Incident: 14 February 2026, with further observations reported during 2026, Las Palmas area, Olmué commune, Valparaíso Region, Chile. SEFAA case 2297: reported 19 October, resolution dated 23 October, released 2 November 2026. UKPX reference added 6 November 2026.
For an observer running astronomy outings in the hills of Olmué, the puzzling lights were a recurring feature rather than a single passing glimpse. The account described bright points that appeared, vanished and sometimes seemed to divide. An official inquiry compared the recordings with airline traffic, the night sky and satellites, but stopped short of identifying each light.
The account from the hills
The released SEFAA report places the first specified episode on 14 February. Its opening summary gives a start around 22:20, a clear sky and an estimated two-hour duration. The witness described several apparently silver spheres; both their physical size and their behaviour were estimates in the account, not measurements established by the inquiry.
The observer located the viewing area near a football pitch by the Santuario del Niño Dios de Las Palmas, at a reported elevation of about 800 metres. The claimed direction was south-west, around 245 degrees, with lights appearing above the hill line. The witness also described subsequent sightings during roughly ten astronomy-observing nights from February onwards, and hearing similar accounts from neighbours.
That wider history is part of the testimony. The published analysis does not turn every reported recurrence into a separately documented encounter. UKPX keeps the linked observations together as one case and uses the clearly stated February date for its incident year.
Three recordings, several different clocks
SEFAA examined three submitted recordings comprising 10,076 frames. The report lists them as 2297-1, 2297-2 and 2297-3, with durations of 2 minutes 41 seconds, 1 minute 2 seconds and 3 minutes 4 seconds. Its metadata table gives local creation times of 23:31:29, 23:32:54 and 23:38:36 on 14 February.
These times should not be conflated with the opening summary’s 22:20. Nor does the table establish that the complete two-hour experience was filmed: the three listed clips total just under seven minutes. The flight-replay figures use UTC after midnight on 15 February, whereas the local recording date remains 14 February.
Figure 2 reproduces a small bright point against a dark field. Later panels show selected frames with changing colours and brightness. UKPX reviewed all eight report pages, including those figures; it has not obtained the original recordings or independently repeated the frame-by-frame analysis.
The airline comparisons
The investigation found three airline movements at times corresponding to the supplied metadata. The report names Delta’s DAL146 from Santiago to Atlanta, an Arica–Santiago service labelled SKU307, and LATAM’s LNE1447 from Guayaquil to Santiago. Its maps show their positions relative to an approximate camera reference.
Finding a flight at the right time was only the first comparison. SEFAA explicitly notes that the last two movements did not match the reported direction. It could not establish the camera’s exact azimuth or determine whether it changed direction between or within the recordings, because the imagery offered a black background without useful fixed references.
Selected frames were considered consistent with aircraft navigation lights. That is a stated interpretation of their appearance; the report does not provide a demonstrated one-to-one identification of every light with a particular aircraft. The directional limitation belongs beside the traffic matches, rather than disappearing from a simplified conclusion.
Achernar and satellites
The inquiry also modelled the south-western sky. Figure 8 places the star Achernar in the relevant sector, and Figure 9 presents a field of possible satellite passages. The final assessment proposes a mixture of scheduled aircraft, Achernar and sunlit satellites as highly probable explanations.
A plotted collection of satellite candidates is different from a uniquely matched satellite track. Likewise, a star in the general viewing sector is a candidate whose relevance depends on where the camera was actually pointing. Without a secure bearing, those comparisons could not settle the complete account.
Why the classification matters
The report’s classification is Posiblemente resuelto—possibly resolved. Its concluding paragraph says it could neither affirm nor rule out the proposed hypotheses with the information available. This is narrower than a firm aircraft identification and different from a finding of an extraordinary craft.
The useful surviving record is the combination: a recurring witness account, three characterised clips, traffic comparisons, astronomical alternatives and an explicit geometrical limit. The recorded light points do not independently establish the witness’s suggested metre-scale dimensions or prove that a physical object split into two.
Location and original source
The map marks the public sanctuary named in the testimony, using the geolocated landmark record accompanying Carlos Figueroa Rojas’s photograph. It is an approximate locality reference for the Las Palmas observation area, not the exact football pitch, camera position, an object position in the sky or a visitor instruction.
Primary material: SEFAA case 2297, eight-page report, resolution dated 23 October 2026; linked from the official October cases release of 2 November. All eight pages checked 6 November 2026. The original PDF remains on the Chilean aviation authority’s site; permission to republish its witness frames and third-party maps has not been assumed.
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