X owner Elon Musk has been blamed for a record number of UFO sightings over Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The Central Research Network for Extraordinary Celestial Phenomena (CENAP) told media on January 7 it had received almost 1,100 reports of unidentified flying objects from the general public last year.
“Usually, we record an average of 600 to 800 reports per year,” the organisation’s director, Hansjürgen Köhler, told Der Spiegel on January 10.
Köhler expressed doubt as to whether any of those reporting to his organisation actually saw alien spacecraft, with the expert instead putting the sightings spike down to tech billionaire Musk’s Starlink satellite service.
The US company had a record year for launches in 2024. Köhler said Starlink satellites were particularly striking just after launch, as they often followed one another in a regular pattern across the sky.
Other sightings, he added, could often be put down to people mistaking planets such as Venus and Jupiter for mysterious craft, as well as Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
Reported UFO sightings also ended up being balloons of various kinds, as well as drones, private aircraft, helicopters and sometimes meteors, Köhler added.
CENAP has already received 30 reports of UFOs over territory it covers so far this year.
Italy’s potential use of Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service for strategic communications has raised concerns among opposition figures over a possible risk to national security. https://t.co/Ur2P8rR3OH
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 10, 2025
