First Case in 2012

The first possible sighting case to be reported in 2012 was the case of an intriguing photograph, taken in the Carita area, West Java Province. A BETA UFO member reported that a friend of his took the photograph from inside a vehicle, while travelling in the area. The main focus of the photograph is obviously the sea/coastline. 

BETA UFO initial analysis suggested the possibility of the object being a simple smudge left by a sticker on the vehicle’s window, or an insect. However, witnesses supposedly stated that there were no stickers or insects observed on the window when the photograph was taken.

Strange Skyscraper Photographs

It doesn’t happen often that reports of alleged UFO sightings in the country would come from witnesses inside or around skyscrapers. February 2011 saw one of these rare cases, in the Kelapa Gading Sub-District, North Jakarta region, where an unidentified silvery and seemingly spherical object was photographed by 2 different people in the sky near several buildings in the area.

Although not all of the buildings in the February case are actual skyscrapers, it does fit the emerging pattern of sightings in the city’s bustling centers.

October 2010 saw at least 2 other cases in Jakarta. One of which was also supplemented with photographs. These earlier cases seemed to pose the same intriguing possibility that more and more UFOs are actually appearing in the city area, rather than just on the country side.

One could only speculate as to why these UFOs would ‘expose’ themselves in Jakarta’s crowded business center areas, with so much possibility of being sighted and photographed. Did they actually ‘want’ to be seen and photographed?

The main facts of the 2010 reports, as received by BETA UFO, are as follows:

22 October 2010

Location: Standard Chartered Tower building; 31st floor; Jln. Prof. Dr. Satrio; Karet Kuningan Sub-District; South Jakarta region; Jakarta.

Time: 5 PM

Description: A witness, taking photographs from his office window, saw several strange objects appearing in the sky. One of the object looked like a Hang Glider/Delta Plane while about 6 others looked like black dots. The ‘Hang Glider-like’ object was observed moving upward & disappeared into the gathering storm clouds while the ‘dots’ seemed to moved away from the witness’ view.

26 October 2010

Location: The 21st floor of an unknown office building in Kemayoran District; Central Jakarta region; Jakarta (exact location unknown).

Time: 1 PM

Description: A witness took some pictures from the 21st floor window of an office building. Some of the photographs supposedly showed at least 12 strange objects hovering in the sky. When the photographs were zoomed they allegedly showed objects shaped like a rocket, a sphere & a Saturn-like sphere, with legs protruding from underneath it.

Strange Lights in Bandung

On June 22 strange light orbs-like objects were witnessed in the eastern sky of Bandung City, West Java Province, by a single witness. The objects were said to be stationary & was visible in the clear sky for 2 to 3 hours long, but no one else has so far reported sighting the same objects. The witness also took several photographs of the objects as can be seen below. BETA UFO has so far put this sighting into its unexplained file for 2010.

Updates on The October 24th Sighting

The October 24th sighting in Tangerang Regency, Banten Province (practically a suburb of the Greater Jakarta area) intrigued me so much that I decided to contact the photographer/witness. His explanation seemed to shed some lights on what the objects might have been.

Firstly, he admitted of shaking his hands quite a lot while making the photographs. The fuzziness of the lights in the photographs was therefore not due to of any kind of maneuvers from the objects themselves. They just flew by in the sky.

Secondly, he also admitted that the objects look more like light spots. In fact, the man pointed to one of the photos in my older posts (Photographic evidence cases from 2008) as something that resembled what he saw that night. Strange thing is, he hasn’t yet confirmed exactly which photo he is referring to. My assumption is it’s this photo below (Taken in Jakarta, showing -according to the photographer- four blinking lights that basically 'hung motionless' in the sky).

Now that photo above is definitely no Chinese lantern. However, I have also found a Youtube video (watch below) -courtesy of a friend's sharp eye- that showed orange lights passing through the sky (I think it was in Lincoln, U.K.) almost the same as the objects photographed in Tangerang on October 24th. They looked quite similar, especially with the shaky hands of the video grapher. More importantly are the comments that people give for the video – that the objects are nothing more than Chinese lanterns.

Case closed? Probably so…, don't you think?

UFO(?) Over Serangan Island, Bali – August 2010

On August 26th, BETA UFO chairman, Bayu Amus took an intriguing picture while trying to photograph some storks near his office complex in Bali. One of the photo turned out to have a strange object, up in the ‘background’ sky (see photo and zoomed object below).

The photo was taken with a shutter speed of 1/500 seconds and showed –according to the photographer- a tinge of purple and green that is not present in other shots taken at the same spot. The object is suspected to be 'hovering/flying' somewhere above Serangan island, to the southeast of Bali Island.

October 24th – More Sightings in Jakarta’s Suburb

Just as I thought there won’t be any other ‘sighting’ to file for a while, the BETA UFO mailing list went buzzing with another possible case. This time, reported by nationwide TV channel SCTV (‘’Liputan 6’ news program), the case is said to be a sighting of dozens of strange aerial objects in Tangerang Regency, Banten Province (in the suburbs of Jakarta) on October 24th. The news coverage (with no actual video or photos) revealed that there were allegedly 25 objects seen flying slowly pass the sky at around 7:30 PM. The event lasted for about 30 minutes watched by dozens of residents from their homes as well as those driving by on nearby streets. The report also suggested that most of the witnesses agreed that those objects could not be airplanes and that some also concluded them as possible UFOs.

Well, that wasn’t very interesting for me until someone in the mailing list updated the news with a link to a witness’ website – complete with photos of the objects (some of the photos can be seen at the end of this text). The witness said, the sighting lasted for about 45 to 50 minutes. He also said that the objects were glowing with a yellowish red and orange color, and were moving in particular formations through the sky, wave after wave of it. Interestingly enough, he also suggested the possibility of the objects being Chinese lanterns. Nevertheless, he also went on questioning how could Chinese lanterns make such strange formations in the first place?

A BETA UFO researcher commented that the way the objects move slowly, wave after wave, is indicative of Chinese lanterns. No explanation has been offered for their particular formations though.

Could it be nothing more than Chinese lanterns?

Public Sighting in Downtown Jakarta, September 2010

Just a few days prior to the UFO sighting in NYC, on October 13, a somewhat similar event occur in downtown Jakarta. On September 28, two freelance journalist hanging out at Plaza Semanggi Shopping Mall on Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta spotted (along with several dozens other people) several strange, colorful lights in the sky. The video that they -fortunately- made of the phenomena was then sent and aired by a local TV channel (RCTI) as can be seen in the video below.

The National Space and Aviation Agency (LAPAN) has since been contacted by the TV channel and -as can be seen in the video- stated their conclusion that this phenomenon could be nothing more than balloons or kites or simple reflections of airplane lights..BETA UFO has so far rejected such simplistic explanation. Especially since witnesses all agreed that the strange objects were moving and forming formations in the sky.

Lens Flare and the Media Hype

June 2010 also saw a rather interesting 'thread' in the BETA UFO mailing list. This time it was taken from another thread on one of the country's 'biggest' online forum, Kaskus. A member of the said forum uploaded two photographs allegedly taken on June 12 at the newly built Suramadu bridge, that connect the city of Surabaya with the island of Madura. In the photos, are seen several 'UFO-like' shapes in the sky near the bridge which -according to the photographer- were not seen before the photographs were taken. The original photos themselves were not very clear until another forum member helped to 'emphasize' the objects in question as can be seen below.

The photos has since attracted quite a lot of attention, particularly on the grounds of the photographer's belief that he those objects are indeed UFO, and sparked a lot of discussion both on the original Kaskus forum as well as in BETA UFO's mailing-list. One of the primary conclusion reached in the BETA UFO discussions is that the photo is nothing more than a lens flare effect.

Strangely enough, the photo then sparked the media's ongoing interest and hype over anything 'mysterious' or 'uncanny'. BETA UFO was contacted to state its conclusion on the said photos in August, for a Jakarta-based TV station's afternoon program. Guess what? Not long after that, someone finally came to the Kaskus forum to show, with two very clear photos seen below, that it is INDEED a simple lens flare effect.

I guess the interest on UFO's has indeed grown by leaps and bounds in the country, but the media's 'warped' approach to it all (most interest in the UFO-related phenomena are currently shown by celebrity gossip programs, for crying out loud) hardly promised a better understanding of the phenomena.

Strange aerial phenomena in Ancol, North Jakarta

The photos displayed are taken by a photo hobbyist in Ancol beach, North Jakarta on November 1 at around 06:49 AM. The photo of the strange aerial phenomena was first reported to the BETA UFO group on November 3 while the photos (including the cropped ones) were e-mailed a few days later.

According to the photographer, the photos were made while he was out hunting for good scenery to photograph, using a Canon EOS 400D camera with a shutter speed of 1/100 seconds. The photographer said he was also standing with the sun at his back when the photos were taken.


Out of the many photos he had taken, only two frames showed the strange aerial phenomena. The photographer also didn’t notice it until he uploaded the photos days later.


So far, BETA UFO’s analysis of the photos is that the object captured in the photos is probably not a UFO. The group’s experts in photographic analysis suggest it might be a bug or even a speck of dust that flew right in front of the camera and reflected the blitz light. It is, however, still open to other analyses.

Indonesian Sightings 2008 : The Photographic Evidence Case Files

Jakarta, Cipinang Baru road, East Jakarta district, January 5th 2008. A reddish star-like object, seen flying a west-northeast course by 3 witnesses. The long arrow is supposed to point out the object's flight path as well as the object itself (at the end of the arrow) while the smaller arrow points out an electrical pole. Unfortunately, the low quality of the photo does make it problematic to see anything peculiar.

Jakarta, Kembangan Utara Sub-District, West Jakarta region, January 19th 2008. Seen by 3 witnesses (husband, wife & their 8 year old child). No actual photos were taken (artist sketch is provided by BETA UFO) but all 3 witnesses testify that the strange craft was box-shaped and moving slowly overhead when they saw it.

Photographed by 'EA', a commercial flight pilot that (according to BETA UFO) wished to stay anonymous, during a drive to Pacitan city, East Java Province, on March 23rd 2008. The photo shown here has been cropped and enhanced by BETA UFO for analysis. Original size photo can be seen on the BETA UFO website (under sightings, 2008).

The area around Darma dam, West Java Province, on April 5th 2008. The object (originally three in number) which is highlighted by a red arrrow in the photo, was witnesses by 2 youth doing a cross country tracking around the area. Witnesses also claimed that 2 of the 3 UFO's seemed to have landed in a nearby hill.

Photographed with an old Sony Ericsson S 700 HP, on April 12th 2008. The object was seen & photographed by a single witness, in the Karawaci area, which is part of the Tangerang Regency, Banten Province, Java island.

Photo taken in the Ponorogo, East Java Province area, on April 13th 2008, at around 9 in the morning. Photo taken by the same 'EA' that took the photo in Pacitan, on March 23rd 2008. He believed that it is actually the same object.

This photo was taken by 2 brothers in the Pondok Kelapa residential area, east Jakarta, on October 3rd 2008. The object was seen as 4 blinking red spots, that stayed together in a vertical formation, for about 15 to 20 minutes.

This remarkable photo was taken around 6 in the evening, near the city of Tuban, East Java Province, on October 5th 2008. The photo was taken by a Jakartan, on the way home from a traditional Ramadhan family-gathering (mudik), in the ever busy northern Java coastal road (Pantura). The sketch below is made later on as part of the photo's analysis by BETA UFO.