Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)

• An unidentified flying object or UFO is anything in the sky that cannot be explained by the person who sees it.
• Some people think that UFOs are alien spaceships.
• But most scientists say that UFOs can be explained in much more ordinary ways.
• Descriptions of UFOs have ranged from glowing wheels to colored balls of light to a cigar-, crescent-, or disk-shaped objects.
• A sighting of disk-shaped UFOs in the 1940s led to the creation of the term flying saucers.
• It then became popular to call all UFOs flying saucers.

UFO Records

• The U.S. government has kept records of thousands of UFO sightings.
• These records include photos of UFOs and recordings of interviews with people who claim to have seen them.
• In the 1950s scientists chosen by the government studied hundreds of sightings. Most of the sightings turned out to be space objects, such as stars, bright planets, or meteors.
• Many other sightings were aircraft, birds, or hot gases. Often these sightings happened in unusual weather conditions.
• By the mid–1960s UFO sightings were more numerous than ever.
• The U.S. government continued to say that UFOs were not evidence of alien life.
• Most scientists agreed. But some UFO sightings remained unexplained. Even today a few scientists believe that some UFOs could be visitors from outer space.