After a year of major breakthroughs and observations of alien objects, we may be getting closer to more concrete results in the search for extraterrestrial life.
After significant progress was made in the hunt for Martians in 2015, scientists believe aliens will be detectable "in the next few years."
You may think the little green men are nothing more than a figment of the imagination, but NASA and other leading scientists believe that there is life on Mars.
Back in September, scientists were thrilled to find water flowing on a nearby red planet. And now there is a hunt in order to find signs of life there. But are the aliens trying to contact us?
Tens of thousands of observations have already been made around the world. Most of these UFO sightings took place in America, and experts say certain states are teeming with extraterrestrial life.
According to the National UFO Reporting Center, 113 UFO cases have already been recorded in 2016 - and today it is only January 12.
And if you're interested in doing a bit of alien hunting, you might want to visit these 20 states with the most UFO sightings since 1998.
UFO Hunter Map: 20 States with the Highest Recorded UFOs
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California is the state where UFOs are most often observed: as many as 11,896 cases of extraterrestrial phenomena have been recorded there. It is followed by Florida (5481) and Washington (5234).
Apparently, Texas is also the gathering point for little green men. In the database of the National Center for UFO Reporting, 4508 cases are registered.
Below is a list of 20 states with the most UFO sightings as of January 12, 2016:
1. California: 11896
Location: Ladera Ranch, 2015
“I was on my patio [and] saw something fall from the sky straight down,” says a witness. "It was green and it looked like it was emitting flame from the back."
2. Florida: 5481
Location: Deltona, 2015
“The two circular luminous objects changed color and moved in incredible directions and at incredible speeds,” writes a witness. “There were two round lights, green and red. Then they both turned green, and 5 seconds later, both turned red. The lights were about 1000 feet below the clouds. The lights hung motionless in the night sky."
3. Washington: 5234
Most recent observation: Everett 2015
The witness stated that while talking with his sister, he saw "two massive black spacecraft with orange lights in the form of an inverted V".
"I was alarmed and scared as it passed close to me, just above trees and power lines."
4. Texas: 4508
Location: College Station 2015
A witness reported that through a telescope he saw red and green balls moving at "incredible speed" along the horizon of Jupiter.
“My attention was attracted by its twisted movement and abrupt changes in speed, from almost complete stop to instantaneous acceleration,” writes a witness. "The speed of this object was much higher than that of any known aircraft / satellite and it was not visible with the naked eye, only through a telescope."
5. New York: 4112
Location: Bronx, New York, 2015
The witness claimed to have watched the spaceship, tried to hijack the plane, and heard strange songs from the attic.
6. Arizona: 3428
7. Pennsylvania: 3353
8. Illinois: 3212
9. Ohio: 3094
10. Michigan: 2616
11. North Carolina: 2444
12. Oregon: 2413
13. Colorado: 1991
14. Missouri: 1965
15. New Jersey: 1905
16. Virginia: 1,799
17. Massachusetts: 1,789
18. Georgia: 1775
19. Indiana: 1733
20. Wisconsin: 1,687
In 2015, hundreds of people claimed to have filmed a UFO. And several compilations of spacecraft and blurry disc-shaped objects have already earned millions of views on YouTube.
So what do these typical alien ships look like? The National UFO Reporting Center shows that according to most witnesses, they saw bright light coming from the sky. Other popular shapes include circles, triangles, fireballs, and discs.
The most common forms of UFOs are:
1. Light: 20851
2 Circle: 10270
3. Triangle: 9697
4. Fireball: 7994
5. Disk: 6573
The National UFO Reporting Center has said it does not make any statements regarding the validity of the information provided in any of the reports.