Eight-pointed infrared contrast feature, Middle East, 2013 — the oldest report in the DOW set.

What you’re looking at

An infrared sensor frame containing what is described as an eight-pointed contrast feature, captured in the Middle East in 2013. The earliest-dated DOW report in Release 01 — released roughly 13 years after capture.

Context

Infrared sensors can produce diffraction-spike artifacts on bright thermal sources — typically a four-, six-, or eight-point star pattern caused by the sensor's aperture geometry. An eight-point feature is consistent with a hot, point-like source seen through a sensor with eight aperture vanes.

Why this matters

The 13-year delay between capture and release is itself the story. The 2013 date predates AARO's establishment by nearly a decade. Public release of older case files indicates active back-cataloging — earlier reports being re-reviewed under modern frameworks. More may follow.

What it does NOT show

The eight-pointed shape is, by sensor optics alone, a known artifact pattern for bright IR point sources. The feature does NOT independently establish that the object had any kind of eight-armed geometry.

Open questions

1. 01

   Is the eight-pointed feature an aperture diffraction artifact or a real geometric property?

2. 02

   What sensor produced the frame — its aperture vane count would resolve the artifact question?

3. 03

   What was the 2013 reviewing authority's original disposition before AARO existed?

4. 04

   How many additional pre-2022 reports remain in the back-catalog?

Listen

Colophon

Filename

DOW-UAP-PR38-Unresolved-UAP-Report-Middle-East-2013.jpg

Source

https://www.war.gov/portals/1/Interactive/2026/UFO/Slideshow/DOW-UAP-PR38-Unresolved-UAP-Report-Middle-East-2013.jpg

Agency

DOW · DOW-UAP-PR38

Cluster

middle east

Release

RELEASE 01