It’s out there: Penangite taken with unidentified aerial phenomena

AS the saying goes, is it a bird, is it a plane, it's... well not "superman" but rather what is best described as an alleged unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) incident in Penang.

For infrared photo specialist Annamalai Muthu, there are several captured scenes in the past years to convince him that "something funny" is appearing beyond planet Earth.

He began asking the Internet community about it and then he was introduced to the UAP phenomenon – a rename of what the older generations grew up to believe about unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

What started as an attempt to fiddle with his state-of-the-art telescope with some extra innovations a few years ago has now seen him becoming obsessed with UAP.

And Annamalai says it is not he alone who is baffled. There is a group of budding astronomy enthusiasts who are inclined to question what is hovering about the skies, but Annamalai has taken it a notch higher.

He has approached the media to highlight his findings. 

While realising that his actions may be misinterpreted by society due to the rarity of someone becoming a serious UAP buff here, Annamalai has written and emailed many government agencies, including to the Yang di-Pertua Negri's office, about UAP.

He even wrote to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in the US, the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as many other organisations.

Some of them replied including NASA, who encouraged Annamalai to document and broaden his search for the unknown.

He has even lodged a police report here to underline his seriousness that UAPs may be lurking above the Malaysian skies.

"I may be called weird or insensible but look at what I had captured. It looks mysterious and it looks unreal," he said in an interview.

When told that the shots may represent passing through meteors or the movement of tiny stars, Annamalai disputes it, citing that the speed at which the telescope had captured it, shows that they moved slower than the range of meteors or stars.

It is all in the family also, as even Annamalai's son Arrav and wife Banu have grown curious to see what is behind the type of videos, sights, and sounds as well as still photographs which he had sourced from his innovative telescope.

The telescope is designed to sync with his Apple tablet, which Annamalai has developed.

It is designed as a special telescopic device – using an iPad to power an ultraviolet/infrared space observation telescope

Earlier this year, he convinced Banu to allow him to invest in a newer version of the telescope, so he can better capture the UAP scenes.

He has since shared some of the content with The Vibes here.

Anamalai has shared his curiosity with fellow astronomers – the likes of Istal Zainee Abdul Rahman, Edwin Yusuf Irawan, and Lim Choon Kiat about his findings.

The trio has shared insights with Annamalai on how to best capture the galaxy.

Lim is a renowned stargazer here and he has built a galaxy observatory in Pulau Betong.

Annamalai's devotion to his craft of space photography is evident here through the scenes he has captured.

While most people are asleep, Annamalai would be up around 3am to begin the process of capturing the alleged UAPs on days when the weather is permissible.

His son will also be excited enough to be up although if it is a school day, Annamalai would ensure his son sleeps earlier than usual.

Arrav has hopes for space exploration, even though it isn't a field of study that is available for student youth here.

Annamalai also lamented the lack of support from the local and federal authorities in helping him introduce the science of astronomy to the young, noting that there is hardly any academic degree devoted to such studies.

But Arrav has garnered awards and commendations from international organisations.

Annamalai hopes that the authorities can help clarify what he has amassed, underlining that he is not suffering from any mental incapacities, just curious enough to peer through outer space and to his amazement, discover mysterious objects.

"I want to share what I have amassed, especially without authorities."

In the US, Annamalai may not be alone, as an unclassified report said that researchers could explain only one of 144 UAP sightings by US government personnel and sources between 2004 and this year – sightings that often were made during military training activities.

Others could be secret US defence tests or unknown advanced technologies created by Russia or China, the report says.

And last month, Nasa announced that it was commissioning a study team to start examining UAPs. That is, observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena – from a scientific perspective. 

The study will focus on identifying available data, how best to collect future data, and how Nasa can use that data to move the scientific understanding of UAPs forward.

The limited number of observations of UAPs currently makes it difficult to draw scientific conclusions about the nature of such events. 

Unidentified atmospheric phenomena are of interest to national security and air safety. 

Establishing which events are natural provides a key first step to identifying or mitigating such phenomena, which aligns with one of Nasa’s goals to ensure the safety of aircraft. There is no evidence that UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.

“Nasa believes that the tools of scientific discovery are powerful and apply here, also,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for science at Nasa.

“We have access to a broad range of observations of Earth from space – and that is the lifeblood of scientific inquiry. We have the tools and team who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That’s the very definition of what science is. That’s what we do," he said. – The Vibes, June 25, 2022