📊 Analysis

Landings & close encounters — an analysis

What 425 reports of landings & close encounters have in common: when and where they are seen, shapes, colours, how long they last and what the sky shows — compared with all UFO sightings.

425 sightings🎥 184 with video64 in the last 12 months🗓️ 1943–2026

What stands out

  • 50% of landings & close encounters with a time were seen at night (9 pm to 5 am), against 44% of all sightings.
  • The busiest hour is 9 pm.
  • The busiest year so far is 2024, with 90 reports.
  • 36% come from the United States.
  • The Sky match explains 9% of the landings & close encounters it has checked (a launch, satellite, fireball, planet or plane), against 6% of all sightings.
  • The most-reported shape is light (39).

When

Sightings per year
19432026
Show as a table
Sightings per yearSightings
19432
19440
19450
19461
19470
19481
19490
19500
19510
19521
19530
19542
19552
19560
19570
19580
19590
19600
19610
19620
19631
19641
19655
19660
19672
19682
19690
19700
19710
19723
19730
19741
19752
19761
19773
19781
19793
19800
19810
19821
19830
19840
19850
19863
19873
19882
19890
19901
19912
19920
19931
19941
19951
19961
19973
19981
19990
20000
20010
20020
20030
20043
20050
20062
20071
20080
20090
20100
20110
20122
20131
20141
20150
20162
20171
20182
20196
202011
202124
202226
202373
202490
202571
202650
Last 24 months
Dec 2024Nov 2026
Show as a table
Last 24 monthsSightings
Dec 202428
Jan 202511
Feb 202511
Mar 20254
Apr 20257
May 20254
Jun 20255
Jul 20254
Aug 20254
Sep 20252
Oct 20253
Nov 202510
Dec 20256
Jan 20264
Feb 20264
Mar 20264
Apr 20263
May 202610
Jun 202610
Jul 20266
Aug 20262
Sep 20262
Oct 20265
Nov 20260
Time of day local time
12 am11 pm
Show as a table
Time of daySightings
12 am3
1 am6
2 am8
3 am3
4 am2
5 am2
6 am1
7 am0
8 am1
9 am2
10 am3
11 am2
12 pm1
1 pm1
2 pm2
3 pm1
4 pm0
5 pm5
6 pm10
7 pm8
8 pm14
9 pm15
10 pm12
11 pm4
Month of the year
JanDec
Show as a table
Month of the yearSightings
Jan32
Feb29
Mar19
Apr28
May39
Jun36
Jul43
Aug35
Sep29
Oct45
Nov27
Dec58

Where

Top towns and cities
  • Roswell, New Mexico6
  • Phoenix, Arizona5
  • Ruwa, Zimbabwe5
  • Socorro, New Mexico5
  • Los Angeles, California5

What people saw

Shapes
Colours
  • White32
  • Silver28
  • Red27
  • Orange15
  • Blue14
  • Black14
  • Green12
  • Yellow10
What the Sky match found
  • No ordinary match99
  • Bright planet (possible)3
  • Starlink train (possible)2
  • Rocket launch (possible)2
  • Starlink train2
  • Rocket launch1

See all 425 sightings on a map → More reports

Counted from the sightings on this site, as reported — shapes, times and places are what witnesses said. Updated hourly.

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