THIS is the eerie moment a bizarre orb-shaped object was caught on camera flying over New York.
The unusual object was captured on film by a television helicopter which was rolling its cameras at the time.
In the short clip, a small object whizzes over the Hudson River and past Lower Manhattan.
Initially, the UFO-like object appeared to be white or even translucent but as it got closer to the chopper and arced away from it, it appeared to turn blue and opaque.
The speed it appears to move is much faster than anything else in the clip or anything you would expect to be flying that low.
Of course, as viewers begin to speculate what the object is, attention has turned to the idea that it is an object not of this world.
On Facebook one viewer wrote: “I used to see one time around Hudson River. And exactly that colour.
“Appeared and disappeared like alternating.”
“Alien invasion before January 20,” another said, noting the date of Donald Trump‘s inauguration into the White House.
One just simply posted an alien emoji.
But, others, including UFO experts, have started doubting this theory.
Avi Loeb, a theoretical physician, cosmologist and Harvard professor believes the so-called flying orb is part of the camera.
He told the New York Post: “This is most likely an optical artefact from the helicopter glass in front of the camera.
“Namely a bright spot from the reflection of sunlight as the camera gradually changes its orientation relative to the sun and the ground.
“But even if it was a real object, the apparent speed is of an order the speed of sound and not extraordinary.”
This is a theory many other viewers of the video came up with.
The ‘Night of the UFOs’ is among many famous unexplained encounters with strange objects in the sky that have happened down the years.
Perhaps the most striking was a video known as the ‘Tic-Tac’ – which showed an unidentified object being pursued by fighter planes.
While flying off the coast of California 2004, two pilots from the USS Nimitz on a routine training mission spotted an object “shaped like a 40ft Tic Tac sweet”.
Then in 2005, a veteran pilot of an F/A – 18 fighter aircraft witnessed a raft of strange objects in the sky during a training exercise off the coast of Florida.
The two videos were sensationally released by the Pentagon in 2017.
Tragically the pursuit of UFOs has also claimed lives, notably that of US Air Force Captain Thomas Mantell.
He died after being sent to chase a mysterious object in his fighter aircraft in 1948.
Other encounters with the air force include a claim that UFOs disabled weapons at a nuclear base.
Captain Robert Salas said the bizarre incident unfolded in 1967 while he was the on-duty commander of a secret underground launch control facility at Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base.
US forces based in Britain also had an encounter with a strange glowing in the sky in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk.
Two airmen, Staff Sgt Jim Penniston and Airman John Burroughs, claim they got so close to a triangular craft they actually touched it.
Earlier this year, US military documents were released showing how a warship was shadowed by two “ball of light” UFOs deepening the mystery around the case.
“A helicopter with blue water, blue sky and glass buildings reflecting off of it,” one wrote on Facebook.
“Lens flare zooming past NYC accidentally caught on film by local news chopper,” another said on X.
Others claimed it could have been a drone or a balloon.
“Maybe somebody’s private drone was made to look like something else,” one viewer suggested.
“That makes the most sense if it’s not a balloon.”
A representative from the local news channel that filmed the clip told the Post that they do not know when the footage was recorded but confirmed it had not been edited.
Another source from the news outlet claimed that it was a drone that appeared to be moving at high speeds due to that of the chopper.
Earlier this month, Congress heard a Pentagon whistleblower’s bombshell testimony at a major hearing about UFO cases.
