Are we alone?

Between 2007 and 2012 it spent US$22 million investigating the possible existence of flying saucers through its Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP)

UFO sightings

There have been more than 80,000 reports of strange objects in the sky since 1947, according to The National UFO Reporting Center Online Database (NUFORC). Whether you believe any of them were actual sightings of alien activity is up to you

Increasing reports

NOTE: Data from The National UFO Reporting Center Online Database (NUFORC), are not related to the pentagon programme

Reported UFO shapes

Some of the most commonly reported UFO shapes over the past eight decades

Common shapes

Movements and maneuvers

Objects and natural phenomena mistaken for UFOs?

Many UFO sightings are said to be naturally occurring phenomena, such as ball lightning or strange cloud formations, which have been mistakenly identified. In the famous case of the Lubbock Lights in 1951, three science professors from Texas Tech saw what appeared to be a semi-circle of lights in the sky. A US Air Force investigation concluded the lights were birds reflecting the city’s new street lights but later said it was a natural phenomenon

The ‘Lubbock Lights’. A few days after the professors’ sighting, 19-year old Carl Hart, Jnr took this photograph in Lubbock. His snaps were widely published by newspapers and Life magazine. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images

Common cases of mistaken identitiy