Are UFOs Real?
- 19th Nov 2025
- Author: David Southworth
Sightings of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) have long captured the public’s imagination, fuelling speculation of super-intelligent alien civilisations visiting Earth, often with supposedly nefarious aims. But are they purely the figments of over-active imaginations, or could there be some substance behind these claims?
Does Alien Life Exist?
Let’s start with full disclosure – personally, I am highly sceptical of claims of UFO sightings, and have always put them down to, at best, gullible people mistakenly persuading themselves that they’ve seen an alien spacecraft. At worst, I view them as attention-seeking claims that seem more common in this social media age.
This isn’t because I don’t believe alien life exists. In fact, I’d be amazed if it doesn’t. Just by probability, among the trillions and trillions of stars in the Universe and based on what we know from the exoplanets we’ve detected in our vicinity, it’s highly likely there are billions of Earth-like planets out there, and surely some of those will have seen life develop.
Even closer to home, there have been recent discoveries of minerals on Mars that add weight to the idea that the Red Planet may have supported simple life-forms in its early days. And some of the icy moons in the outer Solar System – such as Jupiter’s Europa, or Saturn’s Enceladus – may have hydrothermal vents at the floor of sub-surface oceans which could provide conditions similar to those we think led to life on Earth. But would alien life be sufficiently evolved, technologically advanced, and near enough to our Solar System to visit us, as UFO-hunters would have us believe? That, to me, seems far less likely.
Reasons for Scepticism
Another reason for scepticism is that, although there have been occasional reports of strange objects in the sky for centuries, the phenomenon really took off in the post-war era, and overwhelmingly in the United States.
Most ancient reports have now been explained with our improved understanding of astronomical phenomena, with descriptions matching objects like comets, or meteor showers.
The explosion of sightings in the late twentieth century coincided with advances in aviation technology and seems most likely to be down to suggestible people jumping on a sci-fi bandwagon, in a country wrought with Cold War paranoia.
And with manipulation of images and videos so prevalent these days, especially with the rise of generative AI, it’s all too easy to dismiss photographic evidence. What would, a few decades ago, have been strong evidence that something had been there, can now just be put down to faked footage.
UAPs
In that context, it might be surprising to discover that the United States Government has taken sightings seriously enough to produce regular reports into them, trying to assess the evidence and explain the sightings, where possible.
Following a preliminary report, published in June 2021, the US Government now publishes Annual Reports on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, reflecting the preferred terminology of the present day. What were once flying saucers became known as UFOs in the 1950s and are now generally called UAPs – Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, wording which reflects the wide variety of observations, and moves away from the connotation of UFO as something definitively alien.
The reports analyse observations by the US military. While conspiracy theorists may claim that this approach conveniently ignores all the real evidence, I think it’s probably a sensible way to look at these phenomena. Sightings by the military will have a good chance of being carefully and consistently recorded and logged, and further measurements being taken, rather than having to try and analyse a fuzzy photo with no further information.
Sightings Explained?
So, what have these reports found? Do they conclude that these sightings are indeed spacecraft visiting from far-off planets? Well, no. A significant number of the observations analysed were established as objects such as balloons, birds, airborne debris, or reflections from satellites.
Plenty remain unexplained, and this is often down to insufficient information, but the reports do speculate on other possible explanations. These include natural atmospheric phenomena, aircraft from confidential US programmes, or technologies deployed by foreign powers.
This potential threat of foreign interference – remember the Chinese spy balloon shot down over the US in February 2023? – seems to be the main reason for these annual reports, rather than any serious suspicion of extra-terrestrial visitation.
Unusual Flight Characteristics
But within those remaining unexplained observations lurks one tantalising detail. The reports have stated that, in a small number of cases, “unusual flight characteristics” were observed. This definition includes such things as sudden changes of direction, objects moving against the wind, often at high speed, with no detectable means of propulsion.
Could these few cases actually be those intelligent visitors from other star systems that retain such a strong hold over our imaginations? Perhaps smart and skilled enough to allow us a tempting glimpse while they undertake their Earthling reconnaissance? Probably we’ll never know.
But, while my scepticism remains, that small possibility will surely always keep many of us believing, and hoping that one day we do establish contact with otherworldly civilisations.
Full references / credits
(1) An artist's impression of two UFOs. Credit: maxime raynal (CC BY 2.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ )
(2) Mars rocks photographed by NASA’s Perseverance rover, showing the leopard spot pattern that may have been created by ancient life-forms. Credit: NASA
(3) An old drawing of a comet. Credit: public domain
(4) A photo, supposedly showing a UFO, from 1950s New Jersey. Credit: George Stock (public domain)
(5) A Chinese spy balloon over South Carolina, February 2023. Credit: Russotp (CC BY-SA 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ )
(6) A drawing of the kind of aliens common in the popular imagination. Credit: MjolnirPants (CC BY-SA 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ )
