NASA's UFO panel convenes to study unclassified sightings

The parallel NASA and Pentagon efforts highlight a turning point for the U.S. government after spending decades deflecting, debunking, and discrediting observations of UFOs, dating back to the 1940s

A first-of-its-kind panel organized by NASA opened a study on Monday of what the government calls "unidentified aerial phenomena," commonly termed UFOs, bringing together experts from scientific fields ranging from physics to astrobiology.

The 16-member panel, convened with little fanfare, will focus its inquiry entirely on unclassified sightings and other data collected from civilian government and commercial sectors, according to NASA.

The team's inquiry is separate from a newly formalized Pentagon-based investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, reported by military aviators and analyzed by U.S. defense and intelligence officials.

The parallel NASA and Pentagon efforts highlight a turning point for the U.S. government after spending decades deflecting, debunking, and discrediting observations of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, dating back to the 1940s.

The term UFOs, long associated with notions of flying saucers and alien spacecraft, has been replaced in official government parlance by "UAP."

Announcing the formation of its panel in June, NASA said: "There is no evidence UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin."

A Pentagon report issued a year earlier likewise found insufficient data to determine the nature of more than 140 credible sightings documented by military observers since 2004, mostly Navy personnel.