What happened
From August 1 to mid-October 2012, soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) stationed at the Thakung post near Pangong Lake in Ladakh reported more than a hundred sightings of luminous objects. The yellowish orbs reportedly rose above the horizon on the Chinese side and moved slowly across the sky for three to five hours before disappearing. The reports were sent to army headquarters and the government in New Delhi. The army moved a mobile radar and a spectrum analyzer to the lake area, which, according to press reports, detected no objects. By February 2013, the number of reports had exceeded three hundred. Astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics were brought in to investigate, and the Indian press speculated about Chinese reconnaissance drones.
Witnesses
Soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the army stationed in the Pangong Lake area.
Explanations and hypotheses
According to the British newspaper “The Telegraph,” astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics concluded that the objects were the planets Jupiter and Venus, which appeared exceptionally bright in the thin, clear air at high altitude. Some Indian media reported, however, that the planets had been ruled out and that the case remained unexplained. No official report has been published.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.