Indian Army 'UFOs' in Ladakh
Indian troops on the Chinese border logged hundreds of moving lights near Pangong Tso, feared to be Chinese drones; astronomers sent by the army identified Jupiter and Venus.
2013 CE · 33.90, 78.60 · status: explained
The account
Between August 2012 and February 2013 soldiers at Thakung near Pangong Lake reported 329 sightings of luminous objects rising over the Chinese side. The army asked the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore for help, and its astronomers concluded the lights were the bright planets Jupiter and Venus, made vivid by the thin high-altitude air. A further sighting at Lagan Khel in Demchok was reported in August 2013, and Defence Minister A. K. Antony told Parliament there was no conclusive proof of UFOs.
The sceptical view
A clear example of trained observers misreading planets, especially when primed to expect intruders.
Connections in the atlas
- CIA report: lights over Ladakh, Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan
- Kongka La 'UFO base' rumour
- Imphal airport UFO