In the early 1950s, astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in California captured images of the night sky that revealed something peculiar: fleeting, star-like objects that appeared and vanished within minutes.

These “transients,” as scientists call them, were spotted during the first Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, a project that photographed the heavens before the launch of the first artificial satellite in 1957.

A recent study by researchers Stephen Bruehl from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Beatriz Villarroel from Nordita in Sweden suggests these mysterious flashes might be linked to two surprising phenomena: above-ground nuclear weapons tests and reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, commonly known as UAPs or UFOs.

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Days within a three-day window of a nuclear test—meaning the day of the test plus the day before and after—were 45% more likely to have transients than other days. Moreover, on those same days, the number of transients was significantly higher, suggesting a possible link between nuclear explosions and these fleeting sky objects.

The study found that on days when at least one transient was observed, the number of UAP reports was noticeably higher. For every additional UAP sighting reported on a given day, the number of transients increased by about 8.5%.

This pattern held even when the researchers accounted for the fact that UAP reports were common, occurring on nearly 90% of the days studied.

The link was strongest when both a nuclear test and a UAP sighting happened on the same day, hinting that these events might amplify each other’s effects on transients.

One particularly compelling observation came from July 1952, when multiple transients appeared in sky survey images on two consecutive weekends. These dates coincided with a famous series of UAP sightings over Washington, D.C., where objects were seen both visually and on radar for hours.

The researchers speculate that some transients could be UAPs in Earth’s orbit, reflecting sunlight or emitting light as they descend into the atmosphere, possibly triggering sightings on the ground.