05/26/2026
The U.S. Department of Defense recently released a cache of once-classified papers on unidentified anomalous phenomena (once called unidentified flying objects) – a collection of fuzzy photos and unresolved reports.
This first in a planned series of documents on unexplained phenomena does not impress Kelsey Johnson, a professor in the University of Virginia Astronomy Department. Johnson is skeptical because, in science, “unexplained” does not mean “extraterrestrial.”
“As a scientist who studies things in space, I don’t immediately have an explanation for a few of these cases, but that doesn’t mean that it is extraterrestrial in origin,” Johnson said. “It does mean that I sure would like to have more data, because when we don’t have evidence, we can’t test our hypotheses – many of which are far less exotic than aliens.”
Among the reported incidents, astronauts in the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972 “reported observing ‘very bright particles or fragments’ drifting and ‘tumbling’ near the spacecraft as it maneuvered.”
While some incidents merited a deeper look, the files date back years, and there is no opportunity to further investigate these cases.
“What the documents revealed are a lot of cases that are formally unresolved,” Johnson said. “And being unresolved, that means they could be many things, some of them seem like something worthy of further investigation. None of them, to my assessment, lead us to any credible conclusion of aliens.”
While the papers reveal very little, there is still a general fascination with aliens. Roughly 56% of the American public believes aliens exist, and cultural saturation of the idea of alien visitation can lead to what psychologists call “availability bias,” Johnson said.
“Our brains are much more likely to jump to a conclusion or come to a determination based on what most readily comes to mind,” Johnson said. “And so, what most readily comes to mind are usually things that are either really vivid, really emotionally charged, or you have a lot of exposure to.”
Being skeptical does not mean Johnson would not welcome evidence of alien life.
“I would be thrilled if we found compelling evidence of extraterrestrial life,” Johnson said. “That would be one of the most consequential discoveries in human history. But the more we want something to be true, the more we need to guard against confirmation bias. These files just do not provide compelling evidence of an extraterrestrial origin.”
But despite the popular fascination with alien life, Johnson said among astronomers there was little reaction.
“Among astronomers, my sense is that the release was largely below the radar,” Johnson said. “That is not because astronomers are uninterested; few people spend more time studying the night sky than we do. But these files did not provide the kind of clear and testable evidence that would change the scientific conversation.” https://uvatoday.me/3PZMVK6
