UFOs in the USA: Mapping Decades of sightings with Location, Trends, Shapes, and Witness Testimonies

UFO, or Unidentified Flying Object, was first mentioned by Kenneth Arnold in 1947. Since then, public interest in UFO sightings has dramatically increased, especially with the development of aerospace technology. It has led people to wonder whether there are other living creatures in space.

In the very beginning, UFO sightings were dismissed as folklore, and the government identified most of them as just air balloons or fireworks. However, the significant and constant increase in sightings caught the attention of the government, and they admitted that a certain percentage of the sightings were unidentified.

The following visualization will be based on a dataset from the National UFO Reporting Center and aims to explore UFO sightings from various perspectives.

SIGHTINGS ARE INCREASING...IN THE MAJOR CITIES?

Start with the big picture, we might wonder, are there any patterns or trends in the location of UFO sightings over time? For example, do certain areas experience more sightings than others, or do sightings cluster around certain geographic features?

Click or drag the slider to explore  ▽

When we examine the trends in UFO sightings over time, it becomes evident that the number of sightings has steadily increased each year. However, one intriguing observation is a significant drop in sightings from 2014 to 2018, which warrants further investigation to explain this decrease.

Furthermore, when we examine the distribution of UFO sightings, it is noticeable that sighting reports tend to cluster around major cities and are closely related to population density. This observation leads to the assumption that people living in major cities have a higher chance of being exposed to various sources of light and may have greater access to the internet, leading to a higher likelihood of reporting sightings.

WHAT DID PEOPLE SEE?

"What do UFOs look like?" This is the most common question people have about UFOs, and we can explore this question through visualization. One prominent feature that stands out is the amount of "light" reported in sightings. Data analysis reveals that over 30% of sightings are related to light, fireball, and circle.

PEOPLE SAID: "LIGHT" "MOVING" IN THE "SKY" ?

Exploring what people say when they report UFO sightings can be fascinating. The word cloud below highlights the top 80 common words used in these reports, with the size of each word indicating its frequency and opacity emphasizing the hierarchy.

GOVERNMENT SAID THEY ARE JUST BALLOONS?

government also given some explaination to identify what are those signting actually are.

Government officials believe that surveillance operations by foreign powers and weather balloons or other airborne clutter explain most recent incidents of unidentified aerial phenomena — government-speak for U.F.O.s — as well as many episodes in past years. - The New York Times

In summary, they give three possible explaination including: drone, weather ballons and secret projects. But still a portion of records still remain undefined which raise publics' attention.

WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON THIS MATTER?

What are your thoughts on this information? The question of whether there are extraterrestrial beings beyond Earth is one that cannot be answered definitively. However, we can gain insight into this topic through the analysis of data. The reality of the situation is complex, but data can provide a framework that supports our understanding of it. In this way, we can use data to explore the world of UFO sightings and potentially uncover new insights about this mysterious phenomenon.

“I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.”

― Arthur C. Clarke

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