UFO Video Near Seatac (Seattle)

reply to post by ATSZOMBIE


Ok I've done some additional edits with better video codecs, and it shows the circular spinning pattern of the sunset object, known to some as "The Bird", more clearly. I'm also providing the original video to Eleven to run through his software. Please check out this edit:

www.youtube.com...


I've certainly never seen those black triangles flying out NW from Seatac, but that's crazy if they are launching from there. Soon to post isolated updated version of "The Chinese Lantern" as well for y'alls review.

Hello ATS!

Firstly, I would like to thanks Pylgrym for providing me the two original (huge!) videos.

With my partners, we are actually working on the development of two new units for the analysis software that are:
- The first part of an authentication tool that is able to provide a quick assessment about the validity of the metadata associated with any JPEG file, either in a single or batch process. The second part will be the continuation of the constitution of a camera/camcorder database with lots of possible technical characteristics for a given camera (resolution, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and so on...) plus the JPEG compression signature. The finality of it would be to compare all these characteristics of a given photo to this database.

- The second unit could be a very useful tool as, nowadays, we are flooded with lots of reports that appear to be afterwards, just Chinese (or "Thai") lanterns. This is still a work in progress, but a preliminary presentation will be available on our main page before the end of March.

Anyway, and to be short, this tool/algorithm is based on "chromaticity", based on hundreds of original "real" chinese lanterns photos, with calculated average chromaticity, minus the dark background noise and the saturated pixels. The same chromaticity database is constituted as well for any kind of light source upon a black background sky (airplanes/helicopters, RC models, stars/planets etc...).

So I'll try this new tool on the first video, as the classic orange hue leads some members here to think that it could possibly be just one of these damn chinese lanterns.

Before showing you the results, please keep in mind that this is not in any case a definite answer as to what it could be. This should be considered just as an helpful tool for any analysis/investigator.

I've extracted three jpeg frames in hi-resolution of the video, where the light can clearly be seen, then run the soft

Frame A:



Frame B:



Frame C:



The little black circle materialize the chromaticity value of the object in the Maxwell's triangle, with the red polygon being the actual possible values for the lanterns.

You'll notice that, in all the three examples above, the assessment is "likely" but, sometimes, the value falls in two or three polygons, thus the "possibly" assessment. If it's outside all the possible polygons, then the assessment will be "unlikely".

Unfortunately, there's not enough visible reference points in the video to try to calculate size/distance or speed of the object, so I guess that the final conclusion will be (for me, as a photo analyst) "likely a chinese lantern".

I'll come back in this thread in few days to comment the other video as well.

While I of course disagree with the conclusion of the software, this is great analysis and a well designed approach! Thank you for the results.

I agree there is unfortunately no frame of reference in this video because the surroundings are so dark - except, what about the plane that followed in the video? It was a very dark night with no stars, this makes it harder to analyze.

I think the most interesting two things in this video are the intense colors of the object, and the motion pattern. Your software has determined that the light from the images is similar to chinese lanterns - Ok! I will have to accept that as true, the lights must look similar. However the motion shows a spinning object, which can't be reflected in the JPEG still images used. I think this is half the significance, which I will be able to show better in a 12% speed video I've been editing.

One key point is the speed of the object, which is probably hard to tell from the video. I'll bet the initial image is slightly larger than the end image 9 seconds later, indicating its speed as it flew away, to some degree. However I know it was the same speed as 2 commercial airlines, which I Wikipedia is between 400-700 MPH, so a lantern couldn't handle those speeds and spin fast. Thank you again for your detailed analysis, and I look forwards to the next one during daylight which will be easier to analyze.

I have been camping quite a bit this summer, and when the sky is dark, I film it. Two weeks ago, as we were leaving the woods, another orb flew over us! I got the camera out with only enough time to film it for a second or two in focus before it went behind some tree tops. It appeared a little bit through the trees before it cruised away. It was farther away than my first orb, but I believe these are the same things, and hence supporting evidence.

Like the first "orb" as I call them, it took 25-30 seconds to cross the entire sky (commercial airline speed, 500-700MPH, so it travels too fast for a chinese lantern), make no sound (is not a plane), and is full of some sort of energy.

youtu.be...

I'll post some raw image and animated GIFs direct soon of this new orb

originally posted by: Pylgrym
I have been camping quite a bit this summer, and when the sky is dark, I film it. Two weeks ago, as we were leaving the woods, another orb flew over us! I got the camera out with only enough time to film it for a second or two in focus before it went behind some tree tops. It appeared a little bit through the trees before it cruised away. It was farther away than my first orb, but I believe these are the same things, and hence supporting evidence.

Like the first "orb" as I call them, it took 25-30 seconds to cross the entire sky (commercial airline speed, 500-700MPH, so it travels too fast for a chinese lantern), make no sound (is not a plane), and is full of some sort of energy.

youtu.be...

I'll post some raw image and animated GIFs direct soon of this new orb

Well you can't actually claim that because you don't know size or distance to the object so guesstimates of speed etc are pointless, I take as you were using an old lens you were using manual focus what was the focal length and what was the iso setting of the camera.

WMD, I have two points of relativity to compare size and distance. In the first video, there was a wide cloud wall stretching all over seattle that night. It was 3,000 or 4,000 feet high, or whatever a meterology web site may tell us on that date. When the first orb "fades out", it rose into the cloud wall at that elevation. We could see that with our own eyes.

If I am correct that the secord orb is the same type of object and same size, then it was much higher in elevation. It was equally bright, and moved at the same speed at commercial airliners flying about 1 mile west on a parallel path.

The first orb flew identical flight path as planes, between two planes. So I know their speed is the same. And I can estimate altitude.

Red round UFOs are seen very commonly nowdays.

Some are lanterns

many are not

Unfortunately people who have no idea what they are talking about constantly yell "Lantern" for every UFO report that happens these days.

Not every red UFO is a lantern.

1. They move against the wind
2. They last for a long period of time out doing the time period that a chinese lantern is made for.

Just another blurry video of a flying candle.

originally posted by: Pylgrym
WMD, I have two points of relativity to compare size and distance. In the first video, there was a wide cloud wall stretching all over seattle that night. It was 3,000 or 4,000 feet high, or whatever a meterology web site may tell us on that date. When the first orb "fades out", it rose into the cloud wall at that elevation. We could see that with our own eyes.

If I am correct that the secord orb is the same type of object and same size, then it was much higher in elevation. It was equally bright, and moved at the same speed at commercial airliners flying about 1 mile west on a parallel path.

The first orb flew identical flight path as planes, between two planes. So I know their speed is the same. And I can estimate altitude.

Your videos which you think show rotation look more like it's the noise pattern that gives an impression of rotation.

You said the orb fades out, so do lanterns it doesn't mean it entered the cloud layer also what was the actual focal length of the f1.7 lens used?

In the new video, I am using the lumix 14-140 lens fully zoomed and yes, manually focused. The first video had my 50mm olypus lens on with no zoom.

The rotation could be noise, there is noise, but I still see the orange and red flares rotate.

Yes a lantern could fade right at cloud layer. But it was going way too fast, and rising very slowly. 30 seconds to clear the sky, how can a chinese lantern propel that fast. Also these are much much brighter than any lanterns.

originally posted by: Pylgrym
In the new video, I am using the lumix 14-140 lens fully zoomed and yes, manually focused. The first video had my 50mm olypus lens on with no zoom.

The rotation could be noise, there is noise, but I still see the orange and red flares rotate.

Yes a lantern could fade right at cloud layer. But it was going way too fast, and rising very slowly. 30 seconds to clear the sky, how can a chinese lantern propel that fast. Also these are much much brighter than any lanterns.

Well first your 50mm lens on your 4/3 sensor camera (x2 crop ) is the same as a 100mm lens on a full frame so the objects in your video are MAGNIFIED by 2 times.

I wasn't meaning the lantern faded at cloud level it could be before and just looked like that.

As for assuming how lanterns appear to look/speed etc watch this.



Look how far they travel and the apparent speed near the end

Just because the wind seems a certain speed and direction at your level doesn't mean it's the same at 50,100,2000ft up.

a reply to: wmd_2008

I see what you mean, those are some very tricky balloons. I would say its possible the new, higher up light I saw was something like that, if it werent moving so steady.

But the first thing, my camera saw far less than I did. I can verify I saw an orange and red object with colors pulsing through it like lightning bolts slowly churning. We both saw it and if only my camera could revea how intense the light was.

Thanks for the clips. I love the anticipation of starting to watch these videos in hope of seeing a smoking gun.

a reply to: mattoc59

Thanks Matt, I am on the prowl and hopefully I can get that level of evidence for us. I will be posting something truly unidentifiable that I filmed later this week though.

Yep confirmed Chinese Sky Lantern. SHUT HER DOWN!

Confirmed? Lol...

Lanterns do not fly across the sky in a perfect line at 500mph consistent speed. They blow where the wind goes second to second.

Lanterns are not launched 13 miles in the woods, with no houses for 20 miles. We were very alone.

Lanterns do not put out the brightness lumens of these orbs. Both of them had the brightneas of 1000 candles, not one. Noooo way. I saw them both with my eyes