
The US government is still unable to explain around five per cent of UFO sightings in its archives.

Now one team of ‘alien hunters’ has dug up some of the best images to see if the public can shed light on the eerie glows, mysterious orbs and flying objects from the last few decades.

Among them is a remarkable 1957 photo taken by a test pilot near Edwards Air Force Base in California, allegedly showing a UFO following a B-47 jet.

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In 1957 this picture was taken by a test pilot near Edwards Air Force Base in California. It shows a UFO allegedly following a B-47 jet

Another, released by the Aerial Phenomena Group, shows three mysterious lights over the Manhattan skyline taken in 1984. It was taken by Philipe Orego from New Jersey, and researchers could find no sign of a hoax at the time.

‘A UFO picture tells a thousand lies,’ Nigel Watson author of the UFO Investigations Manual told DailyMail.com

‘The basic problem is that if a UFO photograph is taken in daylight and looks close, clear and sharp, you suspect it is a fake.

‘If it is out-of-focus, distant and hard to define, then it can be a picture of anything in the sky - from an insect, bird to a balloon or drone.

‘The pictures here don’t seem to be faked but each has its own story to tell. With old pictures, blobs or spots can appear due to the way the film is developed or mishandled in the processing stage. ‘

On the right is an image taken by Felippe Orego showing three lights over the Manhattan skyline, New York, on May 9, 1984. The left image, allegedly showing a UFO, was taken in Ward, Colorado in 1929

Searchlights focus on an unidentified object over Los Angeles on February 25, 1942. The bright dots around the flashes are anti-aircraft shells exploding

The picture on the left was taken on New Year's Day in 1939 with unidentified object appearing in the top left. The right image shows a picture of a UFO taken somewhere in the US on June 10, 1964, and was discovered in an attic a number of years later

Watson said that a good case to illustrate this point is the image of the UFO over Los Angeles.

In February 1942, fears of a Japanese air raid and invasion struck LA. On 23 February, a Japanese submarine allegedly shelled the Elwood Oil Field near Goleto, north of Los Angeles.

In the early hours of 25 February, a fleet of mystery aircraft were seen heading for the city.

Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall reported in a memorandum to President Roosevelt dated 26 February 1942 that as many as 15 airplanes may have been involved.

Although 1430 rounds were expended by the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade’s anti-aircraft guns no aircraft was hit or shot down and no bombs were dropped by the aircraft.

The only conclusion was that commercial aircraft were used by enemy agents to determine the location of anti-aircraft guns and to spread alarm.

‘This invasion scare became the subject of Steven Spielberg’s high-rolling comedy movie ‘1941’ (1979) that shows how fear ensnares people in a web of obsession and conflict fuelled by rumours and the media,’ said Watson.

‘The lasting evidence of the craft was a photograph of a ‘wigwam’ of searchlights converging on an unidentified aircraft over Culver City.’

An analysis by UFO expert Dr Bruce Maccabee suggests that the object caught by the searchlight beams was 100 feet wide.

In the summer of 1966, a flight official photographed two red spheres over the Swiss airport Zurich-Kloten. The photo was later released by Swiss Air pilot Ferdinand Schmid

On the left, Jack LeMonde, who served with the US Marine Corp, was photographed on horseback near the Pickwick Riding stables in Burbank, California on a June morning in 1945. A UFO can be see in the image to the right of the horse's ear. On the right a passenger on a plane from Hong Kong to southwest China claimed to have seen a 'UFO like flying object' outside the window of the plane in 2012

Four brightly glowing, unidentified objects appeared in the sky at 9:35 am.on July 15, 1952 over a parking lot in Salem, Massachusetts

CRITERIA USED BY THE US CONDON COMMITEE ON UFO SIGHTINGS The US Condon Committee examined many UFO photographs, and concluded that such cases should be selected and analysed according to the following criteria: How clear is the photograph? Does it present evidence of something unusual after astronomical, meteorological, photographic and optical effects are ruled out? Could it be to misinterpretation? Are light and shadows in the photograph consistent? If a film camera is used, has the negative been tampered with? Is the sharpness and focus of the picture in agreement with the visual observations? Are the time intervals of a set of photographs consistent with the witness testimony? Does the focus and contrast agree with the given distance of the object? Can the size and distance of the UFO be discerned with reference to objects either in front of, or behind the UFO? Advertisement

Steven Lacey, another UFO believer, using Photoshop cleared up the image to reveal an image of a classic flying saucer.

This made him conclude that this image is ‘a very convincing argument for the presence of alien craft in our skies.’

‘In contrast, aviation historian Brett Holman puts forward a convincing case that the searchlights are converging on a small cloud rather than a UFO or extra-terrestrial battlecruiser,’ said Watson.

‘And, he has found other examples of antiaircraft searchlights illuminating clouds that look like flying saucers.

‘A UFO picture certainly says more than a thousand words, but it still depends on our prejudices and expectations to decide whether it depicts something extraordinary or mundane.’

A number of 'closed' cases were also recently revealed by the US government who opened its files into 12,000 encounters with UFOs spanning between 1947-1969.

Microfilms of these cases, collectively known as Project Blue Book, have become available for anyone to view online.

One of the most famous is the Lubbock Lights incident, which was reported on August 30, 1951 in Texas by three professors.

The witnesses were sitting in the backyard of one of the professor's homes when they saw 20 to 30 'lights' fly overhead.

One of the professors said the objects 'appeared to be about the size of a dinner plate and they were greenish-blue, slightly fluorescent in colour.

'They were smaller than the full moon at the horizon. There were about a dozen to fifteen of these lights...they were absolutely circular...it gave all of us...an extremely eerie feeling.'

The USAF concluded that these lights were most likely caused by birds named plovers, which have white breasts that can reflect lights from cities below.

Another image, titled simply 'Winter 1951', shows what the photographer believed to be a flying saucer.

However, scientists discovered that the eerie shape was a lenticular cloud which are created by moist air that has condensed at a high altitude.

The Lubbock Lights incident was reported August 30, 1951 in Texas. The USAF said that these lights were most likely caused by birds named plovers, whose white breasts could reflect lights from the city below

This image, titled simply 'Winter 1951', was taken in New Zealand. While the photographer believed this to be a flying saucer, the USAF concluded that it was in fact a lenticular cloud. The lens-shaped formations are the result of moist air that has condensed at a high altitude