Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock
Topics: US News, World News, Space
Jess Battison
From big shiny flying discs to flashes of light, movies and shows have shaped many of our ideas of just what an unidentified flying object (UFO) actually looks like.
And while we can’t say we’ve seen a flying saucer for ourselves, plenty of people reckon they’ve spotted one in the skies.
Since a UFO was first reportedly sighted by Kenneth Arnold in 1947, they've most commonly been depicted as a saucer-shape in the sky with a strong halo of light.
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However, the Pentagon’s official release of information about them could reveal just what they really look like.
Formed in July 2022, the AARO (a dedicated UFO office under the Department of Defense) posted these details to its site.
The office used reports from between 1996 and 2023 to create details about the typical UFO.
AARO however doesn’t use the term UFO, it instead refers to them as UAPs – Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena – which are: “Airborne objects that are not immediately identifiable; transmedium objects or devices; and submerged objects or devices that are not immediately identifiable.”
But, we’ll stick with UFO because who is really calling them a UAP yet?
So, based on reported sightings, the Pentagon says the ‘typical’ UFO has a round shape and is white, silver or translucent in colour.
The majority of them (a mega 47 percent) are described as ‘orb’, ‘round’ or ‘sphere’ in shape.
Just two percent have been described as ‘triangle’ and one percent described as looking like a ‘TicTac’.
While, nineteen percent have been said to be ‘ambiguous’.
Usually, they have a size of between three and 13 feet (one to four metres), usually travelling at an altitude between 10,000 and 30,000 feet.
The majority of UFOs sighted seem to travel at 20,000 feet, closely followed by 25,000 and 15,000 feet.
But nearly 10 percent of sightings report them to be flying at just 5,000 feet above us.
To put that in comparison, typical commercial aircrafts fly at between 31,000 and 38,000 feet.
The Pentagon also released a map of hotspots to reveal locations of reported UFO sightings.
Hotspots around the world seem to be parts of North America, the Middle East and Japan.
Just two months ago, on 17 June, a beachgoer in Florida reported a UFO zooming ‘2,000 mph’ above him.
Financial analyst Carmen Rich was filming a storm at Fort Lauderdale Beach last month (June 17) when he saw a 'ball of light' flying across the sky. The truth is out there, guys.