingdom.

Mhlakela has said that his first visions of Jesus came to him in 2018, when he warned that the Rapture would come on September 23, 2025, during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah.

Some Christians have tied the annual holiday to the prophecy that Jesus will return to Earth 'with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.'

However, Mhlakela now says the date of the Feast of Trumpets has been off by one month, pushing the actual time of the Rapture roughly 30 days past the annual celebration of Rosh Hashanah.

'Many are saying Feast of Trumpets is September when you Google [it's] September 11. [This] is not Feast of Trumpets. The true Feast of Trumpets is actually in October,' Mhlakela claimed during his interview with CettwinzTV.

Many Christians have pushed back on claims the Rapture's date has been revealed, saying that date-setting goes against the teachings of Jesus (Stock Image) 

The pastor explained that his new calculation for the Rapture was based on additional visions from Jesus which pointed him toward later days.

According to Mhlakela, a vision involving two full moons convinced him the calendar itself was off by about a month because the current celebration of Passover was taking place under the astrological sign of Pisces.

He tied that gap to the Exodus story of Israel’s departure from Egypt, saying the 'true' Passover must fall when the sun is in Aries, just as it is said to have taken place during the biblical Exodus.

The pastor then applied that same one-month shift to his new Feast of Trumpets date in mid-October.

However, the Bible did not document the sun being in Aries during the Exodus. It only said Passover falls in the first month of spring, with the Aries link coming from later writers such as Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian - not from the Exodus account itself.

Moreover, Mhlakela's end times predictions continue to receive pushback from many Christians who believe setting a definitive date for the Second Coming of Jesus goes against the teachings of the Bible.

Vladimir Savchuk, a pastor, author, and YouTube preacher, said last September: 'If someone sets the date, they are directly contradicting Jesus's word.'

He further debunked the Rapture claims by noting that Scripture says the son of perdition must be revealed first, referring to a figure often interpreted as the Antichrist.

'2 Thessalonians 2:3, it says clearly that Jesus is not returning until the Antichrist is revealed, and that has not happened yet,' Savchuk explained.

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

The dark secret of Egypt’s ancient kings: 5,000-year-old skulls suggest royal servants were bludgeoned to death so they could follow their ruler into the afterlife

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

When Egypt's earliest kings died, they may not have gone to the afterlife alone.

Archaeologists examining the remains of people buried around royal tombs have discovered many had suffered devastating blows to the head.

This suggests trusted servants were killed and entombed alongside their rulers in a brutal ritual dating back 5,000 years.

And these sacrifices would have been made to ensure kings had attendants in the afterlife, experts said.

‘Retainer sacrifice is a type of human sacrifice where those close to a ruler are killed when the ruler dies,’ lead author Dr Roselyn Campbell, from Purdue University, said.

‘In many cultures, retainer sacrifice is practised because of beliefs that the sacrificed individuals will continue to serve the ruler in some kind of afterlife, but retainer sacrifice can also be a visceral display of the ruler's power.

‘Some retainers might have volunteered to die to achieve eternal life or honour; others may have been chosen or even forced.’

Researchers re-examined 46 skulls belonging to servants and officials buried around the funerary enclosures of three First Dynasty rulers at Abydos in southern Egypt

A fresco depicting a funeral procession in ancient Egypt. The study suggests trusted servants were killed and entombed alongside their rulers in a brutal ritual dating back 5,000 years

Plan of the royal tombs (left) and funerary enclosures (right) at Umm el-Qaab in Abydos, southern Egypt. The diagrams show the tombs of First Dynasty rulers surrounded by rows of subsidiary burials, where researchers believe some royal retainers may have been sacrificed to accompany their rulers into the afterlife

For their investigation, researchers re-examined 46 skulls belonging to servants and officials buried around the funerary enclosures of three First Dynasty rulers at Abydos in southern Egypt.

The remains, originally excavated in the 1920s by British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie, are now housed in the University of Cambridge's Duckworth Collections.

When they were first discovered, experts believed they may have been an example of human sacrifice – but the remains showed no signs of trauma.

Now, using modern forensic techniques unavailable to earlier archaeologists, the team looked for hints of injuries that occurred around the time of death.

They found evidence of potentially fatal cranial trauma in 18 of the skulls, including fractures and, in one case, a chopping wound near the eye.

The researchers concluded that at least 39 per cent of the individuals examined may have been deliberately killed by blows to the head, providing fresh evidence that some royal retainers were sacrificed when their ruler died.

These linear fractures may have initially been mistaken for naturally caused damage, the team said.

A detail from a wooden label discovered in the tomb of an official at the Saqqara cemetery, which appears to depict a bound individual being stabbed in the chest while another figure collects the blood in a vessel... the findings add to previous evidence that ancient Egyptians carried out sacrificial practices

An ancient Egyptian tomb painting showing a funerary or offering scene. The new study showed 39 per cent of servants and officials buried near the funerary enclosures of kings had potentially fatal head wounds

‘The injuries on the preserved crania are generally linear fractures, which would likely cause rapid unconsciousness, internal bleeding and death,’ Dr Campbell said.

The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, states it remains unclear exactly how the individuals were killed.

Ancient Egyptian rulers are frequently depicted striking enemies with maces, but the injuries seen on the retainers' skulls do not match the type of damage such weapons would typically cause.

Instead, the fractures suggest they were struck with a broad, flat object, although the possibility of accidental falls cannot be ruled out entirely.

RELATED

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

EXCLUSIVE - I was an atheist until Satan appeared and tried to convince me that Christianity is a cult. Now I'm a pastor... there are signs everywhere that we are living in the final days

By CHRIS MELORE, US DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR

A Christian pastor who believed there was no God and was desperately trying to stay out of jail as a teenager has described how a terrifying encounter with Satan changed his life forever.

Bishop Alan DiDio of Revival Nation Church in North Carolina told the Daily Mail that he was 17 years old in 1998 when a demonic presence started speaking to him while he was attending a gathering for his friend's Christian youth group.

He said the voice had lingered in the back of his mind for days, but at the gathering it became as clear as someone speaking aloud, telling him not to believe in God or go near Christians.

As the voice overwhelmed him, DiDio said he instinctively responded to Satan's voice by claiming his soul belonged to Jesus, an act which he claimed miraculously filled his mind with the teachings of Christianity, despite having barely read the Bible.

'I just said, "Satan, you can't have me anymore. Jesus, I'm all yours." And it immediately stopped, and it never came back again,' he recalled, believing that he had received a 'download' of knowledge from Heaven which made it clear he was supposed to share his experience with other Christians.

DiDio said: 'If you hear the voice of Satan, all of a sudden the supernatural becomes very, very real to you. And if Satan is real, then Jesus is real.'

The shocking incident not only caused DiDio to embrace Christianity, but inspired him to take up ministry work, where he found others had experienced what they believed to be demonic encounters – something he believes is part of a spiritual battle taking place across Earth.

DiDio claimed that the demon he confronted as a teen had likely been stalking him for years as he faced arrests for petty crimes, and now theorizes that demons are 'assigned' to mortals on Earth to steer them away from the word of God in this ongoing war between good and evil.

    

Left: Alan DiDio around the time of his demonic encounter as a teen. Right: Today, Alan DiDio is the lead pastor at Revival Nation Church in North Carolina

The pastor warned that he believes even more of these dark encounters are taking place today, with signs and symbols of the biblical end times supposedly becoming more apparent in recent years.

He pointed to the dramatic scene in the last book of the Christian Bible, Revelation, which is said to depict the final showdown between good and evil.

'There's an interesting verse in Revelation 12 that says that Satan will come down in great wrath knowing his time is short,' DiDio explained.

Many believers connect the moment DiDio referenced in Revelation's 12th chapter with a future period of intense trouble on Earth often called the Tribulation.

Biblical texts describe the Tribulation as seven years of chaos and disasters, where evil rules on Earth before Jesus returns to set up a peaceful kingdom.

'So, it could be that we are living in the last days, and I believe we're seeing prophecy fulfilled all around us,' DiDio said.

'And it is absolutely biblical to say we are seeing an increase in demonic activity. You have to combine that with verses like, "when sin does abound, grace does much more abound." And we know that if the enemy has a plan, God has a plan.'

'So, if Satan is increasing his activity, we also know that God is increasing his activity,' the bishop added.

Bishop DiDio believed that demonic entities were 'assigned' to each person on Earth and that demonic activity was on the rise in recent years (stock image)

In 1998, DiDio went with his friend to a loud, Pentecostal-style church service in North Carolina to hear a specific band play but ended up near the front when the visiting pastor singled him out of the crowd and prayed over him.

He said the faith leader compared DiDio to a boy in the Bible who was brought back to life after the prophet Elisha stretched himself over the child until he breathed again.

The pastor then apparently told DiDio he would live, not die, and would become an example of what God could do with a committed young man, and then pushed him down.

'The only thing I felt in that moment was absolute rage,' said DiDio. 'I could not believe my friend had invited me to this cult. I couldn't believe he was a part of the cult. So we literally got out of there as quickly as possible.'   

However, in the days after the pastor's prayer, DiDio claimed he felt a heavy inner 'cloud' of thoughts following him, telling him faith was not for him, to stay away from believers in Christianity, and that he was not even worth saving.

Then, at the youth group's party, DiDio said he took a seat in the corner, staying away from the other teens, when his demonic experience began to affect his hearing.

DiDio explained that it was not a vision or dream, but he quickly lost the ability to hear the other people at the party, as if he was underwater, listening as their voices became muffled.

'I lifted up my head and looked around, and I could see this loud room full of kids. I can see their mouths moving, but I can't hear the words that are coming out of their mouth,' he described.

At that moment, DiDio claimed the dark entity began to speak louder, becoming a real voice he could hear with perfect clarity, telling him to leave the gathering.

'I mean, it's as audible and as real as my voice is to you right now, saying, "You don't believe in any of this, you need to get out of here, this isn't for you, you don't believe in God, stay away from these people."'

DiDio hearing what he took to be Satan's voice made the supernatural suddenly real to him – and if Satan was real, Jesus had to be real as well.  

DiDio (above), who was an atheist at the time, was so moved his own experience that he immediately moved to attend Bible college and begin ministry work

Convinced in that moment that Jesus was his only hope to stop the encounter, DiDio told the disembodied voice his soul now belonged to Jesus, causing the teen to break down crying in front of the other youths.

'I thought I was controlling my life. I was bringing up these arguments against God, and I realized in an instant, in a moment, that this was actually a nefarious demonic entity that has been controlling my life,' the pastor recalled.

DiDio claimed he then received a 'download' of knowledge from Heaven which gave him the strength to cast out the dark entity speaking to him. 

He experienced a sudden, supernatural transfer of wisdom, insight and revelation directly from God into his mind and heart.

While he became a born-again Christian at that moment, DiDio believes his encounters with demonic entities did not end there.

The experience inspired him to immediately take up ministry work, and soon after, move to Ohio to begin Bible college. 

Just months into his studies at Bible College, DiDio claimed that he used the power of Jesus to stop a woman from being possessed by a demonic force.

He described her as a thin, pale young woman who attended a prayer meeting and suddenly changed when worship began. He claimed that her eyes turned milky with no visible pupils, and that she tried to bite the people around her.

After several attendees were able to restrain her, DiDio said he told the snarling woman to stop in Jesus' name, which he claimed caused her to go instantly quiet and her eyes to clear.

DiDio claims these run-ins with demonic spirits follow the same pattern of other dark encounters – which allegedly ended immediately after someone invoked the name of Jesus or God. 

'Whenever we take the name of Jesus, it's not just simply saying the name of Jesus, although that has power and intimidation all by itself, but it's the level of trust and faith behind the declaration of the name of Jesus,' the bishop said.

'I believe the spiritual world is accessed through trust and obedience. Those are the two things that really open portals or open doors for people to access spiritual things.

'When we respond in our love for Jesus, in our trust in Jesus, by declaring his name, that will always have an impact, no matter what force you're dealing with.'

An Atheist Tried to Debunk the Bible… Then He Saw This Prophecy!

From Atheist to Believer at 64 Years Old I My Story

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }