📊 Analysis

Light sightings — an analysis

What 1,497 reports of light sightings 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.

1,497 sightings🎥 1,181 with video168 in the last 12 months🗓️ 1950–2026

What stands out

  • 53% of light sightings 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 395 reports.
  • 49% come from the United States.
  • The Sky match explains 12% of the light sightings it has checked (a launch, satellite, fireball, planet or plane), against 6% of all sightings.
  • The most-reported shape is light (1,497).

When

Sightings per year
19502026
Show as a table
Sightings per yearSightings
19501
19510
19520
19530
19540
19550
19560
19570
19580
19590
19600
19610
19620
19630
19640
19650
19660
19670
19681
19690
19700
19710
19720
19730
19740
19750
19760
19770
19780
19790
19800
19812
19820
19830
19840
19850
19860
19871
19880
19890
19900
19910
19920
19930
19940
19950
19960
19976
19980
19990
20000
20010
20020
20030
20041
20050
20060
20071
20080
20092
20104
20117
20128
201311
201419
20155
20161
20176
201820
201932
202075
2021122
2022133
2023202
2024395
2025301
2026138
Last 24 months
Dec 2024Nov 2026
Show as a table
Last 24 monthsSightings
Dec 2024160
Jan 202554
Feb 202518
Mar 202521
Apr 202512
May 202527
Jun 202517
Jul 202519
Aug 202519
Sep 202528
Oct 202536
Nov 202529
Dec 202521
Jan 202620
Feb 202611
Mar 202616
Apr 202615
May 202623
Jun 202622
Jul 202615
Aug 20265
Sep 20268
Oct 20262
Nov 20261
Time of day local time
12 am11 pm
Show as a table
Time of daySightings
12 am33
1 am29
2 am26
3 am41
4 am16
5 am17
6 am15
7 am6
8 am2
9 am7
10 am1
11 am4
12 pm0
1 pm2
2 pm2
3 pm3
4 pm10
5 pm21
6 pm55
7 pm69
8 pm88
9 pm95
10 pm72
11 pm26
Month of the year
JanDec
Show as a table
Month of the yearSightings
Jan134
Feb73
Mar103
Apr87
May122
Jun95
Jul105
Aug118
Sep142
Oct147
Nov134
Dec234

Where

Countries
US states
Top towns and cities
  • Phoenix, Arizona54
  • Los Angeles, California11
  • Denver, Colorado8
  • Chicago, Illinois8
  • Las Vegas, Nevada7

What people saw

Shapes
Colours
  • White160
  • Red109
  • Orange73
  • Green60
  • Blue50
  • Multicolored41
  • Yellow17
  • Purple8
What the Sky match found
  • No ordinary match429
  • Bright planet (possible)41
  • Starlink train (possible)8
  • Starlink train4
  • Rocket launch (possible)4
  • Rocket launch3

See all 1,497 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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