Aliens among us! NYC UFO sightings see uptick in 2022

ET might not be phoning, but he’s posing.

The National UFO Reporting Center reports that purported alien-ship sightings in the Big Apple ticked up 4% this year — and for the first time New Yorkers submitted pics to the center to try to back up their cosmic claims.

In 2022 the center received accounts of 28 sightings, up from 27 in 2021. And in a dozen of the new cases, photographs were submitted, thanks to a user-friendly “revised website.”

Whether the mostly out-of-focus visuals are actual proof the truth is out there remains very much in question, but they do accompany witness statements that interstellar tourists are visiting NYC at a rising rate.

Manhattan reported the most close encounters of any borough with 13, including a 5:30 pm engagement on Feb. 4 involving a motorist outside a Gotham skyscraper.

“I took 4 pics of the Empire State Building while waiting for a green light – next day I noticed 6 orbs in 2 pics in different positions,” the incredulous driver posted, adding, “The glare from the Building light was so bright I didn’t noticed the orbs at the time and I can understand why this might have not been noticed by anyone on the ground.”

On June 18 two “shape-shifting objects that stayed together” were spotted on the East River shortly before 8 p.m.

“My father noticed the objects, and at first I thought they were just balloons that someone released because they were pretty high up. However, the more I looked I realized they were not behaving like balloons. They would light up on all sides and then not at all. They were moving in such a strange manner I cannot even describe,” the poster explained.

Another true believer reported a “large, silent chevron/boomerang-shaped craft” move across the Manhattan sky just after 6:30 pm on Aug. 23. He was relaxing with his wife and 2-year-old son on the south end of Central Park.

“It was above the clouds, but still oddly visible and clearly not an airplane or any other kind of aircraft we had seen,” the dumbfounded dad said. “It was very large and totally quiet and moving steadily, smooth, and quickly — no sound . . . No one else seemed to notice.”

A Flushing, Queens witness snapped a photo on the morning of Sept. 12 that they believe shows a craft “that changed directions and hovered multiple times (up, down, left, right), that was easily distinguishable from a plane.” The dispatch includes a picture of a plane and UFO circled in magic marker to make the case.

Queens reported six creepy contacts, while Brooklyn had four extraterrestrial experiences, followed by Staten Island and The Bronx, with three and two, respectively.

Overall, there were 167 sightings of flying saucers across the state this year, according to the National UFO Reporting Center.

Across the river in New Jersey, there were 72 UFO incidents reported in 2022, a 5% dip from the 76 the year before.

In Hamilton Township, a stunned resident walked outside their home around 7:40 p.m. Sept. 24 only to see “an amazing light moving across the sky from west to east.” The gobsmacked gazer added: “There was an aura or haze around the object,” which “left a trail.”

The National UFO Reporting Center, founded in 1974, “makes no claims as to the validity of the information in any of these reports,” the website says, adding, “obvious hoaxes have been omitted, however most reports have been posted exactly as received in the author’s own words.”

Center director Peter Davenport has previously told The Post the truth is out there. “I believe we are being visited routinely by these objects we call UFOs – and I presume they are controlled by extraterrestrial intelligence.”