Pentagon

Releases secret film on strange star – the theory

Johan Edgar

Published 2026-05-08 23.53

The eight-pointed star moves back and forth in the military's infrared camera.

The video clip comes from the Pentagon's newly released UFO files.

But expert Sean Kirkpatrick has a theory – and is critical of the whole spectacle.

"With these new documents and videos, people can decide for themselves WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON".

This is what Donald Trump writes on Truth Social after the Department of Defense on Friday executed his order to publish the government's collection of unexplained UFO recordings from mainly the American military.

At least parts of it.

Eight-pointed star

In the first round, 162 documents, photos and films have been released.

Several images show black and white images of flying objects. The documents also include FBI reports and NASA transcripts from manned space flights.

The response in the American media has been relatively lukewarm.

“The first files are blurry images that could represent anything,” begins The New York Times, for example.

But a video clip that has received a lot of attention on social media shows an eight-pointed star that appears to be floating around in the sky.

The film was taken by an “infrared sensor aboard a military platform,” according to the Pentagon.

 

A total of 162 documents, images and films have been released by the Pentagon.

The expert’s theory

“This video shows a contrasting area that resembles an eight-pointed star with arms of varying lengths,” writes the Pentagon on the special website it has launched for ufophiles.

The video is one minute and 46 seconds long and was taken in 2013 at an unknown location in the Middle East.

The Department of Defense has called the incident “unexplained.”

But Sean Kirkpatrick, former head of the Pentagon’s department that investigates unexplained flying phenomena, has a simple theory for the star video.

“It’s probably nothing more than a hot jet engine creating a diffraction pattern in the camera,” he tells the AP.

Sean Kirkpatrick has his own theory about the phenomenon. Photo: NASA

“Feeding Conspiracy Theories”

Such a pattern is an optical phenomenon that occurs when bright light hits the camera’s sensor, which can sometimes appear as star shapes.

Kirkpatrick tells the AP that there is nothing unexpected in the new UFO footage and warns that without further analysis, the material “will only fuel more speculation, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience from couch potatoes.”

Swedish UFO expert Clas Svahn is also unimpressed by the publication.

– So, I think they have taken a bit too much maybe. Many people say that they are doing this to hide what is happening in Iran and so on now. And I can't judge that properly. But it is clear that when it comes to Donald Trump, you never really know for sure, Svahn told Aftonbladet on Friday.

          UFO expert Clas Svahn . Photo: Stefan Svensson

Pentagon: No analysis

– But these images really say nothing.

"This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of the description as an analytical judgment, an investigative conclusion or a fact-based determination of the validity, nature or significance of the described event," the Pentagon writes on the UFO website.

“These files, hidden behind classified information, have long fueled legitimate speculation – and it is time for the American people to see it for themselves,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement.

         

 

        Photo: AP