UFO reporting center CENAP, based in western Germany, has recorded more sightings of puzzled citizens this year than ever before, its director said Monday.
The Central Celestial Events Research Network is a point of contact for members of the public seeking a scientific explanation for their sighting of a UFO – an acronym meaning “unidentified flying object”.
According to experts, most of them were planets or stars, and not anything related to extraterrestrial civilizations.
CENAP, based in Lützelbach south of Frankfurt, recorded 1,348 UFO sightings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland last year, as well as several from other countries, according to its director Hansürgen Köhler.
Since 2019, the number of reports has been steadily increasing every year. But even last year, there were no alien spacecraft among them, Koehler said.
Observations have many reasons
Bright planets such as Venus, Jupiter and the star Sirius continue to baffle many sky watchers, he said.
Additionally, the meteors surprised many early risers and casual observers when they burned up with a noticeable glow.
There have been more than 120 sightings of tech billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite communications systems, including by pilots caught off guard during night flights, Koehler said.
Other reports have involved rocket stage re-fires, where spent fuel is illuminated by the sun and creates bizarre glowing phenomena in the night sky.
In addition, satellites and rocket parts regularly burn up in the atmosphere as space debris.
The number of reports that can be identified as drone flights has been increasing for five years, Koehler said. In addition to small private drones, larger industrial drones and police drones are also used.
