Object Near Anchorage May Have Been a Kite, but the Footage Doesn’t Prove It
The compressed video shows movement consistent with a tethered object, but Osborne’s original phone files have not been examined.
On June 15 in Anchorage, Sarah Jane Osborne and her husband filmed a black-and-silver object with dangling strands that disappeared after about three minutes. An analysis of compressed video suggests it may have been a kite or another lightweight object, but no one has confirmed that explanation or proved the object was near a military base.
Black and silver, with strands hanging from it. That’s how Sarah Jane Osborne described the object that hovered for about three minutes over the ridgelines near Anchorage, Alaska. She and her husband, Pete, filmed it at around 10:13 p.m. on June 15 as they tried to capture a rainbow. According to Osborne, the object disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.
The sighting attracted little attention until November 10, when the Daily Mail published a story about it. Since then, it has circulated mainly on social media. Tech Times reported that the object appeared to be headed toward Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, home to Raptor fighter jets. But the fact that the witnesses were looking toward the base does not prove that the object entered military airspace. No distance or radar data confirms its location.
The couple searched the nearby park for someone flying a kite, then drove toward Arctic Valley. After about half an hour, they had found neither an operator nor an explanation. Osborne herself wondered whether the wind was strong enough for a kite.
A website covering unidentified phenomena analyzed a video that had circulated online. The video was very low-resolution, and the object occupied only a few dozen pixels. The analysts said its apparent area remained relatively stable while its outline changed. Those features are consistent with flexible material swaying around a tether point. Winds at Anchorage airport were light to moderate at the time, conditions that could support a kite, but the wind speed where the object was seen is unknown.
The assessment was based on a compressed version of the video, not the original files from Osborne’s phone. It therefore cannot identify the object with certainty. The Pentagon body that investigates unidentified aerial phenomena has identified balloons and birds in other cases, but has made no public determination about this sighting.
The object’s identity, material, and movement are unknown. The conventional explanation is a kite or lightweight balloon, but that has not been confirmed either. For now, it is impossible to determine what the video shows.
Questions & answers
Was the object near the base that houses Raptor fighter jets?
It is unknown. The direction the witnesses were looking does not prove that the object entered military airspace, and no distance or radar data confirms its location.
What did the video analysis find?
The analysis used a compressed, low-resolution version in which the object occupied only a few dozen pixels. Its features were consistent with flexible material tethered at a point, but that is not a confirmed identification.