Mass UFO Sighting Over Brazil Sparks Panic

UFO Over Brazil Sparks Social Media Panic and Conspiracies

The mysterious lights were seen by thousands of people, there's video evidence, and people are saying posts disappeared from social media. What happened?

Brazilians in the municipality of Magé, just north of Rio de Janeiro, reported seeing mysterious illuminated objects in the sky Wednesday. Several videos of the objects exploded on Reddit and Twitter, sparking incredible speculation about a crashed UFO that has been picked up widely in the Brazilian press.

Magé began to trend on Twitter Wednesday morning when several people began sharing videos of glowing lights in the sky. The videos show blue, red and yellow orbs moving around the sky, and one video shows the lights arranged in a triangular formation.

While the videos themselves are curious, though hardly evidence of anything otherworldly, UFO enthusiasts began to fall down the conspiratorial rabbit hole rather quickly when posts about the event began disappearing on Twitter. As the event began to gather digital steam, the #MageUFO hashtag began to swell with posts, then, suddenly, vanished. Meanwhile, on the r/UFOs Reddit page, posts concerning the Brazilian UFOs also began to disappear. Crying foul, users began to accuse both Twitter and the moderators of the r/UFOs subreddit of censorship. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Threads and comments about the UFOs were deleted from the r/UFOs subreddit; in a post, a moderator said that “I see a lot of stupidity in this thread, so let me just make it absolutely clear: mods here do not censor. If a post is stupid or offensive it will be removed. If it is a hoax, we'll remove it.” That moderator has been pilloried in the comments, with dozens of redditors suggesting that perhaps the subreddit for UFOs is where they should be allowed to talk about a UFO event that had thousands of eyewitnesses and dozens of videos posted. People wanting to discuss the event have moved on to r/aliens in the meantime.

To make matters worse, users began posting a Google Maps link showing a satellite image of part of Magé, suggesting a vast conspiracy and Google coverup. It looks like this, which is unfortunate for Google:

A white image glitch in the shape of, well, a flying saucer, seems to appear in a wooded area north of Rio de Janeiro. Google Maps satellite images are not updated instantly, of course, so this is an old image. A Google spokesperson explained to Motherboard what is going on here:

“In this case, what people are seeing in the imagery is a reflection that is temporarily overloading the satellite's sensor,” the spokesperson said. “Essentially, the sun reflected off the surface of that building at just the right angle to briefly blind the satellite. This is a pretty common phenomenon known as saturation or blooming.”

While the Brazilian press reports that no one reported these objects to local authorities, allegations of loud explosions and gunshots, the Brazilian military cordoning off the area, and army personnel arresting anyone trying to get close to the supposed crash site have taken over Twitter and the r/Aliens subreddit.

Typical internet lunacy aside, Brazil has been a long time hotspot for some pretty interesting UFO incidents. In 1957, journalist Ibrahim Sued received an envelope containing small bits of metal from an anonymous source claiming that they were debris from Ubatuba, a beach resort town, where an alleged UFO had crashed. Though not otherworldly in origin, the fragments were a highly pure magnesium. It is unclear where the metal came from and still remains a mystery. The infamous Colares UFO flap of 1977 made headlines when locals on the island of Colares began reporting strange objects in the sky and bizarre injuries to their bodies. According to researcher and computer scientists Jacques Vallee, several individuals were allegedly killed by the objects witnessed on the island. Reports of radiation and thermal burns, as well as strange scars, fill the Brazilian government’s file on the incident. After a formal investigation, the government concluded that it found no evidence of unusual phenomena.

One of the most bizarre cases occurred in 1996 when several people claimed to witness a strange alien creature roaming the streets of Varginha City. Looking like “the devil,” the large headed brown skinned 5 foot tall being was first spotted by three women on a January afternoon. Several other sightings were reported, and even the Wall Street Journal picked up the story. Silly as it may sound, it still exists as one of Brazil’s most famous cases.

Pentagon Says UFO Sightings Are Not Unusual

UFO video? Pentagon releases footage of 'unidentified aerial phenomena,' but amazingly says it's not out of the ordinary

The Pentagon on Monday released unclassified footage showing "unidentified aerial phenomena" captured by Navy aircraft that had circulated in the public for years.

The videos showing the UFOs were initially released by the Stars Academy of Arts & Science in 2017 and 2018 and were acknowledged by the Navy. One was taken in November 2004 and the other two were captured in January 2015.

"After a thorough review, the department has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena," said Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough.

"DOD is releasing the videos in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real, or whether or not there is more to the videos,” Gough added. “The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified.’”

The 2004 incident occurred 100 miles out into the Pacific Ocean when two Navy pilots on a training mission were dispatched to investigate objects being tracked by a Navy cruiser for two weeks prior. The pilots found one oval-shaped aircraft hovering 50 feet above the water that quickly descended and fled when they moved closer.

"It accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen,” one pilot told the New York Times.

When they were on their way to their rendezvous point 60 miles away, they were radioed by the ship that the object had been was there and had traveled the distance in less than a minute.

“Sir, you won’t believe it,” the radio operator said, “but that thing is at your cap point.”

The two other videos captured objects moving swiftly through the air.

"Dude, this is a f--king drone, bro," a pilot says on the video.

Former Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the footage "scratches the surface of research and materials" made available by the Pentagon.

"I’m glad the Pentagon is finally releasing this footage, but it only scratches the surface of research and materials available," Reid tweeted Monday. "The U.S. needs to take a serious, scientific look at this and any potential national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed."

Senator Harry Reid

✔@SenatorReid

I’m glad the Pentagon is finally releasing this footage, but it only scratches the surface of research and materials available. The U.S. needs to take a serious, scientific look at this and any potential national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed. https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1254802527595515906 …

CBS News

✔@CBSNews

Pentagon formally releases 3 Navy videos showing "unidentified aerial phenomena" https://cbsn.ws/2KFa3bC 

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The former lawmaker has been a vocal supporter of investigating UFOs. At his urging, the Defense Department secretly created a program more than a decade ago to investigate UFO sightings.

Last year, the Navy overhauled its process to allow pilots to report sightings in an effort to destigmatize the reporting of them.

"There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years," the Navy said at the time. "As part of this effort, the Navy is updating and formalizing the process by which reports of any such suspected incursions can be made to the cognizant authorities."

President Trump said he was briefed on Navy pilots reported sightings of UFOs but remained skeptical.

"I was struck in the last few couple of weeks, we're reading more and more reports of Navy pilots seeing lots and lots of UFOs," ABC News' George Stephanopoulos said to Trump during an interview in the Oval Office last year. "Have you been briefed on that? What do you make of it?"

"I want them to think whatever they think," Trump replied, referring to the Navy pilots. "I did have one very brief meeting on it. But people are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly."

Close Encounters of the 5th Kind

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Mysterious Radio Bursts in Outer Space Detected By Alien-Hunting-AI

Mysterious signal from deep space is repeating in 16-day cycle

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are perhaps the most mysterious anomaly in space, with many having unknown origins. According to a new study, an FRB has been spotted coming from a galaxy 500 million light-years from Earth and it's repeating every 16 days.

And no one knows why.

Known as FRB 180916.J0158+65, this FRB sends out radio wave bursts for a period of four days, stops for a period of 12 days, then repeats itself. The initial 28 patterns were first observed between September 2018 and October 2019, according to a pre-published study. "We conclude that this is the first detected periodicity of any kind in an FRB source," the researchers wrote in the study.

An animation shows the random appearance of fast radio bursts (FRBs) across the sky. (Credit: NRAO Outreach/T. Jarrett (IPAC/Caltech); B. Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF)

“The found location is radically different from the previously located repeating FRB, but also different from all previously studied FRBs," said Kenzie Nimmo, a doctoral student at the University of Amsterdam, in a statement. “The differences between repeating and non-repeating fast radio bursts are thus less clear and we think that these events may not be linked to a particular type of galaxy or environment. It may be that FRBs are produced in a large zoo of locations across the universe and just require some specific conditions to be visible.”

It's unclear what's causing the pattern to repeat, but the study's abstract suggests there is "a mechanism for periodic modulation either of the burst emission itself, or through external amplification or absorption, and disfavor models invoking purely sporadic processes."

The FRB has been traced to a galaxy known as SDSS J015800.28+654253.0 and despite its great distance from Earth, at 500 million light-years, it is the closest FRB detected so far. A light-year, which measures distance in space, equals 6 trillion miles.

It's possible the FRB could be orbiting a compact object, for example, a black hole, causing its pattern to repeat, the researchers added in the study. It's also possible that it could be coming from a binary star system, but more research is needed.

It's unknown how common FRBs actually are and why some of them repeat and others do not; most of their origins are also mysterious in nature. 

Some researchers have speculated they stem from an extraterrestrial civilization, but others, including the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, or SETI, have said that explanation "really doesn't make sense."

They come from all over space "and arranging cooperative alien behavior when even one-way communication takes many billions of years seems unlikely — to put it gently," SETI wrote in a September 2019 blog post.

First discovered in 2007, FRBs are relatively new to astronomers and their origins are mysterious. According to ScienceAlert, some of them can generate as much energy as 500 million suns in a few milliseconds.

In July 2018, an FRB that hit Earth was nearly 200 megahertz lower than any other radio burst ever detected.

Navy and Department of Defense Say UFOs Are Real

Top-secret UFO files could ‘gravely damage’ US national security, Navy says

The Department of Defense has top-secret classified briefings and a classified video about a UFO incident.

The U.S. Navy acknowledged the existence of the information, which concerns a 2004 encounter between the USS Nimitz and strange unknown aerial objects, in response to a public records request from Vice.

Last year, the Navy for the first time acknowledged that three UFO videos -- one from the 2004 USS Nimitz incident and two from 2015 -- were real videos of unidentified flying objects.

Responding to Vice's Freedom of Information Act request, the Navy said it had "discovered certain briefing slides that are classified TOP SECRET. A review of these materials indicates that are currently and appropriate Marked and Classified TOP SECRET under Executive Order 13526 and the Originial Classification Authority has determined that release of these materials would cause exceptionally grave damage to the National Security of the United States."

“We have also determined that ONI possesses a video classified SECRET that ONI is not the Original Classification Authority for,” the letter continued.

Vice reports that a Pentagon spokesperson said the Navy has the video of the mysterious incident in its possession but has no plans to release it.

“However, I can tell you that the date of the 2004 USS Nimitz video is Nov. 14, 2004," the spokesperson told Vice. "I can also tell you that the length of the video that’s been circulating since 2007 is the same as the length of the source video. We do not expect to release this video.”