Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke June 21, 2023

UFO? No. That bright light in Las Vegas was a meteor

If Your Time is short

  • NASA told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that a recent bright light that some residents confused with a possible UFO sighting was a meteor and the photos showing the light are old. 
 

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, unless it's a rumor about a supposed UFO landing there. That’ll go viral. 

"Unprecedented UFO landing shrouds Las Vegas, Nevada in mystery," read the headline of a June 16 blog post. It showed two photos and went on to claim that UFOs descended from the sky. One photo showed an orb arcing across what looks like sky; the other showed something glowing behind clouds. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

First, those photos aren’t from a recently reported UFO landing in Nevada. The first image has been online for more than a year, while the other showed a 2004 photo taken by a retired Royal Air Force officer in Sri Lanka. 

Featured Fact-check

So what of that "bright beam of light recently spotted plummeting through the darkness" that was captured May 1 on a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer’s body camera? It was a meteor, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported

Sign up for PolitiFact texts

NASA’s Planetary Defense Office told the newspaper the flash of light "certainly" was not a UFO. 

We rate claims of an unprecedented UFO landing in Las Vegas False.

 

Our Sources

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Ciara O'Rourke

UFO? No. That bright light in Las Vegas was a meteor

Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!

In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.

Sign me up