Bright lights floating or flying in the night sky above New Jersey are a combination of airplanes, helicopters, stars and drones being flown legally, four federal agencies said in a statement on Monday.
The sightings began in New Jersey a month ago and have since spread to New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland. An investigation into the reports has “not identified anything anomalous,” read the statement from the agencies, which included the F.B.I., the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration.
It is unclear whether the latest assurances will assuage public concern about the sightings. Earlier statements by state and local officials that the flying objects did not pose a public safety threat did little to quiet swelling frustration and confusion from residents who have reported sightings across the region.
The authorities have confirmed that at least some of the objects people have spotted are in fact drones. Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that the F.A.A. changed its rules last year so that drones could fly at night — a possible reason, he said, for the recent uptick in sightings along the East Coast.
However, federal officials have also said that many of the sightings are manned aircraft, like commercial planes and helicopters. Many of the reported sightings have occurred near the flight paths for commercial airports, federal officials said.
State officials have said they are working with the federal government to find out more. Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey said he had received a briefing from the F.B.I.’s Newark field office. “We are ready to assist the federal government in getting to the bottom of this,” he said.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that federal agencies were sending a “state-of-the-art drone detection system” to the state.
Some lawmakers have urged the federal government to share more about its investigation. President-elect Donald J. Trump weighed in, suggesting that the Biden administration was concealing news about the sightings.
“The government knows what is happening,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference on Monday, though he declined to say if he had been briefed by federal officials.
Here’s what to know about the flying objects:
Are they drones or planes?
Pictures and videos of the purported drones show bright objects illuminated against a dark night sky. Some move while others appear to hover in place. Residents and law enforcement officers who have observed the objects say that their lights sometimes go out suddenly, enveloping them in darkness.
Facebook groups and Reddit threads dedicated to the sightings have drawn thousands of responses. One Facebook group has tens of thousands of members who share videos and swap theories.
Last week, the mystery made its way to the White House, where a spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, said at a news conference that most of the purported drones were actually planes.
“Upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully,” he said.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. said they had cross-referenced the reported sightings with flight paths related to Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty Airports, and concluded that many of the observed objects were planes taking off or landing.
Sabrina Singh, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said at a news conference last week that the reported objects were not drones operated by the U.S. military and that officials did not believe they were “coming from a foreign entity or adversary.”
When and where have the sightings occurred?
The wave of sightings began in northern New Jersey in mid-November after personnel inside the Picatinny Arsenal, an Army facility in Morris County, spotted what they said was a drone flying near the base.
Days later, reports of sightings began pouring into the New Jersey State Police, according to a letter that Governor Murphy sent to President Biden and posted on social media.
The initial sightings were clustered in a few counties in northern New Jersey, but the phenomenon quickly spread across the state, including to coastal areas in the south and to the Philadelphia suburbs.
In early December, sightings were also reported in parts of New York City, first along Staten Island’s western shore, then in southern Brooklyn near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Days later, sightings were reported in the Bronx and near LaGuardia Airport in Queens.
On Dec. 13, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City wrote on social media that he was “aware of concerns” about the sightings and said that city officials were investigating them with federal and state agencies.
Residents in parts of upstate New York have also reported mysterious sightings at night. Last week, reports of drone activity near New York Stewart International Airport in New Windsor caused the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to shut down runways there for about an hour, Lenis Valens, an authority spokeswoman, said.
Governor Hochul said that the objects did not pose a threat to public safety, and that she was investigating the matter with federal law enforcement agencies.
Other sightings have been reported in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland, where Larry Hogan, the state’s former governor, said on social media that he had seen “what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky” above his home in Davidsonville, Md.
The post included comments from readers that at least some of the lights Mr. Hogan had captured on video were the constellation Orion.
How are the sightings being investigated?
Mr. Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, said that federal authorities had conducted a “thorough analysis” of pictures and videos and were using “very sophisticated electronic detection technologies” to try to determine what the objects were.
The F.B.I. has been investigating the sightings since late November, and its Newark field office has urged residents to report relevant information to the agency’s tip line.
Since the line was opened on Dec. 3, the bureau has received approximately 5,000 tips, according to an F.B.I. official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly. Of those, the official said, less than 100 have been deemed credible enough to warrant additional inquiry.
On Dec. 12, Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey accompanied local law enforcement officers who were looking into sightings near the Round Valley Reservoir in Hunterdon County. In a series of social media posts, Mr. Kim said he had seen several objects in the sky that did not appear on flight tracking software.
But days later, Mr. Kim said in additional social media posts that he had “concluded that most of the possible drone sightings that were pointed out to me were almost certainly planes.”
After his excursion with the officers, he said, he spoke with pilots and consulted a more detailed flight tracking system that showed that he had been nearer to flight paths than he had thought.
Federal and state officials have called on Congress to pass legislation aimed at making drone detection and deterrence systems more readily available to local law enforcement agencies.
Governor Hochul on Sunday thanked the federal government for its assistance, adding, “we need more.”
“Congress must pass a law that will give us the power to deal directly with the drones,” she said.
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