The camera shifts the image to keep a faint spot centered. As the video continues, the spot grows brighter. Then another appears in the upper-right corner, and the camera leaves the first behind and turns toward it.
The video was released to the public after a U.S. office reviewed materials collected in response to a request from members of Congress. It does not reveal what the spots were, but it captures an intriguing moment: a camera tracks one area, then changes direction when another appears. That shift is the whole story, and the description alone cannot tell us what caused it.
First, the Spot in the Center
The video was recorded in November 2020 and runs for nearly five minutes. A user uploaded it at the time to a restricted military computer network, one not open to the public.
The office that reviewed the video is AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), a U.S. office that collected materials related to reports of anomalous phenomena. AARO’s assessment is that the video was likely recorded with a camera that shows differences in heat, aboard a military platform operating in an area under the responsibility of U.S. Central Command.
At the start of the video, the camera repeatedly shifts the image to keep centered an area that is difficult to distinguish from its surroundings. Gradually, the area grows more intense in the image, becoming more prominent as the camera continues to track it.
A New Spot Changes the Camera’s Direction
After more than three minutes, another spot appears in the upper-right corner. It passes through the area the camera is filming at that moment.
Seconds later, the camera shifts from the first spot to the second and continues tracking it. According to the official description, the video shows a clear change in the direction of the camera’s tracking: at first, it keeps the first area centered; later, it keeps the second in the frame.
What Remains Unknown
It is not known what produced the spots or what they show. AARO assesses that the video came from a camera that shows differences in heat, but it does not identify the phenomenon. Some of the collected materials also lacked complete documentation of how they were stored and transferred, making it impossible to verify every step in their handling.