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By Ian Gustafson

Alien spotting

UFO sightings during northern lights display sparks conversation

Oct 30, 2024 | 5:09 PM

Have you ever wondered if we’re not alone in the universe and beyond?

Maybe you know we’re not or you’re still trying to decide, but interest in alien life, at least by those in Alberta, was recently reignited after an orb was spotted in the sky outside Andrew, Alta. during the northern lights display a few weeks ago.

The incident was reported on Enigma Labs, a UFO sightings data network based out of the U.S. They also reported 1,197 UFO sighting submissions in Canada on their network over the past few months.

This marked a total of 14,527 UFO sightings in Canada reported by Enigma, which is the second most on their network behind the United States.

Alejandro Rojas, a UFO expert at Enigma based out of Arizona, told rdnewsNOW that sightings usually coordinate with population.

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“Wherever there’s more people, there’s more sightings,” he said. “There’s also outreach; for example, who knows about us and who knows where to report. We have enough connections in Canada that Canadians often participate.”

Enigma allows the public to upload pictures and videos of UFOs across the world which is used by researchers and scientists. It also allows for community scientists and the rest of the users to crowd analyze the sightings. The data collected is from those reported by the public but also through historical databases.

“We’ve found that the northern lights in particular caused a lot of sighting reports and really it’s because people are outside looking at the sky for an extended period of time,” he added.

“When they do that, often they see something they can’t explain.”

Often UFOs seen by people can vary in shape and size but Rojas said there are more frequent types of shapes.

Points of light and spheres are the more common ones reported, which makes sense because people sometimes see what appear to be satellites but are unsure of what they are.

“Those are also some of the most mysterious ones because one of the most frequent types of sightings is seeing what they think is a satellite but then it starts to do something weird like zig zag or speed up,” he said.

One of the most recent reports in Red Deer came in April and August of this year. However, one case was also reported in November 2023.

Red Deer resident Shelby Leclarc said she and her partner have a nightly routine where they’ll watch for satellites and look at the different constellations.

On that night in November she looked up at the sky, and after watching a plane go by she saw multiple moving orange dots in the sky.

They also twinkled like a star but was much more noticeable and moved faster than the plane. The UFO’s were more circular shape and did not make any sound.

“What the heck was that,” Leclarc remembers saying. “Seeing lights you don’t recognize is a little weird. I’ve never seen anything like it since.”

A year ago, David Grusch. a former U.S. intelligence official and whistle blower said at a congressional hearing under oath, that the U.S. government is in possession of non-human space crafts as well as bodies of deceased corpses.

The claims raised many questions and also excitement online and in social media.

Rojas explained that those were just claims without any evidence. However, he did say the government has a lot of secrecy around this topic.

“The manner in which they collect all of that data is classified so they’re not in the best position to share a lot of data with the public,” Rojas said.

“That’s always going to lead to secrecy and speculation about what they know. I haven’t seen any evidence that they really know much.

“I think one thing that’s exciting is that they have admitted they’re having reports of these metallic orb type things. They don’t know what they are and they haven’t figured it out.”