On Jan. 21, at 12:22 a.m. local time, in the silence and darkness of Chile’s Patagonia region, a camera trap used to monitor wildlife for a project run by the University of Magallanes (UMAG) captured, in 2 seconds, three photographs showing intense lights moving downward.
Everyone was baffled.
“On a camera located at the edge of a meadow, quite far from any public road and focused on a flat horizon, some lights appeared that we cannot explain,” biologist Alejandro Kusch said in a UMAG podcast in August. “Apparently, these lights, which are initially distant, approach and remain in front of the camera, dazzling it, in a movement that appears to be descending.”
Kusch is one of the leaders of the Public Baseline project, which uses 65 camera traps distributed between continental Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, on the southern tip of Chile, to record terrestrial animals, particularly felines. Since the project began in November 2023, at least 365,000 images and videos have been collected; however, only these three photographs show this phenomenon.
UMAG shared the images with a variety of organizations, from Chile’s General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (SEFAA)to the La Serena UFO Museum, and to several people who analyze anomalous aerial phenomena.
Potential explanations ranged from an arachnid coming very close to the camera lens to that of a “plasmoid,” a short-lived form of plasma rarely observed in nature that may be behind phenomena such as ball lightning. However, all specialists agreed: for now, there is no conclusive explanation.
This sighting is unique because it was recorded within the framework of a scientific project, said Rodrigo Bravo, a researcher with the Environmental Studies Group (GEA) at UMAG and a member of the Public Baseline project. That means there is no possibility of fraud or manipulation, as the camera traps operate under rigorous protocols and are equipped with an infrared system, motion sensor, and other features that would preclude people tampering with them, he argued.
“This is not the first time these phenomena have been described in the area, but it is the first time they have been recorded in this way,” Bravo told Live Science.
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