The truth is out there…

There must be a great Groupon deal on alien travel to Earth – because there’s been a big uptick in unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, sightings over the past few years.

According to a report released last week by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), US Armed Forces personnel have filed 366 reports of UAPs since March 2021. Before that, there’d only been 144 reported sightings total.

👽 So, are these all aliens?... Nope – these are just reports of weird things in the sky. Of the 366 sightings, here’s how they ultimately broke down:

• 163 were categorized as balloons
• 26 were drones
• 6 were “clutter” (a category that strangely includes birds)

But as our math-astute readers will realize, that still leaves 171 UAP sightings – some of which “demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities," per last week’s report. Though unfortunately (or fortunately), that still doesn’t mean these are alien crafts.

Other explanations of unidentified UAPs include foreign surveillance technology, car lights, and space debris, as well as drones distorted by optical illusions, classified sensors, or night-vision goggles.

📸 Big picture: When we said earlier that there had only been 144 total reported sightings of UAPs in history, that may have been a bit of a misleading use of statistics – because prior to this most recent report, government data only encompassed sightings from 2004 through early 2021. And the relatively high amount of sightings since then can be mainly attributed to “reduced stigma surrounding UAP reporting,” per the most recent ODNI report, meaning we don’t exactly have solid data available at the moment. 

So buckle up, folks: as the government works to collect and analyze more accurate info, the UAP/alien discussion isn’t going away – and it'll probably ramp up later this year. NASA recently announced an independent study program to explore how to best analyze UAP data provided by government entities, companies, and other sources, with a report on its findings expected in mid-2023.

📊 Flash poll: Do you think any UAP sightings are actually alien in nature?

Yes

No

Unsure/other