Humans’ learning about nuclear concepts that led to nuclear energy and nuclear bombs was one of the most important turning points in human history.

This represented the first time that humanity started ‘playing’ with technology that could literally destroy our whole species (not to mention the whole world). In addition, nuclear technology meant the potential for almost limitless clean energy, even if we haven’t yet taken full advantage.

So, if nuclear technology is such an important point in our evolution, it would make sense if aliens (if they exist) would take an interest.

Since the earliest days of nuclear testing and development, there have been reports of strange lights and unidentified objects up in the atmosphere around nuclear facilities. A group of researchers decided to gather up all the data on this subject (there is a lot) and put it together to try to see if it could be determined what was really causing the unidentified aerial phenomena.

The study was published in Scientific Reports, and while they definitely cannot confirm that it was aliens, they also can’t completely rule it out.

The team looked at transient ‘star-like’ objects that were reported or even seen in images, often taken from cameras at these facilities. The Vanishing & Appearing Sources During a Century of Observations project has been around since 2017, working on compiling all of these reports.

In the paper, the team writes:

“These short-lived transients (lasting less than one exposure time of 50 min) have point spread functions and are absent in images taken shortly before the transients appear and in all images from subsequent surveys. In some cases multiple transients appear in a single image, exhibiting characteristics not easily accounted for by prosaic explanations (e.g., gravitational lensing, gamma ray bursts, fragmenting asteroids, plate defects).”

Given the fact that this all happened over half a century ago makes it hard to identify exactly where the lights or sightings came from. The researchers wrote in the paper:

“From 1951 until the launch of Sputnik in 1957, at least 124 above-ground nuclear tests were conducted by the United States (US), Soviet Union, and Great Britain. In some circumstances, nuclear radiation is known to cause a visible glow (i.e., Cherenkov radiation). […] Consistent with this concept, glowing ‘fireballs’ in the sky were reported in multiple instances to occur shortly after nuclear tests in locations where significant nuclear fallout was expected.”

There is no confirmed explanation for these events. Not surprisingly, many will say that they could be either aliens or drones sent by aliens to investigate the fact that humans have entered a nuclear age.

Another option is that nuclear tests could cause an atmospheric phenomenon that is not yet fully understood. Since nuclear tests are pretty rare (thankfully), it is not something that is easy to study.

While they may not know what caused these types of signings, it does seem clear that something happened around the nuclear testing sites during that time period, given all the evidence.

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