Anyone in Germany who thinks they have seen an unidentified flying object or UFO can inform the Central Research Network for Anomalous Phenomena, known as CENAP – a UFO research network. One of CENAP’s hotlines, run by Hansjürgen Köhler and a five-person team of volunteers, is located in the southwestern Odenwald region of Germany.
Kohler is a friendly and talkative man over 60 years of age. He became a salesman early in his life because he was not allowed to become an astronomer. At that time, his father advised him to “do something respectable”. This meant that Kohler’s love of space would remain a hobby – although he still took it very seriously. In 2023, NASA appointed its first Director of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) – as UFOs are now more often called – while in Germany, Hansjürgen Köhler has been investigating UFO reports for more than 50 years.
High percentage of ‘UFO’ sightings solved
Kohler says that since its establishment in 1976 CENAP has processed 13,621 reports of UFO sightings and has been able to explain almost all of them – only 89 cases remain unsolved. He says sightings have increased annually over the past five years, with 1,348 sightings reported in 2025 alone.
Most sightings are easily explainable and involve people misidentifying rockets, satellites, bright planets or stars. Koehler says a classic case involves Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, located slightly above and to the left of the Orion constellation. Sometimes, it’s even a fireball or meteorite – “They really make an astronomer’s heart pound,” he says.
CENAP is not the only organization looking into such cases. There are several UFO hotlines in Germany alone. These include the German Society for UFO Research (DEGUFO), or the German-language chapter of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON-CES), or the Society for the Study of UFO Phenomena (GEP).
Kohler told DW that about 40% of the sightings can be attributed to space technology. Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites have also given rise to confused sightings over the years because, according to Kohler, the satellites can display “extreme brightness” in certain conditions, causing more and more people around the world – including airplane pilots – to report UFO sightings.
Airplanes, helicopters and drones also track calls. Kohler says it’s not surprising that drones — which can fly around while executing crazy maneuvers — confuse people. But often, visions are triggered by more mundane phenomena: for example, balloons, especially those made of shiny foil, are often the culprit because they are highly reflective. Laser shows can be similarly disturbing, with their beams capable of traveling dozens of kilometers from event venues, lighting up the sky in between.
CENAP, the UFO hotline that never sleeps
CENAP’s hotline is open 24 hours a day. People can also report sightings via WhatsApp or e-mail, or fill out the contact form on the CENAP website. Kohler makes it their duty to attend to every inquiry and respond to dispatchers and callers within 24 hours. When the report comes in, Kohler needs to know the date, time, location, compass direction, duration of the sighting, and the number of witnesses. He says photos and videos are also helpful.
Their main office hours are from 10:00 pm to midnight, when most people are on their balconies looking at the night sky, often because they are out for a smoke. When Germany’s skies are busy, for example during meteor showers, Köhler says he can get 60 to 80 calls a night. “When the first person comes over,” he says, “you can turn off the TV and forget about the rest of the night because you know the phone will be ringing constantly.”
Kohler’s favorite reports come in the early morning, between 3 and 4 a.m. He gets out of bed on such nights knowing it could be a spectacular meteor show with people calling in. The sooner people notify CENAP the better, he says, “then we can take a look at the computer and see what the caller is actually seeing.”
In the best case scenario, he and his team are able to resolve the issue on the spot.
Generally people lack information about astronomy
Hansjürgen Köhler is a skeptic within the “UFO scene”. He is careful to distance himself from “UFO freaks”, viewing his own work as more of a space criminologist than someone who believes in flying saucers and little green people.
Kohler also believes there is room for improvement when it comes to society’s knowledge of astronomy, a phenomenon he said he first recognized when visiting a space observatory as a youth. He is not alone in his assessment. Recently, the world’s recognized authority on professional astronomy, the Paris-based International Astronomical Union (IAU), created the “Big Ideas in Astronomy” project, which defines what should be considered common astronomical understanding.
But it is not just a lack of specific knowledge that can lead to misidentification of objects in space. Our senses and perceptions can also deceive us. Psychology defines it as pareidolia or the brain’s tendency to perceive images or meanings in arbitrary patterns. This phenomenon may cause a person to see shadowy structures or reflections as UFOs, although people may be susceptible to this phenomenon to varying degrees depending on personality, stress, or expectation.
Between Forensic Criminology and Spiritual Counseling
Kohler uses astronomy software, space agency information and flight data to get to the bottom of most UFO sightings – sometimes even dialing up the German military in special cases. At other times, he proceeds like a police detective.
One case has been on Kohler’s mind since the 1990s. It involved a young woman who spent several months following a UFO in her car across Western Germany and even Belgium. She says that one night in Belgium a truck driver honked his airhorn as he passed her on the highway – a sure sign to her that he too had seen a UFO.
The strange thing about that particular UFO, says Kohler, was that it was constantly changing its form, sometimes appearing larger, sometimes smaller. Kohler eventually learned that the woman was half blind, had lost her contact lenses and was wearing damaged glasses. What she was seeing was not a UFO, but the waxing of the Moon. Kohler described the case as strange, yet dramatic. In the end, she believes, she was all alone.
He says that when people call, it often feels as if they are old friends – no matter their age or gender, whether they are relaxed or excited. Koehler recalls a woman who called from inside her barricaded apartment, convinced that war had broken out when in fact she had seen a meteor.
“It helps to get people to call,” Kohler says.
When he can explain what is happening, people often thank him and feel relieved that they can finally lie down to sleep.
The European Space Agency (ESA) also calls
Recently, the European Space Agency (ESA) has started to refer cases to Köhler and CNAP. One such case occurred three years ago when a research team observing the northern lights in Norway noticed something unusual. Koehler was able to determine that the incident was caused by a rocket launch in which the ship’s fuel crystallized in the icy cold, “creating a spectacular sight in the sky.”
In a separate incident, about six months ago, he had received information about aliens landing on a beach in Portugal. He says one woman – who documented the situation with extremely detailed pictures – claimed to have seen aliens appear and disappear while sitting near a bonfire at night. After looking into the matter, Kohler soon discovered that the location was also home to a diving school. Although UFO fans would probably file the encounter under “alien sightings”, Kohler simply called it “humbug” and listed it as a “night dive”.
Needless to say, UFOs will not land at some point
So does Kohler think that one day alien UFOs will land on Earth?
“They haven’t come here yet,” he says.
Also, they are confident that we are not the only living beings in the galaxy. He says it would be a waste of space.
“I can’t say for sure they won’t come,” he says, but adds that if they ever land on our blue planet and see what’s going on, he’s sure they’ll quickly leave.
This article was originally published in German.