Unknown light over Santiago: video from Puente Alto, Chile, is spreading
A Chilean TikTok user filmed an unknown light in the sky over Puente Alto, near Santiago, on the night of October 7. The minute-and-a-half recording quickly began to spread, and the local press also reported on it. The video's creator does not claim to have seen a UFO: they asked viewers to help figure out what it could have been.
The video
Puente Alto is one of Chile's most populous municipalities, on the southern edge of Santiago, at the foot of the Andes. On the night of October 7, a TikTok account called "Vay Saliendo" posted a video of approx. 1 minute 40 seconds, which it recorded with a phone in the city's sky.
The recording shows a glowing, hard-to-identify shape in the night sky. The creator zooms in several times, then switches back to a wider shot so the surroundings are also visible. According to an October 8 report by Chile's Radio Imagina, the video's creator still cannot decide what it might be. They did not claim it was an extraterrestrial craft, but instead asked viewers to write their own interpretations.
The video: Vay Saliendo on TikTok
What we know, and what we don't
The report does not state exactly when the recording was made, in which part of the sky the light was visible, what color it was, or how it moved. Radio Imagina itself mentions several possible explanations: a drone, an airplane, a distant object, an atmospheric phenomenon or a camera effect.
The sober take
A short, zoomed-in nighttime video recorded with a phone is the most common type of UFO news in the world, and the problem is almost always the same: we don't know in which direction, how high and exactly when the light was visible.
- Venus. By our own calculation, on the evening of October 7 Venus was extremely bright (magnitude −4.6, the brightest celestial body after the Moon), and around 9 p.m. it was still approx. 9 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon as seen from Santiago; it set after 10 p.m. If the video was made at this time, facing west, Venus is the most likely candidate. Low in the sky, through urban smog and haze, Venus flickers, changes colors, and when zoomed in on with a phone it often turns into a strange, shapeless blob or "disk."
- The phone camera. In the dark, handheld, with heavy digital zoom, the phone's autofocus and image stabilizer can distort even a simple point of light into a pulsating, shape-shifting blob that looks like a "structure." If the image goes in and out of focus in the meantime, the point can also turn into a ring or a plate.
- Drones and airplanes. Air traffic over Santiago is heavy, and drones are also common. The landing light of an approaching airplane can look like a strong light hovering in one place for minutes.
- The Moon can be ruled out. That night the Moon was almost new, and it was below the horizon.
In summary: the video's creator soberly claimed nothing, and that is the right approach. Without an exact time and direction the light cannot be identified, but among the possible explanations an extremely bright, low-lying Venus and distortion by the phone's camera rank first.
What was that?
- Drone or UFO? How to recognize drones at night – and what only looks like a drone
- Venus, the most common UFO – and why it will trigger many reports this winter
Sources
- Radio Imagina: Graban impactante OVNI en el cielo de Puente Alto (2026. október 8.)
- Vay Saliendo – az eredeti videó a TikTokon