It is my hope that this website, aside from collecting serious reports from astronomers, could serve as a forum for educating the public about human, atmospheric and astrophysical phenomena. Amateur astronomers and societies who receive questions about UFOs and flying saucers could potentially redirect the people to this website.  For this reason I have developed this portion of the website and the reference grid below.  This notwithstanding, I recognise that the information provided below is far from exhaustive and therefore it will be regularly updated. Additional resource suggestions from readers are welcome.

Various studies have shown that three classes of objects or phenomena account for a large majority of misidentifications (greater than 80%): astronomical objects or occurrences, aircraft or balloons. This misidentification stems often from people’s lack of familiarity with the sky, allowing them to be surprised by unexpected appearances and unusual viewing conditions that can turn an ordinary event into an Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena. Belief can also lead to misidentification. When people observe something in the sky that they cannot understand and identify, many choose to believe that this could be something unknown. While many are scientifically curious about what the event could be (planets, meteor, satellite, re-entry…), others are prone to consider a more exotic answer, the possibility of an extra-terrestrial spacecraft.

It is of paramount importance for any UAP research to isolate and exclude any UAP sighting report that could be a simple misidentification of a natural or man-made phenomenon. Although this UAP reporting scheme targets the astronomical community I believe that it is nevertheless valuable to provide specific information on the most common classes of phenomenon generating false UAP reports.

Possible misidentifications have been categorized below as nocturnal (most frequent) and daytime, and under each item and whenever possible the following details have been listed: a general explanation of the item, specific telltale signs and finally a “resource-help” providing links to relevant web-sites where people can further check details and develop their knowledge (e.g. satellite paths, stars/planets charts, characteristics of meteors). Finally two flowcharts of common misidentifications are provided, also split into nocturnal and daytime, as a guide to determine which item or event a sighting most closely resembles, following a series of descriptive clues.

Possible misidentifications have been categorized below as nocturnal (most frequent) and daytime, and under each item and whenever possible the following details have been listed: a general explanation of the item, specific telltale signs and finally a “resource-help” providing links to relevant web-sites where people can further check details and develop their knowledge (e.g. satellite paths, stars/planets charts, characteristics of meteors). Finally two flowcharts of common misidentifications are provided, also split into nocturnal and daytime, as a guide to determine which item or event a sighting most closely resembles, following a series of descriptive clues.