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Salon
Salon
Science
Matthew Rozsa

2023 was a historic year for UFO science

Before the start of the 2020s, almost anyone who admitted to a belief in UFOs (unidentified flying objects) or extraterrestrial visitors was dismissed as a crackpot. Yet since the start of the decade, the Pentagon has repeatedly and openly acknowledged that their own pilots have spotted and recorded images of UFOs (more specifically known as UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena). The so-called Pentagon UFO videos — the initial clips of which were released to the public in 2020 — showed UAPs recorded in 2004, 2014, 2015 and 2019. Ever since, respected government officials and scientists have joined ordinary UFO enthusiasts in insisting that the proverbial truth must be out there.

But 2023 was arguably one the most important years for UAP developments, at least in terms of disclosures that didn't produce a smoking gun or things that were debunked. Here's a look back at what we learned.

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