CE5 stands for Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind — a category proposed in the 1990s for encounters initiated by humans rather than simply witnessed. It extends Hynek's original scale, where CE1 is a sighting at close range, CE2 leaves physical traces, CE3 involves visible occupants and CE4 is an abduction.

The practice was popularised by Dr Steven Greer's CE5 Initiative. Its premise is that consciousness can be used to signal intent, and that groups meditating together with a shared focus may invite contact. Practitioners gather at dark sites, follow a sequence of relaxation and visualisation steps, and watch.

1. Prepare the site. Somewhere dark and open, away from streetlights, with a clear horizon. Bring something to lie back on — most of the session is spent looking up.
2. Settle and relax. Ten minutes or so letting the body quieten. Slow breathing, no screens, no conversation. Dark adaptation takes about 20 minutes, so this doubles as preparation for actually seeing faint things.
3. Open awareness. A meditative state described as calm and receptive rather than searching — attention widened to the whole sky and surroundings instead of fixed on one point.
4. Coherent thought sequencing. The core of the method: visualise your location as if seen from far above — the field, the town, the coastline, the curve of the Earth — then hold that image as a beacon marking where you are.
5. Extend an invitation. A clear, calm intention of peaceful contact. Groups often do this together, sometimes aloud.
6. Watch and listen. Sustained observation, typically 20–40 minutes. Some practitioners add tools — a torch signalled skyward, recorded tones, or a laser pointer, though pointing lasers at aircraft is dangerous and illegal in most countries.
7. Record everything. Note times, directions and what you saw, at the moment it happens rather than afterwards.
8. Close deliberately. Mark the end, stand slowly, and compare notes if in a group.

This app takes no position on whether the method works. What it does is remove the largest source of false positives: it records the exact times you marked something, then propagates every tracked object to those moments and tells you which were overhead and sunlit.

Most things people see moving in a dark sky are satellites, high aircraft, or Starlink trains — and knowing that with certainty is what makes the remainder interesting. If nothing tracked was above you when you looked, that's worth recording too.

Tell someone where you're going, watch the temperature on long sessions, don't trespass, and never aim a laser at anything that might be an aircraft.