Mysterious phenomena
Aliens or satellite? How a UFO reporting center works
Updated 10/25/2024 – 10:55 amReading time: 4 min.
Are there aliens or UFOs? This question concerns many people. Nationwide, people report hundreds of mysterious celestial phenomena every year. The CEMAP reporting office then investigates.
He has been devoting himself to UFO research for around half a century. But Hansjürgen Köhler would like to make one thing clear right at the beginning of his conversation with the German Press Agency about the Central Research Network for Extraordinary Celestial Phenomena (CENAP): “We differ from the ufologists who claim that there is an extraterrestrial presence on Earth “, emphasizes the founder and director of CENAP.
Some of these ufologists spread the word that 30 crashed saucers and over 113 dead and living aliens were being hidden in the United States. “This lacks any evidence and also speaks against our experience in over 50 years of active case investigations,” says Köhler.
To date, CENAP has processed a total of more than 11,000 observation entries, with analyzes of hundreds of photos and videos that were traced back to natural and terrestrial causes. However, there are currently 119 open cases without a clear result – but these are no reason for speculation either: there is simply no concrete data – such as date, time, location of the event, direction of the compass – that is necessary for clarification.
Köhler reminds us of the meaning of the abbreviation UFO: unidentified flying object. “We see ourselves as a contact point for all casual observers of a phenomenon whose cause they couldn’t identify and simply want to know what it was,” he explains. His organization, founded in 1976, is supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Air Traffic Control (DFS).
The type of cases reported has changed significantly over the decades, reports Köhler. “In the 80s it was small mini hot air balloons that generated more reports, in the 90s it was the sky trackers and disco spotlights. At the end of the 90s the Chinese sky lanterns were added and ensured extremely strong reporting in the first 2000s “In the 2010s, private and industrial drones came into play.”
And for about five years now, the influence of Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX has also been felt, whose Starlink satellites are driving up the number of UFO sightings. “In normal years we usually had 300 to 400 cases received, but now we have had 700 to 900 cases received for the last five years.” In 2024 there were over 850 cases by October 20th – by the end of the year there could be more than 1,000.
But by no means all cases can be traced back to Musk’s satellites. Sometimes rocket ignitions – so-called burn-ups – in orbit also cause UFO reports, “as they cause fantastic formations at the zenith in the night sky when illuminated by the sun,” explains Köhler.
But what exactly happens after a UFO report? First, basic data is recorded: date, time, location with zip code. A map of the location is then created and the witness’s description and attached photos or videos are entered into the case file.
Only then does the work really begin: “This is followed by checking the usual suspicious causes. During night observations, the astronomical data at the observation site is called up (planets, star maps), and if necessary also the overflight data from satellites, the ISS and bright rocket parts,” explains Köhler . In addition, air traffic data on aircraft or helicopter overflights are sometimes checked.
Photo and video recordings of the reports are compared with an extensive archive that was set up in Mannheim immediately after CENAP was founded in 1973 and has been collecting data ever since. “This usually leads to the identification of the respective observation,” said the CENAP director.
But who actually reports the sightings? Are these just conspiracy theorists who believe in aliens on Earth? “All age groups are represented, all professional groups and 99 percent of them want to know from us what they have observed and do not come expecting to have seen an extraterrestrial spaceship,” says Köhler.
But he also emphasizes: “Of course there is one percent who are convinced with their attitude that they have now seen an alien spaceship themselves – as is spread as truth every day in various TV documentaries – and are then disappointed when we see one have identified a truly earthly cause.”