The US Government has released a new trove of documents on various cases of “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” (UAPs) – many of which would have been described in the past as Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs – including photos, videos and reports of unexplained events sighted in the sky and in space.

The files detail “unresolved cases” where “the government is unable to make a definitive determination on the nature of the observed phenomena”.

As a researcher of military strategy, national security, and weapons and technology capabilities, I find several examples of UAPs intriguing in what they reveal and the questions they raise.

Taking this new release together with other reports from the past few years, a picture of what might be behind UAPs – and the current state of our understanding – begins to emerge.

Not everything in the new release seems inexplicable. Some images, like those that appear to show unidentified lights recorded by astronauts from the surface of the Moon, are most likely just visual noise or other image artefacts.

Astronauts have also reported seeing bright lights with the naked eye. These may be flashes from high-energy cosmic rays, which are more prevalent outside Earth’s protective magnetic field.

Likewise, video recordings showing bright lights zipping may be explained by insects flying by the camera........

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