Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries Support Us
You are viewing: Home > News > The UFO Phenomenon > News story
  
All ▾
Search Submit

The UFO Phenomenon

UAP sightings don't conform to laws of physics, new paper claims

By T.K. Randall
March 12, 2023
The Pentagon
Image: The Pentagon
Credit: Touch Of Light / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted)
Harvard's Avi Loeb and the Pentagon's Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick have co-authored a new paper on the subject.
The paper, which is still undergoing peer review, is entitled 'Physical Constraints on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena' and examines the alleged movements and capabilities of unexplained objects sighted by US Navy pilots off the coast of the United States.

The pair are certainly no strangers to UFOs; Loeb is an astrophysicist who has been heavily involved in the search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence while Dr Kirkpatrick is the director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

In the new paper, they argue that the alleged capabilities of these "highly maneuverable" objects are so extreme that the sheer friction involved should have produced a visible fireball as well as a corresponding radio signature that could be picked up on radar.
The fact that these effects weren't present at the time suggests that either these objects were somehow defying the laws of physics or the data concerning such encounters may not be entirely accurate.

"We derive physical constraints on interpretations of 'highly maneuverable' Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) based on standard physics and known forms of matter and radiation," they wrote.

"In particular, we show that the friction of UAP with the surrounding air or water is expected to generate a bright optical fireball, ionization shell and tail - implying radio signatures."

"The lack of all these signatures could imply inaccurate distance measurements (and hence derived velocity) for single site sensors without a range gate capability."

Source: Forbes




Other news and articles
Our latest videos Visit us on YouTube
Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles