Catalog · work in progress

Types of phenomena

What people describe when they see lights in the sky. For each type: documented cases, the known explanations and the different readings side by side. Every source is right there, so you can check it.

11 types75 sourcesUpdated October 11, 2026

Record document or measurementAccount testimonyReading interpretation, with the tradition named

Light that hovers, then darts off

A light stays still at the same spot in the sky for minutes or hours. At some point it takes off at high speed, with no visible gradual acceleration. Sometimes it stops again, abruptly.

Documented cases

1981 to 1984Hessdalen Valley, NorwayRecord
Residents reported lights that stayed still for more than an hour and then moved. In its 1984 field campaign, with radar and cameras, Project Hessdalen measured a target moving at least 8,000 to 9,000 m/s.
Sources:Project Hessdalen 1984: Final Technical Report (Erling Strand)Hessdalen lights (Wikipedia)
2004Pacific Ocean, off the southern coast of California, USA (USS Nimitz carrier group)Record
Radar on the cruiser USS Princeton tracked targets that appeared at about 80,000 feet, dropped fast and stopped at 20,000 feet, hovering. Pilot David Fravor said the “Tic Tac” object vanished in about one second.
Sources:USS Nimitz UFO incident (Wikipedia)Knuth, Powell and Reali (2019). Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles. Entropy Pentagon UFO videos (Wikipedia)
1986São José dos Campos (São Paulo state) and southeastern BrazilRecord
At around 6:30 p.m., Sergeant Sérgio Mota da Silva, in the São José dos Campos control tower, described a motionless light: “it neither rises nor falls.” The FAB (Brazilian Air Force) report cited speeds from subsonic to supersonic, and objects hovering.
Sources:Noite Oficial dos OVNIs (Wikipedia) (in Portuguese)1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)
2004 to 2021U.S. military training and operating areasRecord
The ODNI’s preliminary assessment analyzed 144 reports from U.S. government sources. In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, some objects seemed to hold still against the wind at altitude, maneuvered abruptly or moved very fast with no visible propulsion.
Sources:ODNI (2021). Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, the Hessdalen lights may be a natural phenomenon not yet explained. Hypotheses include burning dust from the valley, a dusty plasma ionized by radon decay, and electric charge in quartz rocks. Caron and Faridi (2016) point out that the energy source is still unknown.

Sources:Hessdalen lights (Wikipedia)Caron and Faridi (2016). To Investigate or Not to Investigate? Researchers' Views on Unexplored Atmospheric Light Phenomena. Frontiers in Earth Science

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, part of the sudden dash seen in military videos comes from the sensor itself. NASA calculated that the object in the GoFast video was at about 13,000 feet and moving at around 64 km/h, a typical wind speed there. The impression of speed came from the plane and from parallax.

Sources:NASA (2023). UAP Independent Study Team Final Report AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, stopping and taking off with no transition is sudden acceleration, one of the “Five Observables” that researchers attribute to the Pentagon’s AATIP program. Based on accounts from the Nimitz case, Kevin Knuth and colleagues estimated accelerations from almost 100 g to thousands of g, with no sonic boom.

Sources:Knuth et al. (2025). The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP). arXiv Knuth, Powell and Reali (2019). Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles. Entropy You Should Know: Luis Elizondo's Five Observables (The Other Topic)

Is it a craft?

Bright planets and stars. They seem to stand still for hours near the horizon. Astronomers point to Venus as the cause of many UFO reports.
Sources:Identified flying object (Wikipedia)
Drones and balloons. They hover and change speed with the wind or with their controls. The ODNI lists them as airborne clutter, and AARO resolved dozens of cases as balloons, birds and drones.
Sources:ODNI (2021). Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena
Camera parallax. A fast plane filming a slow object makes the target seem to dart off. That was NASA’s conclusion about the GoFast video.
Sources:NASA (2023). UAP Independent Study Team Final Report

Sudden changes in direction and altitude

The light turns at a right angle or zigzags, with no wide curve. It can also climb or drop thousands of meters in a short time. In some accounts, its speed doesn’t change through the turn.

Documented cases

1986Southeast and Central-West BrazilRecord
Pilots reported colored points of light that hovered, flew in zigzags, made right-angle turns and changed color, path and altitude. The FAB (Brazilian Air Force) report recorded altitudes from under 5,000 to over 40,000 feet.
Sources:Correio Braziliense / BBC Brasil (2022). A noite em que 21 óvnis invadiram o espaço aéreo brasileiro (in Portuguese)1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)
2004Pacific Ocean, off the southern coast of California, USA (USS Nimitz carrier group)Record
David Fravor described the “Tic Tac” going back and forth like a ping-pong ball, changing direction instantly without changing speed. According to radar operator Kevin Day, targets dropped from 28,000 feet to sea level in 0.78 s.
Sources:Knuth, Powell and Reali (2019). Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles. Entropy USS Nimitz UFO incident (Wikipedia)
1977Pará, Brazil (Operação Prato, or Operation Saucer)Record
A record from the operation describes two yellow “luminous bodies” at an altitude of 6,000 m and above 600 km/h. In the middle of the sky, one of them made “a tight 360° turn.”
Sources:Operação Prato (Wikipedia)
2004 to 2021U.S. military training and operating areasRecord
The ODNI reported that in 18 incidents, military observers saw unusual movement patterns, such as abrupt maneuvers. The same report says this could come from sensor errors, interference or misperception, and calls for more analysis.
Sources:ODNI (2021). Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, many of the impossible turns come from camera motion. NASA showed that the GoFast video is explained by the plane’s high speed and by parallax. AARO has published studies on parallax and Starlink reflections that create apparent performance beyond what is possible.

Sources:NASA (2023). UAP Independent Study Team Final Report AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

ReadingPsychological

In the psychology of perception, a still point of light in the dark seems to move: this is the autokinetic effect. With no visual reference, small eye movements are read as movement of the light. Many UFO sightings have been attributed to this effect while people were looking at stars or planets.

Sources:Autokinetic effect (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, right-angle turns without losing speed point to technology beyond human reach. Kevin Knuth and colleagues estimated accelerations from almost 100 g to thousands of g in cases like the Nimitz, with no sonic boom or excessive heat observed.

Sources:Knuth, Powell and Reali (2019). Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles. Entropy Knuth et al. (2025). The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP). arXiv

Is it a craft?

Parallax. When the plane doing the filming turns or speeds up, the target seems to change direction. NASA and AARO point to this artifact in military videos.
Sources:NASA (2023). UAP Independent Study Team Final Report AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena
Balloons, drones and bags in the wind. They change course with gusts. The ODNI cites birds, balloons, recreational drones and even plastic bags as objects that confuse operators.
Sources:ODNI (2021). Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Birds. In compressed video, birds turn into blurs or orbs, and glare from infrared sensors distorts their shape. AARO says birds are often mistaken for UAP.
Sources:AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

Light that vanishes and reappears

A light suddenly goes out and comes back on somewhere else in the sky, seconds or minutes later. In cases with radar, the target drops off the screen and comes back. Sometimes the light is seen with no radar return, or the radar shows something no one sees.

Documented cases

1986São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás, BrazilRecord
Five FAB (Brazilian Air Force) fighter jets tried to intercept about 21 radar targets. An F-5E pilot reported that the light seemed to “switch off” and the radar contact vanished at the same moment. Other targets vanished from radar as the jets approached and reappeared somewhere else.
Sources:1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)Noite Oficial dos OVNIs (Wikipedia) (in Portuguese)Olhar Digital (2026). Noite dos Óvnis: mistério que intriga o Brasil completa 40 anos (in Portuguese)
1984Hessdalen Valley, NorwayRecord
In the 1984 campaign, a target appeared on radar, vanished on the next sweep and came back on the one after. Of 36 radar records, only 3 were probably also seen as a light. In 39% of the best-rated reports, the light was blinking.
Sources:Project Hessdalen 1984: Final Technical Report (Erling Strand)
1977Colares, Pará, Brazil (Operação Prato, or Operation Saucer)Account
In an Operação Prato record translated by Bob Pratt, a witness saw a yellow light hover over the bay, in front of the Colares lighthouse, on November 5, 1977. The light vanished and reappeared 20 to 30 minutes later, heading toward Soure.
Sources:Bob Pratt (MUFON). Operação Prato, translation of FAB documents (The Black Vault)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, vanishing and reappearing can start in the sensor itself or in the eye. The ODNI lists sensor errors, deliberate interference and misperception as hypotheses. AARO has linked reports of blinking lights to Starlink satellites and says birds appear as “flickering” objects on video.

Sources:ODNI (2021). Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

ReadingScientific

For Hessdalen researchers, the sudden way the light switches on and off is still an open problem in physics. The 1984 report concludes that it did not find out what the phenomenon is, but showed that it can be measured by radar, laser and photography.

Sources:Knuth et al. (2025). The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP). arXiv Project Hessdalen 1984: Final Technical Report (Erling Strand)

ReadingFolkloric

In folk tradition, lights that vanish when someone follows them are the will-o’-the-wisp. In Brazil, this phenomenon got the Tupi name boitatá, “thing of fire.” The classic scientific explanation for the will-o’-the-wisp is the burning of gases from decaying organic matter.

Sources:Will-o'-the-wisp (Wikipedia)Boitatá (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, a light that switches off as the fighter jet approaches points to intentional behavior, linked to “Low Observability,” one of the five observables. This reading draws on the 1986 FAB document, which speaks of an ability to “follow and keep their distance.”

Sources:Knuth et al. (2025). The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP). arXiv Rolling Stone Brasil. Há 35 anos, Noite dos Discos Voadores assustou moradores (in Portuguese)1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)

Is it a craft?

Satellite flares and Starlink. Sunlight reflecting off a satellite appears, shines and fades within a few seconds. Pilots have mistaken Starlink flares for UFOs, and AARO linked blinking lights to a Starlink launch.
Sources:Satellite flare (Wikipedia)AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena
Distant car headlights. In Marfa, Texas, physics students from the University of Texas at Dallas attributed all the lights seen over four nights in 2004 to car headlights on U.S. 67.
Sources:Marfa lights (Wikipedia)
Birds on video. On video, flapping wings make a bird look like a blinking object, according to AARO.
Sources:AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

Light that changes color

A light switches between white, yellow, red, blue or green, sometimes several times a second. It may be still or moving. In some accounts, several colors appear at once in the same spot.

Documented cases

1984Hessdalen, NorwayRecord
The Project Hessdalen report says the lights were almost always white or yellowish white, sometimes with a small red light. A few times they seemed to have all the colors together: red, green, blue and yellow. Blue light shows up in some photos.
Sources:Project Hessdalen 1984: Final Technical Report (Erling Strand)
1986Brazil (São José dos Campos, São Paulo state, and other places)Record
Air traffic controller Sérgio Mota da Silva said the objects “changed color all the time.” Pilot Kleber Caldas Marinho described a light that was almost always white and sometimes turned red or green.
Sources:40 anos da noite em que caças da Força Aérea perseguiram 21 óvnis (Folhapress, via TNH1, 2026) (in Portuguese)1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)
1976Tehran, IranRecord
Witnesses described strobe lights in a rectangular pattern, alternating blue, green, red and orange. Pilot Parviz Jafari said the lights were so bright that he could not see the body of the object.
Sources:Transcript of the DIA documents (Patrick Gross)1976 Tehran UFO incident (Wikipedia)
2024GermanyAccount
A resident called the police about a flashing glow in the western sky. The officers couldn’t explain it either. Investigator Hansjürgen Köhler, of CENAP, identified the star Sirius, which was twinkling strongly that night.
Sources:UFOs over Germany? (deutschland.de, 2024)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, the atmosphere acts like a prism and splits the light of bright stars into the colors of the rainbow. With air turbulence, more red, green or blue reaches the eye. The effect is strongest near the horizon, explains the center behind the Chandra telescope.

Sources:Chandra X-ray Observatory: Astrophysics FAQ No. 27

ReadingScientific

For Hessdalen, physicist Massimo Teodorani recorded white and red balls of the same size existing side by side, which is not what you would expect from an ordinary plasma. Paiva and Taft propose a model for how the colors are distributed, with a white central ball and small green balls ejected from it.

Sources:Teodorani (2004), Journal of Scientific Exploration 18(2)Hessdalen lights (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, the color changes belong to the repertoire of maneuvers that would point to advanced technology. On the 1986 night, pilots listed “changing color” alongside hovering and right-angle turns. A. J. Gevaerd, editor of Revista UFO, spoke of technology “immensely superior to ours.”

Sources:A noite em que 21 óvnis invadiram o espaço aéreo brasileiro (BBC News Brasil, via Correio Braziliense, 2022) (in Portuguese)

ReadingFolkloric

In the folk reading from North Carolina, USA, the Brown Mountain lights, usually white but sometimes tinged red, blue or yellowish, are said to be the torch of a young Native warrior searching for his lost love.

Sources:Brown Mountain Lights (NCpedia)

Is it a craft?

A star or planet low on the horizon. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, twinkles in many colors when it is low and is one of the top sources of UFO confusion.
Sources:Sirius, UFO trickster extraordinaire (Bob King, Universe Today)Chandra X-ray Observatory: Astrophysics FAQ No. 27
Aircraft navigation lights. There is a red light on the left wing, a green one on the right and a white one on the tail, plus white strobes and a flashing red beacon. As the plane changes position, the visible color changes.
Sources:Navigation light (Wikipedia)
Fireballs. Very bright meteors show colors from red to blue, depending on their composition: sodium gives yellow, nickel gives green and magnesium gives bluish white.
Sources:Fireball FAQ (American Meteor Society)

Light that splits

A main light seems to release one or more smaller lights, which move away from it. Sometimes the opposite happens, and the lights merge again. The process can take less than a second.

Documented cases

1976Tehran, IranRecord
On September 19, two Iranian F-4 fighter jets chased a bright light. According to the U.S. military report, a lit object came out of the first one toward one of the jets, and another came down toward the ground. The DIA intelligence agency classified the case as a classic.
Sources:1976 Tehran UFO incident (Wikipedia)Transcript of the DIA documents (Patrick Gross)The 1976 Iran Incident: FOIA documents (The Black Vault)
2002Hessdalen, NorwayRecord
Italian missions of the EMBLA project photographed a white ball of light releasing a smaller ball, always green, which stayed still about 100 meters away. On video, the ejection looked almost instantaneous. The phenomenon had already been seen on the previous mission.
Sources:Teodorani (2004), A Long-Term Scientific Survey of the Hessdalen Phenomenon, Journal of Scientific Exploration 18(2)Teodorani and Nobili (2002), EMBLA 2002: An Optical and Ground Survey in Hessdalen
2003Marfa, Texas, USAAccount
Researcher James Bunnell set up monitoring stations starting in 2003. He describes the Marfa lights as spheres that change brightness and color, stay still or move, and split apart or merge.
Sources:Marfa lights (Wikipedia)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, Gerson Paiva and Carlton Taft propose that the Hessdalen lights are a dusty plasma ionized by radon decay. Waves in that plasma would explain why the small ejected balls come out green. Massimo Teodorani compares the satellite spheres to the splitting reported in ball lightning, with no definitive theory.

Sources:Paiva and Taft (2010), A hypothetical dusty plasma mechanism of Hessdalen lights (abstract on HERO/EPA)Hessdalen lights (Wikipedia)Teodorani (2004), Journal of Scientific Exploration 18(2)

ReadingScientific

In the skeptical, science-based reading, journalist Philip Klass and researcher James Oberg suggest that the first light over Tehran was probably Jupiter. Skeptical author Brian Dunning notes that the date coincided with meteor showers, which would make falling lights a common sight.

Sources:1976 Tehran UFO incident (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, a larger light that accompanies or releases smaller ones can be described as a mothership. About the 1986 night in Brazil, A. J. Gevaerd, editor of Revista UFO, said the largest object was “probably the fleet’s mothership,” 11 kilometers across.

Sources:A noite em que 21 óvnis invadiram o espaço aéreo brasileiro (BBC News Brasil, via Correio Braziliense, 2022) (in Portuguese)

ReadingFolkloric

In West Texas folklore, the Marfa lights, which split and merge again, are said to be torches carried by the restless spirit of the Apache chief Alsate, or ghosts’ lanterns. Another version tells of a family of settlers who died lost in a storm.

Sources:Marfa Lights (EBSCO Research Starters)

Is it a craft?

Rocket stage separation. At twilight, the sunlit plume spreads across the sky and the returning stage forms another light. On December 22, 2017, a Falcon 9 launched from California led to UFO reports along the U.S. West Coast.
Sources:Space jellyfish (Wikipedia)
A fireball that breaks up. A very bright meteor can burst in a final flash and break into visible pieces, all within a few seconds.
Sources:Fireball FAQ (American Meteor Society)
Space debris reentry. In 1968, the Zond IV probe broke up over the U.S., and hundreds of people saw a procession of fragments with golden and orange tails.
Sources:Condon Report, Section VI, Chapter 2 (W. K. Hartmann)

Lights in formation

Several lights appear together, sometimes one after another, and move while keeping the same distance between them. The most cited shapes are the V and the straight line. Many witnesses describe the group as a single object, even without seeing anything connecting the lights.

Documented cases

1951Lubbock, Texas, USARecord
On August 25, three Texas Tech professors saw 20 to 30 lights pass by in formation. Days later, student Carl Hart Jr. photographed 18 to 20 white lights in a V. Project Blue Book investigated the case.
Sources:Lubbock Lights (Wikipedia)
1984Hessdalen, NorwayRecord
The Project Hessdalen technical report sorted the valley’s lights into three groups. One of them was several lights together, at a fixed distance from each other, usually two white or yellow ones with a red one in front. Many people called this “The object.”
Sources:Project Hessdalen 1984: Final Technical Report (Erling Strand)
1986Brazil (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other states)Record
On the Official UFO Night (Noite Oficial dos OVNIs), May 19, five FAB (Brazilian Air Force) fighter jets chased 21 objects. The report of June 2, 1986, released in 2009, concluded that the phenomena were solid and capable of “flying in formation.”
Sources:Noite dos Óvnis: mistério que intriga o Brasil completa 40 anos (Olhar Digital, 2026) (in Portuguese)1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)
1997Phoenix, Arizona, USARecord
On March 13, around 8 p.m., witnesses saw lights in a V crossing the state. Near 10 p.m., videos showed a series of lights appearing at regular intervals, hanging still in the sky, and then going out.
Sources:Phoenix Lights (Wikipedia)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, lights in formation usually have a known source. In Phoenix, astronomer James McGaha attributed both sightings to A-10 aircraft, and the 10 p.m. row was linked to flares dropped during training. In Lubbock, Edward Ruppelt, of Project Blue Book, proposed plovers reflecting the new street lighting.

Sources:Phoenix Lights (Wikipedia)Lubbock Lights (Wikipedia)

ReadingPsychological

In the psychological reading, the eye tends to connect points of light and imagine a shape. In the Condon Report, William K. Hartmann, studying the 1968 reentry of the Zond IV probe, found witnesses describing craft in formation and even windows. He called this the “airship effect.”

Sources:Condon Report, Section VI, Chapter 2: Processes of Perception, Conception, and Reporting (W. K. Hartmann)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, flying in formation is a sign of intelligent control. The Brazilian Air Force report on the 1986 night made that argument: solid phenomena that reflected intelligence, “not necessarily manned.” Ufologist Jackson Luiz Camargo treats the case as one of the most important in world ufology.

Sources:Noite dos Óvnis: mistério que intriga o Brasil completa 40 anos (Olhar Digital, 2026) (in Portuguese)A noite em que 21 óvnis invadiram o espaço aéreo brasileiro (BBC News Brasil, via Correio Braziliense, 2022) (in Portuguese)

Is it a craft?

Starlink satellite trains. Soon after a launch, the satellites pass in single file, like a string of pearls. In 2022, five pilots over the Pacific reported an unidentified phenomenon. A study concluded it was a Starlink train launched that same day.
Sources:Buettner et al. (2024): misidentification of Starlink satellites as UAP in commercial aviation (arXiv)UFOs over Germany? (deutschland.de, 2024)
Aircraft in formation and flares. In Phoenix, an amateur astronomer saw through a telescope that the V-shaped lights were planes. Illumination flares drift down slowly, burn for a long time and disappear behind the terrain.
Sources:Phoenix Lights (Wikipedia)
Paper lanterns with a flame, released into the sky. Wikipedia notes that they may explain some sightings and cites cases in Chicago (2011) and Burnham-on-Sea, England (2009).
Sources:Sky lantern (Wikipedia)

Light that follows the observer

A light seems to follow whoever is watching it: it keeps pace with the car or plane, stops when it stops and keeps its distance when it gets closer. In some accounts, it seems to react to flashlights, lasers or maneuvers.

Documented cases

1986São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás and Paraná, BrazilRecord
On the night of May 19, radars picked up about 21 objects and five FAB (Brazilian Air Force) fighter jets took off. A June 2 report by COMDA (Air Defense Command), signed by Brigadier José Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, cites the “ability to follow and keep their distance from observers.”
Sources:Noite dos Óvnis: mistério que intriga o Brasil completa 40 anos (Olhar Digital, 2026) (in Portuguese)40 anos da noite em que caças da Força Aérea perseguiram 21 óvnis (Folhapress via TNH1, 2026) (in Portuguese)1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)
1984Hessdalen Valley, NorwayAccount
In the January and February campaign, with radar, a magnetometer and a laser, Project Hessdalen counted 53 lights of unknown origin. According to a 2025 review co-authored by Erling Strand, on one occasion the light showed photoreactive behavior when a laser was pointed at it.
Sources:The Hessdalen Phenomena (Erling Strand, EGU 2011)The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (Knuth et al., arXiv, 2025)
1944Skies over Western Europe (Rhine Valley)Account
Starting in November, Allied crews, mainly from the U.S. 415th Night Fighter Squadron, reported balls of light following their planes. Radar operator Donald Meiers said two of them turned along with the plane and kept pace with it at 260 miles per hour.
Sources:Foo fighter (Wikipedia)The World War II story of the first time US military pilots encountered UFOs (Task & Purpose, 2022)
RecurringChannel Country, Queensland, AustraliaAccount
Travelers describe the Min Min light: a diffuse glow that hovers on the horizon and keeps pace with a moving car. There are Aboriginal stories about it from before colonization. In 2003, scientist Jack Pettigrew, of the University of Queensland, proposed an explanation based on an inverted mirage.
Sources:Min Min light (Wikipedia)UQ scientist unlocks secret of Min Min lights (University of Queensland, 2003)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, the feeling of being followed usually comes from very distant sources, which don’t change position while the foreground goes by. Jack Pettigrew proposed that mirages carry lights from tens to hundreds of kilometers away. In Hessdalen, Erling Strand recorded lights on radar and more sightings during periods of high magnetic activity.

Sources:EarthSky: why the Moon seems to follow us (2024)University of Queensland (2003)The Hessdalen Phenomena (Erling Strand, EGU 2011)

ReadingPsychological

In the psychology of perception, a still point of light in a dark setting seems to move on its own, the autokinetic effect, because there is no visual reference. In 1857, G. Schweitzer showed that it is subjective: observers saw the same star move in different directions. The effect is a known risk for pilots flying at night.

Sources:Autokinetic effect (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, following and keeping distance suggests intelligent control. This reading draws on documents such as the 1986 COMDA report, which says the phenomena “in some way reflect intelligence.” Crews in 1944 also described lights flying in formation with their planes, as if they were being controlled.

Sources:1986 Brazilian UFO incident (Wikipedia)Folhapress via TNH1 (2026) (in Portuguese)Foo fighter (Wikipedia)

ReadingFolkloric

In folk tradition, lights that follow or guide travelers show up in many places. In Europe, the will-o’-the-wisp guided or misled wanderers and vanished when followed. In Australia, the Min Min light is part of Aboriginal stories. In Texas, a resident said the Marfa lights guided her father to a cave during a blizzard.

Sources:Will-o'-the-wisp (Wikipedia)Min Min light (Wikipedia)Marfa Lights (Handbook of Texas, TSHA)

Is it a craft?

The Moon and planets: they are so far away that they don’t change position while trees and houses go past the window, and they seem to follow the car.
Sources:EarthSky (2024)
Venus: in April 1966, in Ohio, police officers chased a light all the way into Pennsylvania. The U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book concluded it was the planet Venus, refracted by haze.
Sources:50 Years Ago, a Small Town Ohio Policeman Chased a Flying Saucer Into Pennsylvania… And It Ruined His Life (Cleveland Scene, 2016)
Inverted mirage (Fata Morgana): a layer of cold air near the ground carries the light of headlights or campfires far beyond the horizon, and it seems to follow travelers.
Sources:University of Queensland (2003)

Directed beam of light

A light in the sky, or just above the ground, casts a beam onto people, houses or boats. Witnesses compare the beam to a flashlight or a searchlight, sometimes sweeping over the body of the person it hits. Some accounts mention heat, paralysis or marks on the skin after contact.

Documented cases

1977Colares, Pará, BrazilRecord
Residents reported lights that shone beams onto houses, boats and people, the “chupa-chupa” (“suck-suck”). The FAB (Brazilian Air Force) carried out Operação Prato (Operation Saucer) between October and December, under the operational command of Captain Uyrangê Hollanda. The local doctor, Wellaide Cecim Carvalho, reported patients with paresis and mild burns to the military.
Sources:Operação Prato (Wikipedia)A missão militar secreta na Amazônia que produziu centenas de registros (O Antagonista, 2026) (in Portuguese)História oral e memória na Amazônia: o fenômeno Chupa-Chupa (Fernandes and Barbosa, Mídia e Cotidiano, 2016) (in Portuguese)
1980Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, EnglandRecord
In a memo dated January 13, 1981, USAF Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt reported lights in late December near the Woodbridge base. An object to the south stayed visible for two or three hours and sent down a beam from time to time.
Sources:The Halt Memo (The Black Vault, copy of the document)Rendlesham Forest incident (Wikipedia)
1975Near Heber, Arizona, USAAccount
Fellow loggers said a beam of light from an object struck Travis Walton, who disappeared for five days. Skeptic Philip Klass pointed to a hoax. In 2021, the crew boss called the case a setup and later took the statement back.
Sources:Travis Walton UFO incident (Wikipedia)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, “unidentified” means a lack of identification, not a confirmed origin. The Colares mission ended with no public explanation covering all the events, according to coverage of the documents. At Rendlesham, astronomers such as Ian Ridpath proposed ordinary sources: bright stars distorted by the atmosphere and the Orford Ness lighthouse.

Sources:O Antagonista (2026) (in Portuguese)Rendlesham Forest incident (Wikipedia)

ReadingPsychological

In the psychological reading, doctors cited in the documents assessed two women’s symptoms as an “adrenergic discharge,” a reaction of fight, flight or fear. In 1977, Lieutenant Colonel Camilo, of the Brazilian Air Force, attributed the reactions to fear spread by the talk going around. Phillippe Sendas Fernandes’s thesis (UFRJ, 2017) records people who spoke of superstition and “collective neurosis.”

Sources:Operação Prato (Wikipedia)Fernandes and Barbosa, Mídia e Cotidiano (2016) (in Portuguese)Luzes misteriosas cruzam os céus da Amazônia (thesis, UFRJ, 2017) (in Portuguese)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, the beam would be a directed action by an object. In 1997, Hollanda told Revista UFO that he and his team observed a UFO. Jacques Vallée, who interviewed Dr. Wellaide in 1988, proposed in Confrontations (1990) that the reported injuries would be consistent with the effects of microwaves.

Sources:Operação Prato (Wikipedia) (in Portuguese)Operação Prato (Wikipedia)

ReadingSpiritualist

In a religious reading, some Colares residents saw the lights as a “sign of the times.” This is recorded in Phillippe Sendas Fernandes’s thesis (UFRJ, 2017), which brought together 1977 newspapers from Pará, Brazilian Air Force reports and testimony from people who lived through those nights.

Sources:Luzes misteriosas cruzam os céus da Amazônia (thesis, UFRJ, 2017) (in Portuguese)

Is it a craft?

Lighthouse: at Rendlesham, astronomer Ian Ridpath identified the light that flashed every five seconds as the Orford Ness lighthouse, about 8 km from the forest.
Sources:Rendlesham Forest incident (Wikipedia)
A bright star low on the horizon, distorted by the atmosphere: at Rendlesham, astronomers explained the lights that seemed to send down beams this way. The brightest one, to the south, matched Sirius.
Sources:Rendlesham Forest incident (Wikipedia)
Satellites and meteors: in 1977, Lieutenant Colonel Camilo told the newspaper A Província do Pará that residents were mistaking satellites and meteorites for craft.
Sources:Fernandes and Barbosa, Mídia e Cotidiano (2016) (in Portuguese)

Balls of light near the ground

White, yellow or reddish spheres of light appear low, near the ground, in fields, valleys, mountains or marshes. They can hover, wobble, split, merge and suddenly vanish. They often return to the same place for years.

Documented cases

1957 to presentMarfa, Texas, USARecord
East of Marfa, twinkling lights move, split apart and vanish. There is an account attributed to 1883, and the first publication came in 1957. In 2004, physics students from the University of Texas at Dallas correlated the lights with car headlights on US 67.
Sources:Marfa Lights (Handbook of Texas, TSHA)Marfa lights (Wikipedia)The Marfa Lights: A Real American Mystery (Skeptoid #38)
1981 to 1984 (peak)Hessdalen Valley, NorwayRecord
White, yellow or red lights have floated through the valley since at least the 1930s. At the peak, they were seen 15 to 20 times a week. Some stay still for minutes and light up the ground. Since 1998, an automatic station has recorded the phenomenon in photos and video.
Sources:Hessdalen lights (Wikipedia)The Hessdalen Phenomena (Erling Strand, EGU 2011)
1913 and 1922Brown Mountain, North Carolina, USARecord
Lights over the mountain led to two studies by the U.S. Geological Survey. Geologists D. B. Sterrett and George Mansfield attributed the lights to train and car headlights and to brush fires, seen through unstable air. Mansfield saw no geological basis for a natural phenomenon.
Sources:Origin of the Brown Mountain Light in North Carolina (USGS Circular 646)Brown Mountain lights (Wikipedia)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, many cases are solved as distant headlights, campfires or will-o’-the-wisp. For Hessdalen, there are hypotheses being tested, such as a dust plasma ionized by radon and a piezoelectric effect in quartz-bearing rocks. Michael Persinger proposed that stress in the Earth’s crust would generate lights, but support for the theory was mainly correlational.

Sources:Hessdalen lights (Wikipedia)Michael Persinger (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological and UAP-studies reading, lights that keep returning to the same place become a laboratory. A 2025 review signed by Kevin Knuth, Erling Strand, Jacques Vallée and others calls Hessdalen a prototype of an anomalous luminous phenomenon. Vallée, in Passport to Magonia (1969), drew parallels between UFO reports and folk traditions.

Sources:The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (Knuth et al., arXiv, 2025)Jacques Vallée (Wikipedia)

ReadingFolkloric

In Brazilian folk tradition, the boitatá, from the Tupi for “thing of fire,” is a fire snake that protects the fields. José de Anchieta recorded it in 1560, and Câmara Cascudo linked its origin to the will-o’-the-wisp. In some versions, the mãe-do-ouro (“mother of gold”) appears as a ball of fire that points to gold deposits.

Sources:Boitatá (Wikipedia)Boitatá (PreparaEnem) (in Portuguese)Mãe-de-Ouro (Toda Matéria) (in Portuguese)

ReadingSpiritualist

In European folk traditions, the will-o’-the-wisp was said to be the souls of unbaptized children wandering between heaven and hell. In Texas, the Handbook of Texas lists ghosts of conquistadors searching for gold among the popular explanations for the Marfa lights.

Sources:Will-o'-the-wisp (Wikipedia)Marfa Lights (Handbook of Texas, TSHA)

Is it a craft?

Distant car and train headlights, distorted by layers of air: the explanation given by the Marfa (2004) and Brown Mountain (1922) studies.
Sources:Marfa lights (Wikipedia)The Marfa Lights: A Real American Mystery (Skeptoid #38)USGS Circular 646
Small campfires and brush fires: a spectroscopy study by Texas State University (2009) concluded that the Marfa lights it observed could be headlights or small fires. At Brown Mountain, the USGS also pointed to brush fires.
Sources:Marfa lights (Wikipedia)Brown Mountain lights (Wikipedia)
Will-o’-the-wisp: in marshes and swamps, decay releases phosphine, diphosphane and methane, which oxidize and give off a bluish light.
Sources:Will-o'-the-wisp (Wikipedia)

Light that dives (transmedium)

A light comes down toward the sea, a river or a lake and seems to enter the water. In some accounts, it keeps glowing under the surface until it disappears. In others, the light comes out of the water and rises into the sky.

Documented cases

1977Colares, Pará, Brazil (Operação Prato, or Operation Saucer)Account
In the records translated by Bob Pratt, a fisherman saw a reddish-yellow light, 100 m up, enter the water in front of the Colares lighthouse on November 5, 1977. The next day, another light came straight down and seemed to enter the water.
Sources:Bob Pratt (MUFON). Operação Prato, translation of FAB documents (The Black Vault)Operação Prato (Wikipedia)
1967Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, CanadaRecord
On October 4, 1967, at least 11 people saw a lit object come down toward the harbor. Witnesses saw it floating 250 to 300 m offshore, still lit, before it sank. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Coast Guard and Navy divers searched the site.
Sources:Shag Harbour UFO incident (Wikipedia)Library and Archives Canada. 1967 Shag Harbour UFO Sighting and Related Research
2004Pacific Ocean, off the southern coast of California, USA (USS Nimitz carrier group)Record
Four pilots saw the white object hovering over a patch of churning water, as if something large were submerged 3 to 4.5 m down. Radar operator Kevin Day reported targets dropping from 28,000 feet to sea level, or below the surface.
Sources:Knuth, Powell and Reali (2019). Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles. Entropy USS Nimitz UFO incident (Wikipedia)
1895Lake Ncovi, GabonAccount
British explorer Mary Kingsley saw two balls of violet light over a beach. When she followed them by canoe, one moved out over the water, came down and sank, still glowing, until it disappeared into the depths. She thought they were luminous insects.
Sources:Mary Kingsley (1897). Travels in West Africa (Project Gutenberg)Knuth et al. (2025). The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP). arXiv

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the official scientific reading, there is no proof of transmedium objects. The 2023 U.S. defense act added these objects to AARO’s mandate. In 2022, then-director Sean Kirkpatrick said he had seen no evidence of transmedium activity, and the 2024 report had no maritime or transmedium reports for the period.

Sources:DefenseScoop (2022). Pentagon changes ‘UAP’ terminology as it looks to investigate unexplainable sightings across all domains The War Zone (2022). Pentagon’s New UFO Office: No Aliens But Many Threat Concerns AARO (2024). Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

ReadingPsychological

In the psychological reading of the military medical report from Operação Prato, the symptoms attributed to the light beams would be an adrenergic discharge, a normal reaction to fear of the unknown. Sergeant Flávio Costa spoke of mass hysteria fueled by the press.

Sources:Operação Prato (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, entering the water without losing performance is “Trans-Medium Travel,” one of the five observables. Kevin Knuth and coauthors argue that such a vehicle would be far beyond human capability and cite the Nimitz case as a possible example.

Sources:Knuth et al. (2025). The New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP). arXiv You Should Know: Luis Elizondo's Five Observables (The Other Topic)

ReadingFolkloric

In the local reading, the lights take on names from tradition. In Colares, the phenomenon became the “chupa-chupa,” and in Vila do Piriá people spoke of the “Devil’s light” (luz do Diabo). In Gabon, Mary Kingsley’s guides called the lights “Akom” and said they came from an “Aku,” a devil bush.

Sources:Operação Prato (Wikipedia)Mary Kingsley (1897). Travels in West Africa (Project Gutenberg)

Is it a craft?

Military flares. They drift down slowly and disappear behind the terrain, as if diving. In Phoenix (1997), the U.S. Air Force attributed the lights to flares dropped by A-10 aircraft, which disappeared behind the Sierra Estrella mountains.
Sources:Phoenix Lights (Wikipedia)
Bright meteors (fireballs). Balls of fire with a trail that vanish within seconds. In Hendry’s study, meteors made up 9% of the cases.
Sources:Identified flying object (Wikipedia)
Marine animals on sonar. The U.S. Navy uses the term USO mainly for whales, sharks and other animals that interfere with sonar and navigation.
Sources:Unidentified submerged object (Wikipedia)

Stray flashes

A quick flash appears anywhere in the sky and is gone in a fraction of a second. It can come alone or in a sequence, white, bluish or reddish. Because it lasts so briefly, it is hard to photograph.

Documented cases

1984Hessdalen, NorwayRecord
The Project Hessdalen technical report classified small, strong flashes, white or blue, that could appear anywhere in the sky as one of the three types of light. The field log notes sequences of three to six flashes.
Sources:Project Hessdalen 1984: Final Technical Report (Erling Strand)
2002Hessdalen, NorwayRecord
The Italian EMBLA mission photographed flashes appearing all over the valley, in the sky and on the ground, lasting 1/5 to 1/2 second, with an estimated power between 10 and 300 watts. According to Teodorani, they always come before the balls of light.
Sources:Teodorani and Nobili (2002), EMBLA 2002: An Optical and Ground Survey in Hessdalen Teodorani (2004), Journal of Scientific Exploration 18(2)
1989Minnesota, USARecord
Sporadic visual reports of sprites go back at least to 1886. On July 6, 1989, scientists from the University of Minnesota captured by chance, with a low-light camera, the first image of these discharges above thunderstorms.
Sources:Sprite (lightning) (Wikipedia)
1965Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, USARecord
On December 9, a fireball was seen in six U.S. states and in Canada. Residents reported an acorn-shaped object. A 1967 study, using seismographs and photos, concluded that it was coming down at a steep angle toward Lake Erie.
Sources:Kecksburg UFO incident (Wikipedia)

Readings side by side

ReadingScientific

In the scientific reading, short flashes usually have a known cause, such as fireballs, satellite glints and discharges above thunderstorms. For the Hessdalen flashes, physicist Massimo Teodorani raises, as his own hypothesis still to be verified, the idea that cosmic rays would inject energy into a low-energy plasma.

Sources:Teodorani (2004), Journal of Scientific Exploration 18(2)Sprite (lightning) (Wikipedia)

ReadingUfological

In the ufological reading, flashes can be associated with objects disappearing. In the EMBLA 2002 report, Massimo Teodorani and Gloria Nobili describe a target of white lights that disappeared right after a flash and ask whether it could be an imitation of an aircraft. They conclude that the problem remains open.

Sources:Teodorani and Nobili (2002), EMBLA 2002: An Optical and Ground Survey in Hessdalen

Is it a craft?

Fireballs. These are meteors brighter than Venus, and some explode in a final flash. Thousands of them cross the atmosphere every day, most over the ocean, over empty areas or in daylight.
Sources:Fireball FAQ (American Meteor Society)
Satellite glints. The old Iridium satellites produced flashes lasting a few seconds, some visible in daylight. They were taken out of orbit by December 2019. Today, glints from Starlink satellites have been mistaken by pilots for unidentified phenomena.
Sources:Satellite flare (Wikipedia)Buettner et al. (2024), arXiv
Distant lightning and sprites. So-called heat lightning is the light of a storm too far away for its thunder to be heard, reflected off high clouds. Sprites are reddish discharges between 50 and 90 km up, above thunderstorms.
Sources:Heat Lightning (National Weather Service)Sprite (lightning) (Wikipedia)

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