A black-and-white still, a crosshair at its center, a dark round shape just below and to the right of it. That is the whole of “FBI Photo A4,” one of the files released in the U.S. government’s PURSUE archive of UFO records on May 8, 2026.
The image came from a U.S. government system. The FBI passed it to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) as a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon, with redactions already applied to the original. No mission report came with it. The date and place of the sighting were not given. The operator said they could not positively identify the object.
The released description is plain about its limits. It describes a mottled background, the reticle and the circular object, and warns readers not to treat any of it as an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion or finding about what the event was.
Where it sits in the archive
It is one of 86 FBI files in the PURSUE release, which totals 294. An independent tracker site that scores the files gave it an Anomalousness Index of 61 out of 100, ranking it 20th of the FBI’s 86 and 109th of the full 294. The tracker says the score reflects how much evidence the file offers, not the importance of the event, and that it is not a probability of extraterrestrial origin.
The tracker also notes what the file lacks: it is a single still photograph from one instrument, with no speed, acceleration or direction data. AARO lists the report as unresolved, with no formal review finished.
