How math helped debunk this UFO video

From the creator

Boston University space physicist Joshua Semeter was part of an independent panel NASA convened in 2022 to study data related to UFOs, sometimes called unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs. PBS News' Casey Kuhn spoke to Semeter about how he used math to explain why one widely-seen UAP video called "GO FAST" was likely an optical illusion. “The type of math we apply is not graduate school-level math, but it's also probably a little beyond high school math,” Semeter said, explaining the trigonometry he used when analyzing the “GO FAST” video. Semeter used the data displayed in the video that the military jet captured along with the mysterious object. By taking those numbers and putting them into a trigonometric equation, he came up with an answer to show why the object looked like it was moving so fast. Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show. Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6 Follow us: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews X: http://www.twitter.com/newshour Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour

Published 2025-04-25 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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