It’s not every day you see a UFO, and many people could quite comfortably say they’ve never spotted something in the sky that couldn’t be rationally explained.
Still, New York may be one of the best places to start if you’re looking for Martians or flying saucers. According to data collected by the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), users have submitted a whopping 66 sightings in 2025 so far.
The data is available for anybody to view on the NUFORC website, and sightings can be viewed by location. There’s even a world map showing report density. The busiest UFO hotspots appear to be in the eastern states across the US. London in the UK seems to be another active area for sightings.
Interestingly, many of the reports for New York are soberingly honest. One from Ridge explains they saw a “sparkling ball of light” appear out of nowhere. They also admit it could have been a firework, although they didn’t see anyone nearby to light one.
Another sighting in Cohoes describes a sphere hovering in the distance, although they say it was possibly a drone. Another attributes their sighting to regular aircraft, albeit a fast one.
Others, like one submitted from Painted Post, even include pictures. “On May 2, around 8:30ish pm, I observed a black disc-shaped object flying in a perfectly straight line across the sky,” one user recalls. “It moved at a constant speed, made no sound, had no lights, and showed no fluctuation or wobble—unlike any bird, drone, or conventional aircraft.
What Is The National UFO Reporting Center?
According to the website, the NUFORC has existed since 1974 and was founded by a UFO investigator named Robert J. Gribble. “The Center’s primary function over the past five decades has been to receive, record, and to the greatest degree possible, corroborate and document reports from individuals who have been witness to unusual, possibly UFO-related events,” the page explains.
NUFORC claims they have processed over 180,000 reports since the center’s inception. The website has reportedly existed since 1995. Before then, reports were handled via phone calls and mail.