1991 eclipse UFO videos, Mexico City
Amateur videos shot during the total solar eclipse of 11 July 1991 showed a bright point of light that TV journalist Jaime Maussan presented as a UFO, launching a long Mexican UFO wave.
1991 CE · 19.43, -99.13 · status: explained
The account
Mexico City lay in the path of totality on 11 July 1991. Videos showing a bright object near the darkened Sun were aired by Jaime Maussan, whose coverage sparked wide public interest and led to his own long-running TV programmes on UFOs.
The sceptical view
Venus was close to the Sun and became plainly visible during totality; critics say that is what the eclipse videos show. Maussan later promoted several claims that proved to be hoaxes.
The researched reading
Many cameras caught the same bright point during the eclipse: Venus. A media presentation, not the evidence, turned it into a UFO wave.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 92% | Venus was near the eclipsed Sun and became visible in the darkened sky; the point of light in the videos sits where Venus should be. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 2% | Lens flare and camera artefacts explain some odd shapes in the videos. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 2% | Expectation, built by TV, turned a planet into a craft. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | Not a hoax by the filmers, but the TV presentation overstated it. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 2% | Almost nothing remains once Venus is recognised. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 0% | Not needed. |
| Secret human technology | 0% | Not applicable. |
Official position: No official investigation; astronomers identified the light as Venus.
Connections in the atlas
- Metepec 'creature'
- ? Are the "Nazca mummies" non-human beings?
- 'Ovni de las Lomas' video, Mexico City
- Mexican Air Force FLIR video, Campeche