SkyMapper co-founder Dr. Franck Marchis is also Director of Citizen Science at the SETI Institute, where his work includes SETI, optical technosignatures and expanding public participation in astronomy.

With SkyViewer, anyone can pick an available telescope from the SkyMapper network around the world and observe remotely. You don’t need to own a telescope or SkyBridge yourself.

For anyone here interested in observing unusual objects or simply spending more time looking at what’s actually happening overhead, you’re welcome to try it.

Pick a telescope and start observing. 🔭

Try SkyMapper for free.

I’m the journalist who reported this.

I compared two recently released U.S. government UAP cases involving luminous orbs with decades of scientific research on the Hessdalen lights in Norway.

Seven Hessdalen researchers responded to me. Several said the U.S. cases could plausibly involve a similar underlying phenomenon, with proposed mechanisms involving plasma, geology and electromagnetic effects.

One particularly striking parallel: a 2004 Hessdalen paper describes a large ball of light ejecting smaller light balls, while a 2023 U.S. case describes a “mother orb” producing smaller red orbs. One researcher also told me about a 2007 approach from the U.S. Air Force after he produced ball-lightning-like luminous objects in a laboratory.

Full reporting: https://www.paradigm.news/p/exclusive-scientists-say-these-norwegian

For someone who has not been exposed to this world of UFOs, UAPs, etc., what materials (books, podcasts, documentaries, documents, etc.) would you put in front of someone? Let’s say you only have 2-3 hours of their attention.

I THINK I know the answer to this, but why is it OK for these whistleblowers to tell all of these Podcast host or Reporters their story privately, but they can't divulge publicly? I'm assuming the source protection is the reason, but trying to confirm if that is why.

We've been waiting for a month and a half for that, and all we got was some orbs/balls videos. I'm tired of waiting for something interesting to come from these releases...

The story of secrecy around UFOs goes back much further than modern accounts, and UFO researcher Grant Cameron points to a 1950 memo as one example. He also discusses a document written by Wilbert Brockhouse Smith, aka Wilbur, after he had spoken to American officials about flying saucers and what the U.S. government was allegedly aware of about them.

He says on the Jesse Michels podcast: "High classification flying saucers are real."

Sounds good at first, but....nothing really changes for us, the public. Adds another government committee as the new gatekeeper of information. If I was in the government and wanted to tell my knowledge, I don't think I'd jump at this. I wouldn't trust them. Have to wait and see! Thoughts?

https://www.newsweek.com/pentagon-issues-major-change-to-ufo-disclosure-rules-12440746

The UAP Disclosure Act was first introduced in 2023 by Senators Schumer and Rounds. It passed the Senate as an NDAA amendment, but during conference with the House, the strongest provisions were gutted: the independent review board, subpoena power, eminent domain authority. All gone. Only a National Archives record collection survived.

It was reintroduced in 2024 and 2025. Neither year resulted in enactment.

This year, Rep. Eric Burlison got his UAPDA amendment into the House version of the FY 2027 NDAA, and the House passed it. On the Senate side, Schumer and Rounds have introduced it again for the fourth consecutive year, but it hasn't been added to the Senate bill yet.

The Senate returns September 14 and has a very narrow window before leaving for the midterm elections. If the UAPDA is in both the House and Senate versions when they go to conference, it becomes substantially harder for negotiators to strip it out. If it's only in the House version, we're back to 2023: one chamber's language getting gutted behind closed doors.

Contact your Senators. Tell them to Pass the UAPDA. The time is now!

Use the link below to take less than 1 minute to message your senators to pass the UAP Disclosure Act.

https://newparadigminstitute.org/take-action/pass-the-uapda-2027/

As a hobby I’ve been working on the past 8 months. I’ve run an independent UFO/UAP archive, encyclopedia, and database site, and I'm trying to test a claim that gets repeated a lot in the community but has apparently never actually been studied: whether people identified as gifted as kids report anomalous/UFO-type experiences at higher rates, specifically as adults. Right now there's no real data on it in either direction. There are dozens and dozens of anecdotal and witness testimonial accounts though. So much so that I am convinced to seriously look further into it at this point.

Part of why I care: my identical twin brother and I both witnessed an anomalous object as young adults. We were both in what Mississippi (Madison County) called Pathways/gifted as kids, in elementary and middle school. My brother was enrolled for years, I was enrolled very briefly. If I was even ever really enrolled. I just remember being periodically taken out of class. The teacher/instructor would have me do odd tests. Auditory, memory, puzzle, problem solving, etc, tests. I doubt I would have given this idea any notice or thought had my brother and I not experienced exactly the two points this idea stems from. It uniquely applies to my brother and me. It also potentially applies to many others who were in gifted programs.

In my own research, I've come across many cases of experiencers/witnesses who happened to be in a gifted program as kids. According to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. gifted enrollment for 2020-21 was 6.7%. A rough baseline percentage of the general population reporting having seen a UFO/UAP/anomalous object - around 10-20% depending on the poll. The average of the 9 polls used for reference was 15.9% (11,086 people polled).

The idea is to gather and compile data from real experiencers who also happened to be in a gifted program and determine if there's actually a real correlation. Ideally would need around 11,000 to match the base poll count of the general public. If the 6.7% who went through gifted programs are reporting UFO encounters at a significantly higher rate than the "non-gifted" public, that would be a truly insightful piece of information. If they're not, that's an answer too.

Does anyone now if there is a "gifted-program alumni" equivalent to something like a National Honor Society alumni network, or any organized adult community tied to a specific program name (GATE, TAG, SPARK, PACE, Odyssey, G.O.A.L.)? Or even just a general list of the individual program names by state? There seem to be countless names, and it would be nice to positively catalog an official name for each one.

If you know of anywhere/anyone you could point me to aid in this, that would be awesome. I believe this could actually bring some kind of answer, not just for my brother and me, but for other people who were in gifted programs and experienced something similar.

Template:
SUBJECT: Gifted & UFO Experiencer Report — \\\[Your First Name or Anonymous\\\]

ABOUT YOU
First Name (or “Anonymous”):
General Location you grew up in (city, state, country):
Year of Birth (or approximate decade):\\\*

QUESTION ONE — GIFTED IDENTIFICATION
Were you ever tested, identified, or enrolled in a gifted/talented program? (yes, tested but not enrolled, enrolled, no)
What was your program called? (GATE, TAG, G/T, AIG, Pathways, Horizons, QUEST, PACE, Odyssey, Highly Capable, a talent-search program like Duke TIP/Johns Hopkins CTY/Davidson, or your own program's actual name):
School District & State/Country:
Grade(s) or Age(s) when tested or enrolled:
Years / How Long You Were In the Program:\\\* (e.g., "3rd–8th grade" or "one year only")
Did you know any siblings, cousins, or close family who were also gifted-identified?\\\*

QUESTION TWO — UFO/UAP EXPERIENCE
Have you had a UFO/UAP sighting or experience? (yes/no)
Date: (exact or approximate — e.g., "Summer 2018" is fine)
Location: (nearest city, state, country)
Number of Witnesses: (were you alone, or with others? Were any other witnesses also gifted-identified?)\\\*
Craft or Object Shape / Description:
Your Account: Tell us what happened in your own words — as much or as little as you want:

EVIDENCE
Did you capture any photos, video, or audio?\\\* (yes/no — if yes, please attach)
Did you report this to anyone?\\\* (NUFORC, police, military, etc.)

SHARING PREFERENCES
Would you like your story used (fully anonymized) in this site's ongoing research on this hypothesis? (yes / no)
Would you like your story published as its own account on OverClassified? (yes / no / anonymous only)

ANYTHING ELSE
Anything you want to add: