For weeks, people in several states, including California, have reported seeing drone-like objects flying in groups across the night sky.
Concern over the sightings reached new heights in recent days, prompting some officials to urge calm.
But there are still many unanswered questions about why people seem to see so many drones, and if this is an unusual event, then what is going on?
Here's what we know.
Officials downplay concerns
Federal officials said over the weekend that the numerous drone sightings over New Jersey and other states “were actually manned aircraft that were misidentified as drones.”
On Saturday, officials said in a White House statement that there is no evidence of illegal activity or foreign involvement.
“At this time, we have found no basis to believe that there is criminal activity, that there is a threat to national security, that there is a particular threat to public safety, or that a malicious foreign actor is participating in these drones is involved,” a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said during a briefing.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy urged the public on Monday morning to “calm down” and stressed that there was “no evidence of anything nefarious.”
Murphy declined to provide details of the federal investigation into the sightings, but said there are “very sophisticated systems” in place “staffed with really sophisticated people” to figure out what's happening.
New Jersey is the epicenter
Reports of drones in the sky have been increasing for three weeks. New Jersey was the epicenter of the sightings, along with several surrounding states.
There were some reports in California, but far fewer than on the East Coast.
On Nov. 18, there were multiple reports of drones operating at night through the New Jersey Suspicious Activity Report System, officials said. The FBI launched an investigation into the sightings two days later.
As of December 3, the FBI network had set up 800 tip lines to relieve the burden on 911 call centers that received reports about the drones. Approximately 5,000 tips have been received through the statewide tip line and fewer than 100 tips have been deemed worthy of further investigation.
Through visual observation teams throughout New Jersey, FBI officials “determined that all reported sightings of large fixed-wing aircraft were of manned aircraft.” The sightings also appear to match approach patterns for Newark-Liberty, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.
“This modeling suggests that manned aviation is often confused with unmanned aviation, or UAS,” they said.
Department of Homeland Security officials also said they had “concluded that there is no evidence to date of foreign involvement in the landing of drones from ships in the region.”
officials added Monday Their checks revealed that most of the aircraft were smaller fixed-wing aircraft and hobby drones.
View from Southern California
Southern California residents also joined in on the nationwide wave of drone surveillance.
Viral videos appeared on social media from Temecula and Riverside showing groups of illuminated objects floating in the sky.
Damon Angel, a music producer in Temecula, posted several videos on Instagram He showed suspicious lights from an elevated highway, which he classified as suspicious.
In a subsequent video, he said he hoped his videos of the suspected drones – which have been viewed millions of times online – would help draw attention to the problem. Another video, from a TikTok user in Riversideclaimed to show several unidentified objects in the sky.
FAA reminds drone rules
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration published guidelines on drones detailing their use. “More and more people are using drones, which means they are noticing more and more people in the sky,” the FAA guidance states.
The FAA emphasized that in most locations in the U.S., it is legal to fly a drone during the day and night as long as it stays below 400 feet, avoids other aircraft and does not pose a threat to people or property.
Two temporary flight restrictions have been put in place for Picatinny Arsenal, a military base in New Jersey, and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey
The Picatinny Arsenal limit covers 2 nautical miles and 2,000 feet and expires on December 26th. The Trump golf course restriction imposes a 1 nautical mile, 1,000 foot limit that expires on December 20th.
President-elect Donald Trump made the comments at a press conference on Monday. “The government knows what is happening,” he said. “Look, our military knows where it started. If it's a garage, they can go directly to that garage. You know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason they don’t want to comment.”
Murphy and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have called on Congress to pass the law Counter-UAS Authority Safety, Security, and Reauthorization Actwhich would renew federal authority to investigate and track drones and give state agencies the authority to create their own drone mitigation program.