UFO Sightings in the West: Who Do People Actually See?

There has been a growing report about UFO sightings worldwide. However, it has been learned that most incidents happened on the western side.

UFO Sightings in the West

Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) are often interchanged because they refer to the same thing. UFOs are now referred to as UAPs.

According to a new study, unexplained aerial phenomena (UAPs) in the West might be related to the area's local environmental conditions.

"It was completely unexpected," said Richard Medina, a geographer at the University of Utah who led the study. "It's difficult to explain why we have this many more sightings in the West."

In order to explain probable UAP occurrences, Medina says it is essential to ascertain the environmental context of these encounters. Additionally, it can help experts determine whether sightings are genuine threats and which are just anomalous.

He and his colleagues speculate that the high frequency of sightings in the western United States may be attributed mainly to the region's large open spaces and moderate year-round climate, which draw people outside for leisure activities.

The huge volume of reports from the region may also be attributed to the West's historical engagement with UAPs. For example, the legendary Area 51 in Nevada is notorious for being a potential site for extraterrestrial technology testing. Concurrently, Roswell's New Mexico desert town gained notoriety for the alleged 1947 flying saucer accident when two locals discovered a rubber strip and tinfoil wreckage.

What Do People Actually See?

NUFORC, a public, self-reporting system, claims on its website that its employees eliminate blatant fakes and showcase a limited number of conceivably fascinating and reliable incidents that have been reported by skilled observers, including pilots, or those that have unambiguous video or photo proof.

Medina and his coauthors examined two factors in the dataset for sightings in every U.S. county. The first concerned the potential for sky views, taking into account the area's light pollution, cloud cover, and tree canopy cover; the second addressed the likelihood that objects are in the sky overall, taking into account factors such as closeness to airports and military bases.

Medina claims that there is more technology in the sky than ever before, raising the question of what people see. Answering this question is difficult, but it's crucial since ambiguity could threaten national security.

Medina and his team are currently investigating whether the NUFORC data exhibits any temporal trends. They will also examine other variables, such as drone activity, science balloons, and sociocultural aspects, to see if they correlate with the claimed sightings.

"We're just barely getting started," Medina said.

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's longest-serving associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, was confident that something was happening. He added that there was a possibility the UAP sightings were unfriendly advances from China, seemingly pointing out to the Asian country as the one behind them. There are reports about Chinese spy balloons in the U.S. amid the growing reports of UFO sightings in the country.

Check out more news and information on UAP in Science Times.