A video purporting to show a bizarre jellyfish-like unidentified flying object (UFO) over a U.S. joint operations base in Iraq has internet users scratching their heads over what it could be.
The footage, released by journalist Jeremy Corbell this week, was apparently filmed by the U.S. military in 2018 and, according to Corbell, the object seen in the video has been officially designated a UAP — unknown aerial phenomenon — by the Pentagon.
So far, the Pentagon has not publicly weighed in or released a formal statement about the footage.
In a detailed description on X (formerly Twitter), Corbell writes that the video was captured using a thermographic/forward-looking infrared radar.
The “incursion,” as Corbell describes it, shows the object quickly changing colour from black to white as it glides over the military base, indicating a rapidly changing temperature.
Corbell says the object, which resembles a jellyfish with tentacles hanging down, moved through “a sensitive military operation” before submerging in a nearby body of water where it remained for 17 minutes. Then, he claims, the object reemerged from the water and disappeared at a high rate of speed.
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Dr. Matthew Szydagis, a physics professor at the University of Albany, told News Nation that the thing that stands out the most to him about the video is how quickly the object’s colour changes throughout the duration of the video, insisting it’s not possible for any known objects to change temperature that fast.
“That implies either a camera artifact, that it’s not really changing temperature that quickly, or it implies some sort of signature management, which would then beg the question if you have that ability, why wouldn’t you just stay invisible?” Szydagis said. “It asks a lot of questions without very many answers right now.”
The “camera artifact” he refers to could be a smudge on the lens, but Szydagis says it’s an unlikely explanation because “when you look at the video carefully, you can actually see that the object changes in size with the zoom,” he said. “You also see the camera reticle, sort of the central four marks on the camera, will be changing position relative to the object.”
However, Szydagis says it’s not possible to come to a conclusion about what the object could be without more context. He said more information about the event is needed and more footage from different angles would be helpful.
Nevertheless, the video has attracted all kinds of outlandish theories and observations from curious onlookers.
“It’s so strange how the object changes from being clearly visible in infrared to nearly invisible, almost like it’s somehow regulating itself to disguise it from the camera watching it,” observed one commentator on YouTube.
“Until proven otherwise, I am convinced that some of these strange looking UAP’s are actual life forms from a neighbouring reality that slip into our perception from time to time,” mused another.
Others shared their own stories of similar sightings over the years.
“I’ve been looking for years for a jellyfish-like UAP because this is what my kids reported to have seen over our house in Vancouver 20 years ago!” wrote one Canadian.
“My wife and I saw it over Damascus, Syria, in the late afternoon of August 2023. At first, we thought it was a plastic bag carried up by a hot air current. However, its consistent trajectory and stable shape ruled out the possibility of it being a plastic bag. Furthermore, it moved steadily southward. It had a bright white colour,” another person shared.
Corbell, along with fellow UFO journalist George Knapp, have a history of leaking UFO footage to the public. In many of those instances, the Pentagon has responded by verifying the authenticity and accuracy of the duo’s reports.
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