UFO News and UAP Research: Evidence-Based Coverage

The latest UAP sightings, Pentagon and UK file releases, AARO reports and Britain's own cases: covered from the documents, without the hype

UAP research has a credibility problem, and it's mostly self-inflicted. Decades of grainy photos and wild claims have made it easy to dismiss the whole subject. We take a different approach. Every article here works from what's actually documented: AARO's public reports, declassified files, congressional hearings, and named witnesses on the record, rather than anonymous forum posts.

That means covering the genuinely strange cases, the ones the Pentagon itself admits it can't explain, alongside the mundane ones, like a sighting that turns out to be a Starlink launch train or a weather balloon. We're as interested in ruling things out as we are in the unresolved cases, because that's what makes the unresolved ones worth taking seriously. Not every well-documented case involves the military, either. The Ariel School incident in Zimbabwe is built entirely on consistent testimony from dozens of children.

You'll find ongoing coverage of official disclosure efforts, deep dives into historical incidents, and analysis of new reports as they land. If you're here for the science of watching the sky rather than the unexplained, our space news and observing guides sections might be more your speed.

Latest UFO news

  1. The B-52 That Circled the World and the Blip That Followed It

    A 1957 B-52 UFO radar contact on the first non-stop jet flight round the world. What Pentagon file DOW-UAP-D155 says, and the likely answers.

  2. When the Pentagon's UFO Contractor Hired MUFON

    AAWSAP's contractor BAASS paid MUFON for UFO reports within hours. The 2009 files show 319 reports, four call-outs and money MUFON couldn't spend.

  3. AAWSAP's Own Plan Was About UFOs After All: The Nine Projects

    Was AAWSAP a UFO program? Its contractor's 2008 plan, DOW-UAP-D168, set nine projects, from seeking 'Contact' to UFO files at Los Alamos and nuclear bases.

Latest document releases

UAP document archive →Every collection we hold: Pentagon, UK MOD, Brazil and NSA files Pentagon PURSUE files browser →Search the declassified US releases record by record UK MOD UFO files →Project Condign, the Rendlesham file and the National Archives records

UK cases

UFO sightings UK map →Britain's best-documented cases, pinned and linked to the files Rendlesham Forest 1980 →The Halt memo, the radiation readings and the lighthouse RAF Lakenheath 1956 →The radar-visual case and the Venom intercept Skinwalker Ranch Pentagon files (US) →What the Pentagon's contractor reported from Utah

All UFO News and UAP Research Posts

Scan the skies yourself

Kit we've reviewed in full

Most reported UAP sightings are things binoculars would identify in seconds: a distant aircraft, a satellite train, a bright planet. If you want to check what you're actually looking at before it becomes an "unexplained" story, this is the kit we'd reach for.

Best all-round

Celestron SkyMaster Pro 15×70

4.5

High magnification and big 70mm lenses let you resolve detail on distant lights (aircraft strobes, drone rigs, satellite trains) well enough to tell what you're actually watching. A tripod helps at this power.

~£229
See price at FLO In stock at FLO Our full review
Lightweight option

Opticron Adventurer 10×50

4.7

A wide field and easy hand-holding make this the one to keep by the back door, quick enough to grab and get on target before whatever caught your eye moves on.

~£84
See price at FLO In stock at FLO Our full review
Browse all our binocular reviews →

Affiliate links: you pay the same price, we earn a small commission that helps keep WatchTheStars free.

UAP & UFO Research FAQs

UAP is the term the US government now uses instead of UFO. It covers anything observed in the sky, underwater, or in space that can't immediately be identified as a known aircraft, object or natural phenomenon. Most UAP reports turn out to have mundane explanations (drones, balloons, aircraft lights, Starlink trains) but a small percentage remain unresolved after investigation.
We work from official sources (AARO reports, declassified government documents, congressional testimony, and verifiable witness accounts) and we're upfront about what's confirmed versus what's still unresolved or disputed. We don't claim alien origin for anything, and we flag hoaxes and misidentifications when the evidence points that way.
They describe the same basic idea, something unexplained in the sky, but UAP is the newer, broader official term used by the US Department of Defense and AARO since around 2022. UFO carries decades of pop-culture baggage, so agencies switched to UAP partly to signal a more rigorous, less tabloid approach to investigation.