Radar glitch or UFO? Star-shaped object over Washington fuels fresh conspiracy theories

A new video showing a mysterious star-shaped object on weather radar over Washington, D.C., is fueling another round of wild speculation online.

Shared by X user Matt Wallace, the radar footage appears to capture an unusual object moving across the D.C. area. "THERE IT IS AGAIN?" Wallace captioned the clip, referencing a similar anomaly that surfaced earlier this month.

That earlier sighting had already stirred panic and theories ranging from secret government weather manipulation to extraterrestrial activity. However, meteorologist Matthew Cappucci had debunked such claims, explaining that the radar glitch was likely caused by a structure east of the National Weather Service’s Dulles radar. According to Cappucci, the building’s interference caused the radar beam to reflect back incorrectly, creating a false image.


Kari Lake, a special advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, had first noticed the previous anomaly, which coincided with a strong storm system entering the region.


Still, Wallace’s latest post ignited a flurry of reactions.

“Probably just a high-altitude military jet we weren’t supposed to spot,” one user suggested.

“Looks like the space station,” another speculated.

One user questioned if it could be fighter jets flying without transponders. Others took a more humorous tone: “There’s a Santa sleigh on Google Maps too—doesn’t mean it’s real.”

One commenter added a conspiratorial twist: “The military promotes UFO narratives to cover up advanced tech. Most of those sightings are just propaganda.”

Another X user commented, "A couple of notes: 1) this is an animation - Computer generated graphic to help visualize air traffic. 2) someone assigned the star shaped sprite to this animation. 3) the fact that the sprite has a special shape means the computer system sees the object as something other than a plane. 4) no altitude information is provided here and no planes are taking evasive maneuvers. 5) the trajectory (speed and direction) is consistent with a low orbit satellite."

Whether it’s radar interference or something more mysterious, the incident has once again triggered a digital storm of curiosity, skepticism, and intrigue.