Recent reports of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) flying over Ukrainian skies have been officially discredited by Ukraine’s national science agency, citing “significant errors” in the report’s methods and results.

The report, released in mid-September by scientists from the Kyiv Main Astronomical Observatory (MAO), describes “a significant number of objects whose nature is unclear‘, including several so-called ‘ghosts’ which appeared completely black against the sky and appeared to streak through the atmosphere at up to 33,000 mph (53,000 km/h) – about twice as fast as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The report’s authors described these phantom objects as UAP – the scientific community’s preferred name for unidentified flying objects, or UFOs – but did not attempt to rule out more obvious explanations, such as satellites, drones or the artillery used in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began about six months before the report was published.

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Now, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) has concluded an investigation into the UAP report and officially discredited it as unprofessional and lacking in scientific rigor.

“The processing and interpretation of the results were carried out at an inappropriate scientific level and with significant errors in determining the distances to the observed objects,” said a group of NASU scientists. written in a statement. The team added that the report “did not meet professional requirements for publishing the results of scientific research,” and ordered that NASU’s name be removed from the document.

Where is the fire?

In their report, MAO researchers analyzed sightings of strange, fast-moving objects detected by one of two observatories near Kyiv. The team inferred the distance, size and speed of these objects based on how much background light each appeared to block, concluding that many of the mystery objects were about the size of an airplane but moving in the atmosphere at the speed of a spaceship. .

However, by looking at data from only one telescope, the researchers appear to have inaccurately predicted the distances and locations of these objects – and therefore misjudged the objects’ size and speed, as well, according to the work of Avi Loeba Harvard University astrophysicist who recently published a critical article on Ukraine’s UAP report in the pre-print database, arXiv.org. (The work has not yet been peer reviewed.)

“The correct way to infer distances is called triangulation, where you look at the same object from different directions,” Loeb told Live Science. “But they don’t have that data.”

If the phantom objects were indeed as large, as fast, and as high in the sky as the Ukrainian team suggested, then each object would “produce a giant ball of fire”, like a rocket or a meteor does as it passes through the atmosphere, Loeb said. The fact that these objects were totally black doesn’t prove so much that they were otherworldly technology, but rather suggests that astronomers seriously miscalculated the objects’ respective locations, Loeb added.

Aliens, bombs or insects?

In his critique of the UAP report, Loeb suggested that the Ukrainian researchers probably miscalculated the distances to the phantom objects by a factor of 10; if the ghosts were 10 times closer to the camera than the researchers claimed, then the objects suddenly matched the size and velocity of artillery shells – a common projectile found in war zones like Ukraine. Move the objects another 10 times closer to the camera and they could reasonably be interpreted as bullets.

“If you get it even closer, it could be insects – like a fly moving at high speed near the telescope, and it would look dark,” Loeb added.

NASU appears to have reached a similar conclusion in its investigation of the UAP report, noting that astronomers not only made “significant errors” in determining the distances of the objects, but also failed to rule out more explanations. obvious to observations.

“The authors do not provide arguments that natural phenomena or man-made objects of terrestrial origin could be among the observed UAPs,” the NASU scientists wrote in their statement.

While it’s unclear exactly what Ukrainian astronomers observed — be it artillery, bullets, insects, or anything else — the impact of the invasion of the country by the Russia should not be ignored.

According to a 2021 report from the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), it is likely that at least some UAPs observed by US military personnel are “technology deployed by China, Russia, another country or non-governmental entity”.

Other possible explanations for UAP include “air clutter”, such as birds and balloons; atmospheric phenomena, such as ice crystals; or classified government projects, according to the ODNI report

The report does not mention extraterrestrials as a possible explanation. However, the US government is not prepared to rule out this possibility for observations in US airspace. Earlier this year, the US Congress approved funding for the Department of Defense to open a new office focused exclusively on management of UFO sighting reports by the US military. If the truth is out there, maybe the government will find it.