A physics-defying UFO? No, that comes from Pentagon research, not us. Sean Kirkpatrick, chief of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), and Harvard University’s Avi Loeb have used physics to rule out a number of UAP sightings that look to be “highly maneuverable” objects in a new draught paper that has yet to be peer-reviewed.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A UAP SIGHTING?
To comprehend it, let us first define a UFO. The term “unidentified flying object” (UFO) refers to an aerial phenomenon whose cause or identity is unknown to the observer.

According to USA Today, the term “flying saucer” was coined by the United States Air Force in 1952, just five years after pilot Kenneth Arnold popularised the term “flying saucer” in the world’s vernacular. Arnold spotted “nine sparkling saucer-like objects” while flying above Mt. Rainier in Washington state in 1947. He denied referring to them as saucers at first, but the term had already gained popularity.

“UFOs were originally described as objects that remained unidentified following an investigation by specialist investigators, but today the term UFO is informally used to refer to any unidentifiable sighting, regardless of whether it has been probed,” according to the Air Force Declassification Office.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration uses the more technical term “unidentified anomalous phenomena” to describe “observations of the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena,” according to a USA Today report. Until December 2022, it was referred to as “unidentified aerial phenomena” rather than anomalous.

WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF THE PENTAGON STUDY?
The Pentagon and a Harvard astronomer have joined forces to advocate for a more scientific approach to investigating unexplained aerial phenomena, or UAPs.

Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and Harvard’s Avi Loeb cooperated on and shared a draft of scientific research that is still being peer-evaluated. According to Forbes, the investigation aims to rule out a number of UAP sightings that look to be “extremely agile” things using physics.

In a nutshell, Loeb and Kirkpatrick observed that if some of the UAPs are indeed traveling at the seemingly impossible speeds and trajectories that they appear to be, the friction involved should cause a visible fireball and a corresponding radio signal observable via radar.