'Star-shaped UFO' video from US Government 'debunked' online

There's a viral video of what appears to be a "star-shaped UFO" stunning people on social media - but it seems to have been debunked and all is not what it seems.

On Friday (8 May), the Pentagon released documents and materials relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs, the modern name for unexplained sightings in the sky) it says have been hidden away for decades.

The release follows comments from Donald Trump about upcoming "very interesting documents" from the Department of Defense.

A newly launched website now hosts the first wave of declassified materials, totalling 162 files that include NASA transcripts and FBI records.

One of the files appears to show a "star-shaped UFO" moving around in different directions very quickly and a smoke trail can be seen. The footage was captured in 2013 and is said to have been taken by an "infrared sensor aboard a US military platform".

However it's claimed that in the left side of the picture, a parachute can be seen being deployed and the star is actually a flare.

On X / Twitter, reacting to the video being 'debunked', one said: "The most interesting 'UFO' is a parachute flare. UFO files appear to be a nothing burger so far but maybe more will be revealed. The Apollo 17 images were interesting."

Another agreed: "There's a lot of clutter in the files, no harm in weeding some of it out."

And a third pointed out: "If the military couldn't identify a parachute and smoke trail from their own flare, I'm really worried."

Elsewhere from Indy100:

• UFO image released by US Government gets absolutely roasted online: 'What the f*** is this'
• Secret UFO records finally go public as Pentagon opens decades of files

How to join the Indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the Indy100 rankings.