Don't come to Houston to see UFOs
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The Houston metro area had 15 UFO sightings per 100,000 residents between 2000 and 2023, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick, Erin Davis and Alice Feng report from National UFO Reporting Center data.
- That's compared to the national average of 34.3 sightings per 100,000 residents.
- By comparison, Lincoln County, Nevada — home to Area 51 — had the most of any U.S. county, with 820.9 per 100,000 residents.
The intrigue: Houston ranked last among major U.S. metros for the rate of sightings.
- Houstonians reported just 1,103 instances of UFO sightings in that time frame.
The intrigue: UFO reports spiked when SpaceX's Starlink satellites — which can look like a train streaking across the night sky — were first launched in 2019 and 2020, says Christian Stepien, the National UFO Reporting Center's chief technology officer.
Yes, but: That's less the case now, he says, as more people learn what Starlink looks like.
💠Jay's thought bubble: I didn't know it at the time, but I once witnessed a Starlink launch and indeed was dazed and confused at the sight.
The bottom line: Despite rising public acceptance of UFO chatter, there's still no proof that we're being visited by extraterrestrials.
- But the truth, as they say, is out there.