All cases

Start with a shape.

Witnesses rarely agree on what they saw, but they keep returning to the same few forms. Every case records the exact words the witness used.

Still unexplained.

Most famous cases have an ordinary answer, and this archive shows it. These are the ones that, so far, do not.

See every unresolved case Solved, and how

Seen from orbit.

Twenty-one accounts from astronauts and cosmonauts. Almost none of them claim an alien craft, and most turned out to be the crew's own hardware: ice, boosters, panels, even trash. A few are still open.

See all astronaut and cosmonaut accounts

Solved, and how.

Some of the most dramatic cases have the plainest answers. A smoke ring from a castle fire show, a rocket lit by the sun after dark, a model on a string. Here is how a few of them were worked out.

See every explained case Still unexplained

Waves and nights.

Some sightings come alone. Others arrive by the dozen over one county, one week or one evening.

How the archive works.

In the witness's words

Each case keeps the shape word the witness actually used. A "triangle of lights" and a "triangular craft" are different claims, so they are recorded differently.

The explanation beside the account

Rocket re-entries, balloons, planets, aircraft and hoaxes sit right next to the testimony, labelled by how firmly they are established.

A source for every case

Every entry links to the newspaper, official file or investigation it comes from. Anything that could not be traced was left out.

What each status means

Unresolved: No ordinary explanation has been accepted. That does not mean anything exotic happened, only that the record does not yet support an answer.
Explanation proposed: Investigators or researchers have put forward a plausible ordinary cause, but it is not settled.
Explained: The cause is established, such as a rocket, a balloon, a planet or an aircraft, with evidence to back it.
Hoax: The story, photo or film was made up, proven by a confession, an admission from someone involved, or physical evidence. Each hoax entry names what the verdict rests on.
Disputed hoax: Someone with standing has called it a hoax, but the verdict rests on investigators' judgment, secondhand testimony or contested evidence, and nobody involved has confessed.
Aggregate report: One entry standing for many reports at once, such as a wave of sightings or a study, not a single event.

Seen something?

Every report sent through the Submit a new case page is read by a person and checked against what was in the sky that night before anything is added.

Drag across the timeline to choose a period, or search and filter below.

The night sky keeps a record.