Researchers at the Ostfold University College in Norway reportedly captured on camera in September 2007 a UFO that people in the area had been reporting for years.

The researchers captured the mysterious aerial phenomenon, known as the Hessdalen lights, using equipment at the university’s Hessdalen Interactive Observatory, reportedly the only “official 24-hour observatory in the world.”

According to the Ostfold University College researcher Professor Erling Strand, scientists decided to investigate after locals began reporting frequent sightings of UFO light phenomenon in 1981.

Residents reported sighting colored — yellow, red, and bright white — lights floating in the dark over the valley nearby. Duration of sightings varied widely from seconds to hours. Witnesses reported watching the lights hover, move to and fro or at great speed over the valley.

Although there had been reports of sightings of UFO lights in the area since the 1930s, there was a dramatic increase in sightings between December 1981 and the middle of 1984 when daily sightings peaked at 20.

Residents reported seeing the lights in the valley but sometimes the lights approached their homes. The sightings caused local residents concern because they were unable to explain the source.

Concern about the nature of the lights has grown lately because scientists are unable to explain the sightings despite three decades of research.

Researchers have proposed a number of obscure theories, including unexplained combustion processes involving sodium, oxygen, and hydrogen, due probably to deposits of scandium in the area. Others suggested the lights could be due to plasma generated by ionization of atmospheric gasses. Yet other researchers suggested the lights could be due to forms of electricity generated by crystal rocks.

Scientific investigators and students at the Ostfold University College decided to investigate the phenomenon using monitoring equipment at the Hessdalen Interactive Observatory.

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